Crash.net MotoGP podcast: 2021 season review - Honda
For our final podcast of 2021 Keith Huewen, Crash.net MotoGP editor Peter McLaren and host Harry Benjamin take a team-by-team look through the MotoGP field.
This clip focusses on Honda, which began the year still without Marc Marquez, whose troublesome right arm fracture was finally strong enough to return at round three.
The Spaniard took an emotional victory at the Sachsenring, his and Honda's first win since 2019. A lull followed, before Marquez's improving physical strength and Honda's technical updates resulted in a run of two victories, a second place and a fourth between Aragon and Misano 2.
Then came the worrying news of an eye injury in training, which forced Marquez out of the final two rounds and Jerez test.
It's similar to the 2011 double-vision problem which saw Marquez sidelined for four and a half months, meaning it's far from certain if the #93 will be back for any of next year's pre-season tests at Sepang and Mandalika, in February.
Most importantly, having now happened twice and with the exact circumstances surrounding the latest enduro fall unclear, what is the likelihood of the eye injury recurring in the future?
"It's taken Marc Marquez a long time to come back from that arm injury but it's bolted together and looks pretty strong now. You can't do that with an eye," says Heuwen.
"However big the accident was, the fact it's caused the same injury as he had previously, you've got to reckon on that basis that it's going to take less of a clout to cause the same injury a third time, is my rather basic theory. And that's if he can come back. You can't ride at 200 mph with double vision.
"All we can do is wish him all the best and hope he doesn't suffer from this injury into the rest of his life."
On the other side of the Repsol garage, Pol Espargaro showed signs of speed but generally endured a tough time in his first season on the RC213V, while LCR's Alex Marquez and Takaaki Nakagami also languished outside the championship top 10.
Download the full podcast here:
