Marc Marquez fired a warning across the bows of Honda following his third DNF of the season at Mugello, declaring “if you have winning riders, you need a winning bike.”
The factory Honda pilot looked to be in the battle for a rostrum position in the early stages of the Italian Grand Prix – much like he was last time out at Le Mans before he later crashed out of the French encounter – though while trying to find a way through VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini he ran wide at the final bend.
Marquez attempted to arrest his RC213-V and get back on line, though he unfortunately lost the front of his machine and slid off into the gravel to retire for the third straight GP he has participated in – the six-time premier class champion yet to see the chequered flag on Sunday this season.
The Spaniard had already survived one large moment on the opening lap where he locked the front wheel of his machine at Turn 10, but conceded that he felt “quite comfortable” before the same thing happened again into the final bend on lap six, leading to his demise – a pattern he wants Honda to fix as he became the third of the marque’s rider’s to crash during the event.
“Today I was riding good and felt quite comfortable and pushing, I wasn’t stressed and while I saw Pecco (Bagnaia) and (Jorge) Martin were a bit faster I could stay with (Luca) Marini and be in that group to end up in the top six or seven,” explained Marquez.
“I was struggling a bit under braking, already at Turn 10 at the start I had a strange moment where I had a big lock, and then again at the last corner I had a lock and went wide, I tried to manage it but I lost the front.
“We need to improve and keep working, I’ve told the technical staff already that all us Honda riders are having to take too much risk.
“If you have winning riders, you need a winning bike because our mentality is to be there at the front and Friday was (Joan) Mir (crashing), yesterday was (Alex) Rins and today was me and luckily I didn’t get injured.”
Marquez warned that he and the his fellow RC213-V pilots would have to potentially “take a step back” and not push for the best result possible should the Japanese manufacturer fail to make any progress with the rideability of its challenger, insisting “we’re having to take too many risks to be competitive.”
“Today I was calm and when I went wide I just was going to turn, but sometimes it’s difficult why you crash and it could be because you are riding over the limit so it’s something that needs to be changed for the future, or all the Honda riders have to change their mentality and take a step back,” continued Marquez.
“We’re having to take too many risks to be competitive, so we need to change the situation.”
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