Alex Rins spills the truth on Honda exit: “I would have liked more support”

Rins confirmed that he will leave LCR Honda after just one season to join Yamaha in 2024, replacing Franco Morbidelli as the teammate of Fabio Quartararo.

The Spaniard has now revealed his unhappiness at not being treated similarly to Honda’s factory duo Marquez and Mir.

"What has weighed the most is what has been seen race by race,” Rins told DAZN. 

“In the end, Honda, HRC have preferred to give the factory team the new parts to test even though I am also a competitive rider. 

“Well, I would have liked them to have given me a little bit more support.

"I'm sorry because the relationship with Lucio Cecchinello is spectacular, I've never had it before with any other team manager and the vibes in the box are immaculate. 

“I thought about whether to do it or not, but I couldn't refuse. 

“I told Lucio I even felt bad, it was a hard blow but he told me that he understood perfectly. 

“It's a unique opportunity, it's a factory team and I think it's something I deserve.

"After so many bad days, the announcement to sign for Yamaha has been incredible. I am very happy. 

“After Suzuki left, we were lost, we knocked on all the doors and one of the doors we knocked on was Yamaha and they told us that that moment couldn't be, they already had Morbidelli and Quartararo. 

“So in the end we went to Honda, and this year seeing how everything has gone, in the position we were in... we asked again to see if we'd have any luck, and we did.

"I'm looking forward to it. It's a project in a factory team, which is what I was looking for and I'm very excited, but I'm ending this season with the same enthusiasm I started it with."

A rollercoaster half-season so far has seen Rins win the Grand Prix of the Americas, becoming the first Honda rider aside from Marquez to win a MotoGP race since 2018.

But he then broke a leg during the Mugello sprint race, and he remains sidelined amid a gruelling recovery period.

At the British MotoGP, LCR duo Takaaki Nakagami and Iker Lecuona were the last two riders who finished the race. Repsol Honda pair Marquez and Joan Mir retired early, meaning they have completed just one grand prix between them all season.

Honda’s struggles will not be Rins’ problem for much longer.

"The Honda is not a bad bike, I think that the other brands, especially European ones, have taken two steps forward and Honda only a small one,” he said.

“To get the victory in Austin we rode super-fast. We still need to improve, yes, but it's not so far away.”

He said about sustaining his horrible injury in Italy: "The crash was my fault, not the electronics or the traction control of the Honda. 

"I am getting better every day, what hurts me the least is the injury itself, the double fracture of the tibia and fibula does not bother me much. Today is 6 weeks after the operation and it is the first day that they let me rest my foot. 

“What hurts the most, what doesn't let me sleep… is the sole of my foot. I guess it's from the injury and a lot of contact… I have hypersensitivity from the tips of my toes to where the heel begins and intense cramps in the soles, but it's getting better.

"I suffered much more pain the first 24 hours after the second operation than in the actual crash itself. They gave me an epidural, and 4 hours after going up from the operating room, my bad leg woke up and the good one was still asleep. 

“I cried from the pain, I've never felt pain so sharp pain and it was all coming from the cramps. It was terrible pain.

"In the end, if it's a clean tear, it's much faster, but everything turned out great anyway. The Madrid team has done an incredible job, they were afraid that since the tear was so low, near the ankle, they could lose mobility, but luckily it went well.”

Rins said about his comeback plan: “I don't know when I will be able to return, it is very difficult. Today I have started bearing weight and as the days go by we will see how it progresses. 

“It's a complicated injury, there were many hours in the operating room because it was as if the bone had exploded, so the recovery is slow. I'll be back when they let me."