2025 Silly Season

MichaelBolton said:

Mir is saying what Marc would be saying if he were still there. I know Mir hasn't been the best performer but Honda need a kick in the butt now, not just sweep everything under the rug.

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Honda have had a kick in the butt. For a manufacturer as racing-orientated as Honda, this has gotta hurt. Hopefully it's just a delayed reaction to the kick and the reaction will happen.

AnnoyingTwit said:

Joan Mir thinks that the concessions have helped Honda not one bit. And that without concessions, they woud be in about the same place as they are now. Joan Mir makes glum assessment of how much MotoGP concessions helped Honda

Yamaha's Massimo Meregalli believes that Yamaha are 'pointed in the right direction'. But, 2024 was Yamaha's worst season for a very long time. Yamaha 'saw light' at the end of “longest season ever” in MotoGP

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Mir is a broken man thanks to Honda’s failure to make the bike work for him and others

AnnoyingTwit said:

Honda have had a kick in the butt. For a manufacturer as racing-orientated as Honda, this has gotta hurt. Hopefully it's just a delayed reaction to the kick and the reaction will happen.

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If their most successful rider ever to whom they were paying the most money ever leaving before he completed his contract with them wasn’t a sufficient kick in the butt I really can’t imagine what would be.

mikesbytes said:

Mir is a broken man thanks to Honda’s failure to make the bike work for him and others

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I am not a huge fan of Mir’s in general but he deserves no criticism for his performances with Honda, and neither does any other rider for the last several years imo. If the winners of 9 premier class titles between them in MM and Jorge Lorenzo were incapable of either making the bike work or avoiding significant injury on the thing I am not sure who could be expected to campaign it even remotely successfully. The Honda ended Jorge’s career and nearly ended MM’s due to injuries sustained, and drove Honda’s most successful rider ever and one of the most successful riders ever period to forgo a reputed 20 million dollar annual salary to ride for another manufacturer’s lowliest satellite team.

I'm confident that the Japanese bottomed out mid-season and are slowly crawling back. Fabio's and Zarco's results in the second half of 2024 are encouraging.

JFM01 said:

I'm confident that the Japanese bottomed out mid-season and are slowly crawling back. Fabio's and Zarco's results in the second half of 2024 are encouraging.

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How would you predict that they will do next year?

I'm guessing that Fabio will score a podium at some point, in a sprint and/or feature race. But, not a win, and probably benefitting from a few DNFs. I'm not sure that any other rider on a Honda or Yamaha will. But, this is just a wild guess.

JFM01 said:

I'm confident that the Japanese bottomed out mid-season and are slowly crawling back. Fabio's and Zarco's results in the second half of 2024 are encouraging.

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It will take some time for Yamaha to get the V4 dialed in and I hope they get it right sooner rather than later. It would be a shame for the bulk of Fabio's prime to be spent on an inferior bike. As for Honda, yes, Zarco shined but what about everyone else? The factory guys were nowhere. Mir is still picking gravel out of his arse. I get one of the LCR seats is for an Asian rider but let's be real, Chantra isn't going to do much in MotoGP. Then again, people said the same about Fabio. 2025 will be very interesting and lots of fun. Can't wait.

The Yamaha V4 will help Yamaha utilise the rear tyre but not expecting it until 850’s

Zarco seems to of come to an understanding on how to ride the Honda, however that understanding hasn’t been found by Mir and Marini

2024 results data didn’t show Honda or Yamaha improving during the season faster than the European brands, let’s hope that’s not the case in 2025