Alberto Puig: “Honda won’t stop if a rider leaves or comes”

Alberto Puig has issued a rallying cry about Honda’s slow progression back to the top of MotoGP.

The struggling Japanese manufacturer have been rooted to the back this season, despite benefiting from increased concessions.

Marc Marquez’s decision to quit and go to Ducati has been justified.

“This is a winning team, we are used to winning,” Honda boss Puig said.

“Sometimes you have to go through a painful process and this is what we are doing.

“Honda’s spirit is to never give up. The DNA of Honda is racing for many years, and the spirit of racing is something we will never give up.

“Our only target is to win again.

“The season has not been easy, this is obvious. We had a new rider, Luca Marini.

“We spent six or seven months trying many things, trying to understand.

“It has been tough. The results show the reality.

“We finally found something in Misano, some sort of direction. Since then, we believe that we can start to go.

“Even though from the outside it looks like we are not progressing - because in terms of results we are not - internally we are changing.

“We will change it even more. Honda is a company who have been in racing for many years.

“Every company has its processes - they can adapt but you never change the philosophy.

“We can make changes but Honda will always be Honda.”

Aleix Espargaro will join Honda as a test rider in 2025 when he retires from racing.

Their hope is that he can aid development, similarly to his role in Aprilia’s rise.

“We will go from one test rider to three,” Puig said.

“We aren’t going after people but, in the case of Aleix, he decided to retire. We thought it was a good moment to get his services because he is experienced.

“He made the Aprilia, he knows what he did, it was important. “Exchanging info in racing is something that you need.

“You need to be at the [cutting edge] of technology so you need info from wherever [it comes from].”

Romano Albesiano will also join Honda as their new technical director after leading Aprilia’s project.

“It’s going to be interesting to understand a different point of view.

We are excited,” Puig said.

'Never easy to lose a champion'

Marquez quit the final year of his big-money Honda deal to ride a year-old Ducati.

He has won three grands prix this year, vindicating the decision to leave the manufacturer with whom he won all of his championships.

“Marc is not just a rider, he’s a special type of rider,” said Puig.

“When he joins a team, there is an impact.

“He made his decision and we took it in an alright way.

“What he did was, for him, correct. He is making a lot of good results.

“From our point of view, we had to accept it. The team goes on.

“Honda won’t stop if a rider leaves or comes.

“We weren’t happy but we respect the guy because he won a lot for Honda, so it was fair.

“It’s never easy to lose a champion but life goes and we’ll keep going.

“We aren’t making these efforts just to be here, just to participate. To where we want to go, we need to go through different steps. And this is where we are now.”