Marquez: Honda has "ideas" to fix its troubled MotoGP bike at Jerez

The six-time world champion was the first Honda across the line last week at Portimao, but was 16 seconds off the win down in sixth spot having been expected to fight for the podium.

All Honda riders have made complaints about the marque's radically overhauled challenger for 2022 in recent rounds despite the bike being met with praise in the pre-season and first round of the campaign.

Marquez has always been sceptical of the 2022 bike, however, as its rear-biased design ethos has made it harder for him to utilise his key riding strength of braking.

Ahead of the Jerez race this weekend, Marquez says Honda has ideas to try on the bike, while he feels he has his own improvements to make.

"Of course, in Portimao we were too far," Marquez said on Thursday at Jerez.  "OK, you can check [the result], sixth position was not bad.

"But we were too far from the podium, from the victory. We struggled a lot in the race. But anyway, we will try to find the way to be faster here in Jerez.

"Of course, already we have some ideas to try not only on the bike, but also myself.

"I need to keep improving and we are working on it. We will see how we start in FP1 and from that point start to understand a direction."

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

Photo by: Dorna

After the Portimao race, Marquez's teammate Pol Espargaro said the bike suffered from a lack of rear grip, something the new design philosophy was meant to eradicate.

At Jerez, Marquez said the big issue is how the bike turns on tighter circuits and isn't sure how long it will take Honda to find a permanent fix.

"This is the big question," Marquez, who is 38 points off the championship lead currently, replied when asked how long he feels it will take to fix the bike's issues.

"It's true that it's a bike that in a big circuit that is working really good, like we saw in the pre-season in Malaysia, in Qatar.

"But as soon as we arrive to small circuits and you need to turn in a short time, there is where we struggle a lot and it's where we need to understand.

"If the solution is close or far, we don't know. But the potential is there, but we need to find the way to take profit of that potential."

On the Monday following the Spanish GP, there will the first of three one-day tests that will take place in-season in 2022.

Many have pegged this as an important test for Honda, but Marquez admits his work begins in FP1 on Friday as the Japanese marque must find a proper base set-up before it can begin trying new parts.

"We are in a different situation and my Monday test starts tomorrow," he added.b"So tomorrow we will start to try things – not new things.

"First of all we need to try to find a base [set-up]. They [our rivals] have a good base, they are fighting for the championship for that reason. When you have a good base, you are able to be fast everywhere.

"It's there where we need to work, trying to find first of all a base where we feel comfortable and from that point try new things."