Casey Stoner's damning Honda verdict: ‘Everyone thinks it’s a piece of crap’
Two-time MotoGP champion Casey Stoner has questioned Honda’s strategy after leaving themselves with a bike that very few riders want to ride.
Casey Stoner joined Honda during his career after becoming the first Ducati MotoGP champion.
Again world champion in 2011 with Honda, Stoner then retired following the 2012 season where he failed to defend the number 1 plate.
Stoner left Honda and felt pushed out following his retirement after they began to prioritise Marc Marquez and not his role as a test rider, or team-mate at the time Dani Pedrosa.
It’s now one of the reasons why Honda are struggling so much and Stoner admits there was no way for them to prepare for this after choosing the wrong direction.
Speaking to Gazzetta.it, Stoner said: “There was no way to be prepared for this. They were not understanding and they were already speaking to people just in case but there is so much bad press around Honda because everyone thinks it’s a piece of crap because they all want to leave.
“It doesn’t matter how much you’re prepared if people don’t want to go there. Unfortunately, with riders there are very few that will do things for themselves.
“They will look at what everyone else is doing and will want what they have. They will always make an excuse for why they are not getting results and saying the bike is the problem.
“Instead of going to work and saying ‘I have this incredible team, this incredible team with success, let’s work together and make the most of it’.
“We saw Honda win comfortably in Austin. How can it be so bad at the end of the year? That’s my question. It can’t be so bad.
“Rins then got injured and everything went wrong. Marc [Marquez] was struggling with his confidence so there was nobody to lead the way. Without a leader everybody will blame the bike.”
Stoner also spoke about the current regulations which he believes go against the integrity of the sport.
Of the mindset that whoever is at the top gets punished because of politics, Stoner added: “Alberto [Puig] is not doing a bad job. These are just circumstances. I completely understand Honda’s position because the championship doesn’t seem to have a set of rules.
“They can adapt them and change them for all the European manufacturers to do what they want, but why as Honda would you be willing to put all this development into a bike and a lot of money when they just change the rules again for somebody else.
“The winglets were supposed to be banned five years ago but then they arrived for the next season and the rules hadn’t changed.
“Everybody was still able to have them. Why do you think this happens? Things are happening under the table.”
