MotoGP, Honda or Yamaha: Who Is Having the Worst Season? Just 85 Points Separate the Two Japanese Manufacturers

The first instinct is to point the finger at Yamaha. Yet in the race to the bottom of the MotoGP constructors’ standings, Honda is ahead by just 85 points: 190 to 105. A slim margin, especially considering that Ducati leads with 569 points and that the Iwata-based manufacturer did not even race at the Qatar GP. This is where Paddock-GP begins its analysis, asking which of the two Japanese giants is having the more disastrous season.

The comparison also makes sense when looking at the teams: the four Japanese outfits occupy the bottom four places in the team standings, in this order: HRC, LCR, the factory Yamaha team and Pramac. According to the French website, these are two different crises that deserve to be examined side by side.

The most provocative argument concerns Honda. At the Sepang tests, Aleix Espargaro had hinted that the RC213V would be a real missile: the aim was to build on the progress made at the end of 2025 before turning the focus to 2027. Expectations soon fizzled out. Johann Zarco, the team’s leading rider last season, and Luca Marini, who had become a regular in the top five during the overseas races of 2025, made no impression from the very first races.

According to the author, the bike was never in contention in any Sunday race, with the possible exception of Barcelona, where Joan Mir was later penalized for an illegal tyre-pressure reading. The verdict is clear: compared with 2025, not only has there been no progress, but the team has gone backwards.

The rider line-up does not fare well in the assessment either. Zarco stood out from the rest of the group, but without repeating the feat he had achieved in the past. Marini, writes Paddock-GP, has slipped back into obscurity, with qualifying performances deemed unworthy of his ability. Rookie Diogo Moreira has done well without setting the world alight, performing about as expected of a Moto2 world champion in his first year, with the Motegi Sprint as his high point. Before being sidelined for weeks, Mir had suffered a string of crashes.

The technical disappointment has been compounded by a dose of bad luck that, according to the French website, has no equal among manufacturers over the past decade. The first blow came before the season had even begun, when Aleix Espargaro was injured during the Sepang tests.

The final verdict between Honda and Yamaha is still up in the air, but the numbers make one thing clear: the pecking order at the back of the grid is less obvious than it seems. And with the 2027 project just around the corner, both Japanese manufacturers will have to show that this season was merely a stepping stone.

Sources: Paddock-GP