Honda's main objective over the winter was to develop a bike that was more stable and rideable so that consistently multiple Honda riders can be up at the front of the grid this issue was most noticeable last year after Marc Marquez sadly crashed out of the SpanishGP at Jerez at the start of the 2020 season and being unable to ride for the rest of the season and because of this it took Alex Marquez on the Repsol Honda 9 races for Honda to their first podium of the season.
But when Honda came to Qatar test for the test before the season starts within a couple of days things have gotten worse for the Japanese manufacturer with Takaaki Nakagami having a small crash at turn one and Stephan Bradl had a fast crash at turn three with reports of a sore neck but was declared fit for the next day of testing while Alex Marquez had 5 crashes within 4 days and in his lastest crash, he sustained a 2mm fracture in his fourth metatarsal in his right foot which could potentially declare him unfit for the rest of the test delaying Honda's testing plans even more.
Even with these slight setbacks, Honda has still managed to get some very important miles of testing in especially with their chassis development as Honda was seen putting their new experimental chassis into a crate and stored away as it did not give them the improvements that they were looking for as all the Honda riders have resorted back to the 2020 chassis that was previously used by the riders last year and the 2020 chassis with some carbon on it which should help improve the bike feedback to the rider.
Honda has also trialed some new aero which will be there mainly to try and make the bike more stable this aero was used previously in last year's Misano test with only Stephan Bradl and Takaaki Nakagami being able to trial it with Alex Marquez and Pol Espargaró expected to test it very soon, with Pol Espargaró having a very successful Qatar test with being in the top 5 after the 3rd day of testing with Pol saying "I would say it's coming more naturally than what I expected. But even like that, there is still a lot I have to learn about the limits of the bike." This could potentially be down to Dani Pedrosa's development in KTM as with Dani coming from Honda there would off been a lot of development in the KTM that was directed by the feeling that he had from the Honda so when Pol switched Manufacturers they could feel quite a bit similar.
Just like the rest of the Manufacturers Honda have been seen using the brand new front launch device which has needed some fine-tuning with the Honda as Takaaki Nakagami Demonstrated with his practice start but most likely Honda have overcome these issues as we have some many successful launches with this device and if it makes a difference it will most likely be seen in the first round.
Although Honda hasn't had the smoothest test they have still got some valuable testing done and will hopefully pay off with Marc Marquez fighting to get fit again for the first round at the end of the month and Pol Espargaró showing some amazing pace already as he just starts to understand how to get to grips with the Honda.
But when Honda came to Qatar test for the test before the season starts within a couple of days things have gotten worse for the Japanese manufacturer with Takaaki Nakagami having a small crash at turn one and Stephan Bradl had a fast crash at turn three with reports of a sore neck but was declared fit for the next day of testing while Alex Marquez had 5 crashes within 4 days and in his lastest crash, he sustained a 2mm fracture in his fourth metatarsal in his right foot which could potentially declare him unfit for the rest of the test delaying Honda's testing plans even more.
Even with these slight setbacks, Honda has still managed to get some very important miles of testing in especially with their chassis development as Honda was seen putting their new experimental chassis into a crate and stored away as it did not give them the improvements that they were looking for as all the Honda riders have resorted back to the 2020 chassis that was previously used by the riders last year and the 2020 chassis with some carbon on it which should help improve the bike feedback to the rider.
Honda has also trialed some new aero which will be there mainly to try and make the bike more stable this aero was used previously in last year's Misano test with only Stephan Bradl and Takaaki Nakagami being able to trial it with Alex Marquez and Pol Espargaró expected to test it very soon, with Pol Espargaró having a very successful Qatar test with being in the top 5 after the 3rd day of testing with Pol saying "I would say it's coming more naturally than what I expected. But even like that, there is still a lot I have to learn about the limits of the bike." This could potentially be down to Dani Pedrosa's development in KTM as with Dani coming from Honda there would off been a lot of development in the KTM that was directed by the feeling that he had from the Honda so when Pol switched Manufacturers they could feel quite a bit similar.
Just like the rest of the Manufacturers Honda have been seen using the brand new front launch device which has needed some fine-tuning with the Honda as Takaaki Nakagami Demonstrated with his practice start but most likely Honda have overcome these issues as we have some many successful launches with this device and if it makes a difference it will most likely be seen in the first round.
Although Honda hasn't had the smoothest test they have still got some valuable testing done and will hopefully pay off with Marc Marquez fighting to get fit again for the first round at the end of the month and Pol Espargaró showing some amazing pace already as he just starts to understand how to get to grips with the Honda.
