Dani Pedrosa has revealed Honda did not want to retain him as a MotoGP test rider because his small size would not allow him to offer useful feedback on the bike to its race riders.
Pedrosa confirmed he would be departing Honda after 18 years at the end of 2018 following the Italian Grand Prix, before announcing his retirement from racing mid-season.
The 31-time MotoGP race winner was reportedly being courted by HRC to remain as a test rider, though ultimately opted to join KTM on a two-year deal instead.
However, in an interview with Spain's Marca, Pedrosa reveals Honda boss Yoshishge Nomura felt he was too small to provide useful data on the RC213V for Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo.
“The reasons for my change of team is KTM offered me a good project and all their confidence,” he began.
“HRC president, Yoshishige Nomura, told me that he did not think that with my physique I was going to provide the feedback they were going to need [to help] the current riders of the team.
“Marquez and Lorenzo are physically bigger than me. They considered that for this role, [HRC test rider] Stefan Bradl was better suited.”
HRC top brass was not the only one within Honda to suggest Pedrosa would not be a suitable test rider for the brand, as LCR's Cal Crutchlow admitted the Spaniard's riding style was too unique for the role.
Late last year, Honda boss Alberto Puig said to La Vanguardia he did not believe Pedrosa was fully committed to becoming a world champion, which Pedrosa denied in a social media post.
In the same Marca interview, Pedrosa said he was grateful for what his former mentor did for his career, but felt it unnecessary to engage in “sterile polemics”.
"As for Alberto Puig, he has been a vital part of my sports career,” he added.
“I'm never going to deny it, everybody knows it and I've never tried to hide it. But after the events of this past year, that's a closed chapter, there is no need to enter into sterile polemics.”
Pedrosa completed a private test on the RC16 at Jerez in December, and had been expected to continue this work at Sepang next month.
However, his test duties have been put on hold while he undergoes stem cell treatment on a collarbone injury he picked up at the start of this year while training.
