Tensions run high between Luca Marini and Honda: "Why are we wasting time?

Luca Marini finished the MotoGP race at the Sachsenring in eighth place. The road to the podium remains distant; for Honda it’s another uphill season, as expected before the start of the Championship. The Japanese manufacturer’s engineering focus already seems fixed on 2026, when the new technical regulations will come into effect.

Luca Marini closes the first part of this MotoGP season in tenth place with 79 points, establishing himself as the best rider of the Golden Wing. Starting from thirteenth on the grid, he climbed positions over the 30 laps of the German GP. Stuck for several laps behind Jack Miller, in the final stages he managed to overtake the Australian as his tires wore out. Thanks to several retirements, Marini rose to 8th place, 18.6 seconds behind the winner Marc Marquez. In the duel between Japanese manufacturers, only Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo finished ahead of him.

Eighth place is perhaps the best result an RC213V could achieve at the Sachsenring. "This is the potential we’ve shown in this first half of the season. Better than eighth is difficult, apart from special opportunities." After the MotoGP Sprint, in which he didn’t score points (11th), the bike’s configuration was completely flipped. "So we went back to my base setup for the race, and it was the best compromise."

Sunday’s race still brought plenty of issues. After the Moto2 race, with high temperatures and the harder rear tire, it wasn’t just the rear causing trouble. "I had a lot of understeer and movement at the front; it wasn’t easy to turn into the corners," explained Luca Marini. He had enough time to analyze Miller’s M1. "The Yamaha riders turn very well. It’s not so easy for us at the moment... Yamaha was better than us all weekend. We lost the Japan Cup. That’s a point for them."

Despite the many changes in the first part of this MotoGP season, certain issues with the RC213V remain unresolved. "The problems are always the same. We need to push the engineers and the Japanese more so they bring us some updates for the future." Why wait, if a component that arrives now can also be used in 2027? "That way you simply gather more data. So why waste time? We’re not satisfied with P8. Last year we were used to this position, but we wanted to achieve more."

The MotoGP championship goes into the break with Marini in the top 10 in the overall standings. However, his future lies away from Honda. Valentino Rossi’s brother will race in KTM Tech3 colors, where he will team up with a young rider coming from Moto2 (Senna Agius?). The rider market is in its final stages. Barring unforeseen events or twists, Brad Binder, Jack Miller, Maverick Vinales, Franco Morbidelli, and Alex Rins will be left out of MotoGP.

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