Honda still has chassis and engine problems, says Pedrosa

The Spaniard was best of the Honda contingent in Malaysia, outpacing Repsol teammate Marc Marquez by half a second to go third fastest.

However, this still left Pedrosa 1.096s off the pace set by Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo, with Valentino Rossi making it a one-two for Honda’s main rival.

“We have chassis and engine problem to fix with the new electronics,” Pedrosa told media after the test. “Jorge was very fast today and we need to improve.”

Asked to identify the new RC213V’s weaknesses, he said: “Braking entry and exit, we have to make the bike work better, and we have some issues [coming] out of the corner, a lot of pumping.

“Sometimes it’s unstable in the turn, or the corner speed is not the best, so we need to find the best balance on the bike to make it work better with the electronics and the tyres.”

Honda spent the first day evaluating two different engines, as it seeks to rectify the aggressive engine character that blunted its 2015 campaign, but Pedrosa admitted the introduction of control electronics made judging any improvements difficult.

“There was some difference [between the engines], but with the new electronics it’s so hard to judge if the things that the bike is doing from the track are coming from the engine or the electronics,” he said.

“Tomorrow we have the same [new] engines to make sure we develop a bit better for the chassis side.”