Pedrosa says form hurt by Marquez's bike choice

Pedrosa lies fourth in the points standings, having taken two podiums in Argentina and Catalunya, while Marquez leads the championship with two victories to his credit.

Honda took the radical step of redesigning its engine with counter-rotating crankshaft over the winter, a change Marquez said at the start of the year had been requested by both factory riders.

But Pedrosa claims he had no input in the decision, and is now paying the price of having to compete on a bike built around Marquez’s preferences.

The 30-year-old also said that he knew he would be in for a difficult time in 2016 as early as the Valencia test last November.

"In the end we didn't have many specs [of engines], but out of the ones we had I wouldn't have chosen the current one,” Pedrosa admitted.

"When we picked the bike I already knew things would be very hard. I already knew how the bike handled in November. But it is what it is.

"The choice of bike that we have was [Marquez's], I had nothing to do with it.

“For the moment, he's ahead and he deserves to be. He likes the bike, he adapts better to it, while I struggle more.

“That's obvious, you can see it in the results and in the way we ride."

Satellite rider struggles

Pedrosa said the poor performance of Honda’s satellite bikes this season in comparison to previous years was yet further evidence of how the RC213V has been designed around Marquez’s needs.

Cal Crutchlow’s sixth place at Catalunya has been the best result for a Honda rider besides Marquez and Pedrosa of the campaign so far.

“You have to think of the team, not only about yourself,” Pedrosa added.

“If you look at the rest of the Hondas, they are a lot further behind than two or three years ago, when you had [Stefan] Bradl or [Alvaro] Bautista finishing fourth or fifth.

“Now they are 10th and further [back]. So we have to try to get the other teams to work too."