The Repsol HRC image to celebrate the thousandth race in the premier class, with iconic drivers like Mick Doohan and Valentino Rossi. In the picture the ninth and tenth of the Spanish GP.

The Marquez brothers and their unfortunate start to the season

At the weekend of the Spanish Grand Prix, a small detail almost went under. According to official information, it was the thousandth race for Repsol Honda, the most successful MotoGP team in the last 3 decades. Even before Sunday, the two figureheads Marc Marquez and Pol Espargaró had blown off violently in FP3. In the end, everyone could be happy, they just made it into the top ten, even if it was very close. In addition, brand colleague Takaaki Nakagami from customer team LCR put the two highly paid Spaniards completely in the shade. The Japanese missed his first podium of the season by just 7 tenths. And to top it all off, HRC Honda team boss Alberto Puig had to stay at home in poor health. Certainly no reason for a boisterous celebration, which the team had had countless occasions in previous years.

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) on all fours in the gravel in front of his completely destroyed RC213V – a symbolic image on Saturday morning before the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez de la Frontera. The critical voices who are of the opinion that he came back too early are increasing.

Dramatic development around the elder of the two Marquez brothers
How you think about the return of the 6-time MotoGP World Champion is up to you. But it is not entirely without good reason that the critical voices are increasing. In particular, because after having renounced the second race in Jerez last year, he himself had raised expectations for his comeback when he emphasized “I will come back stronger than ever!“. What the skeptics are right now is that he caused a new phenomenon on his return. We can’t remember that with a 9th place he was ever spoken or written about before a good result, like after the GP in Andalusia. To have to gloss over a seventh place at the GP of Portugal should have been more than enough. But if it continues like this, we will no longer talk about sportiness in the assessment, as many people forget this. Especially at the moment when the excellent performances of other drivers like Takaaki Nakagami and Aleix Espargaró are being neglected by most commentators.

Pol Espargaró (Repsol Honda) before the start – due to the extremely shortened test time compared to previous years, his job with the Honda factory team really became a Herculean one. The Catalan showed some solid races nonetheless, but with the most successful team in the last 3 decades, placing just within the top ten is no cause for euphoria.

Alex Marquez – almost failed last year and now the weakest Honda rider
We were among the skeptics when Marc’s brother was signed by Repsol Honda instead of Johann Zarco. We actually got it right a bit before the late start of the 2020 season, because HRC made the transfer back to LCR public before his first race for the year 2021 and instead made the commitment of Pol Espargaró. After a difficult start to the season, Alex showed some unexpectedly strong performances, after which he had to accept setbacks again. Despite some respectable successes, Alex Marquez only managed to finish 14th in the World Championship in his rookie season. The Marquez brothers and their absolutely unsuccessful start to the season will give a lot to talk and write about, at least that is already certain. However, it is only to be hoped that the sport, which it should be about in the first place, will not be neglected.

The situation in the World Cup is a picture of sorrow for the Marquez brothers. Numerous drivers with only two rated races are ahead of them, and currently there are still two rookies.

The right success at the wrong moment

Takaaki Nakagami had tears of disappointment on his face after a sensationally strong performance in the pits. Missing the first podium of the year by just 0.7 seconds apparently hurt the Japanese more at first than that he could look forward to fourth place as the best Honda driver. Obviously not everyone at HRC Honda was happy, as later leaked. For example, after the race one read about excuses and alleged problems of his colleagues with the Honda. However, they could have simply copied his setup on Friday after his 6th place in FP2. For all brands, this is exactly the reason why they prefer to have more than just two drivers like Suzuki and Aprilia on the job. If something works very well for the best pilot, this gives the other brand colleagues the chance to study his data carefully and then react correctly. If a glorious team like Repsol Honda is looking for excuses for their poor performance at an anniversary of all things, this is indeed not a good sign.

The first corner in the Spanish Grand Prix with Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) in 6th position. The Japanese disgraced his Honda brand colleagues from the factory team with a sensationally strong performance.
The current statistics show a mixed picture for Honda, because in the team standings the Repsol works team is relatively far ahead, but with a very large gap to the best. In addition, you are only in front of the backbencher KTM in the brand classification and even behind Gresini Aprilia, who owe all points in this table to the devil Aleix Espargaró. The boy is worth gold for the company from Noale.

The Le Mans weekend with an interesting detail

Before we go to France, where Johann Zarco and Fabio Quartararo are waiting for their home race, here are our statistics with the numbers from 2015. Going back doesn’t make much sense because a lot of riders weren’t even part of MotoGP back then. Of course, that’s exactly why the numbers of pilots like Petrux, Viñales and other “veterans” are much more informative when it comes to their performance on the Bugatti Circuit. What is particularly noticeable is the very high number of cancellations compared to other routes. In the case of Jack Miller 2020, for example, it was a technical problem on his Ducati. Because he only had one race in the previous year, Alex Marquez of all people was the most successful in the period under review. Perhaps a small ray of hope to cheer up the Catalan after he was innocently eliminated in Jerez.

The orange year number at 2020 means in our symbolism the fact that the Grand Prix was a rain race.

The world championship stand in all classes before the 5th round at Le Mans

Le Mans Grand Prix schedule

Unless otherwise stated, this applies to all images (© MotoGP).