Honda says optimising electronic set-up its main weakness

Both Marc Marquez and HRC vice-president Shuhei Nakamoto believe that the main problem with the Honda bike is in the complexity of correctly setting up the electronic control unit.

Ken Kawauchi, Suzuki Ecstar Team Manager, Shuhei Nakamoto, HRC Executive Vice President, Kouichi Tsuji, General Manager Motorsports Development Division, Yamaha Motor, Gigi Dall'Igna, Ducati Team General Manager

Third place Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

Shuhei Nakamoto, vice-president of Honda Racing Corporation

Last week, at Brno, Nakamoto evaluated the first half of the season together with his counterparts from chief rivals Yamaha, Ducati and Suzuki.

And when he was asked if the new engine introduced this year - with the counter-rotating crankshaft - as per Marquez's request, was the main headache for his engineers, the answer was unequivocal: "No, the problem is the electronics."

The statement from Nakamoto, who proceeded to explain it further, was corroborated by championship leader Marquez, who has been complaining about a lack of acceleration since the start of the season.

Losing out to Yamaha or Ducati in this area does not necessarily mean that the engine is not as powerful than those of its rivals, but that the power it generates cannot be transmitted to the ground.

The most visible symptom of this is the wheelies that the engineers and the riders try to avoid as much as possible when exiting corners.

"What I do is touch the rear break on the straights to try to stop the bike from lifting," explained Marquez.

Naturally, braking on the straights does not seem the best solution when it comes to racing. Another sign is the winglets, which are used to keep the front end on stuck to the ground.

The common denominator for all that can be found in the electronics control unit that came into play in 2016, or more specifically the software Magneti Marelli, the supplier, gave the teams to work with.

"Last year we used our own software, and the setting was not so critical," continued Nakamoto. "But with the new software you have to find the exact number.

"Sometimes we manage it, but most of the time we don't. The rider complains that the bike doesn't accelerate, so then we change the setting and then there is too much wheelie."

He added: "The [unified] software works well, but extracting performance is different. The set-up is now much more important that before.

"The Honda system was much simpler: the engineers trackside would make changes and the bike responded right away in the way we expected.

"With this system sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, and we don't understand why. Maybe our engineers are lacking experience."