• Chronicle Fabio Quartararo is very lonely: another simple victory and no one disputes the World Cup

In 2020, chaos.

The worst streak without getting on the podium in the history of Honda: eight races in a row without celebrating anything.

In 2021, the ruin.

The worst winless streak in Honda history: 21 consecutive empty tests.

And this 2022, the catastrophe.

This Sunday at the Sachsenring, the worst race in Honda history: not a single point added the mark, something that had not happened since the very rare 1982. With Marc Márquez injured, his teammate Pol Espargaró retired due to physical problems, Álex Márquez did not finish due to mechanical problems, Takaaki Nakagami crashed and Stefan Bradl finished last, sixteenth, the only one of the finishers who did not score.

A disaster.

The brand with the most titles, the longest track record and the biggest budget in MotoGP is in a very dark moment and the worst thing is that no one, neither inside nor outside, knows why.

There is an obvious reason, the misfortune of Marc Márquez, but his absence does not explain why three Moto2 champions such as Pol Espagaró, Álex Márquez and Bradl are at the bottom of the pack race after race.

The pandemic, which limited the work of Asian brands much more than that of European ones -hence the results of Ducati and Aprilia-, is another of the reasons that are valued when analyzing the case, although it does not justify everything either.

In the end, disaster size can only be understood from a general perspective.

Many were the mistakes made until reaching the current situation and almost all of them had the same beginning: on July 19, 2020, the day of the crash in Jerez that destroyed Marc Márquez's arm.

So Honda wanted to change.

In previous years he had triumphed thanks to Márquez, but the fastest bike was always the Ducati and the champion's illustrious companions, Dani Pedrosa or Jorge Lorenzo, suffered too much.

In the Japanese factory they tried to make a bike that would serve Márquez, yes, but that would also allow others to win and they were wrong.

They were wrong big time.

In the middle of the aerodynamic revolution in MotoGP, between the fluctuations of Michelin with the tires, they did not know how to adapt to the new times and neither Pol Espargaró nor Álex Márquez triumphed.

Only Marc Márquez did it, who returned battered in 2021, but returned with three victories, and demanded that the brand undo the path made.

This preseason, with the prospect of competing throughout the year, the team leader asked for a motorcycle in his style and they were building it for him, what a remedy, when he had to undergo surgery again.

Now aimless and without reference, Honda wanders around waiting for a miracle.

A quick return of Márquez, a revolutionary signing -Pedro Acosta?- or a change in management that saves them.

Meanwhile, yes, it continues to accumulate bad numbers, and worse, and much worse.

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

  • Marc Márquez

  • Pol Espargaro

  • Jorge Lorenzo

  • Daniel Pedrosa

  • Stefan Bradl