Honda are now ‘missing’ one MotoGP system which has helped Ducati achieve recent success

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Honda have fallen behind the MotoGP curve in recent times and hit rock bottom again in 2024 by finishing last in the constructors’ championship for a third consecutive season.

For the first time in their history, they failed to register a top-10 finish with either of their riders and neither were able to creep inside the top 20 of the riders’ standings.

They’re a far cry from their last title triumph with Marc Marquez back in 2019 – their sixth crown in seven years at the time.

Honda’s stubbornness and refusal to poach engineers from rival teams has affected them after continuing to stick to a Japanese-orientated workforce.

Although KTM have hit financial trouble recently, they adopted a Formula 1-style approach to recruitment and it helped improve their bike a lot.

Luca Marini doubts that Honda can catch Ducati before the end of the current regulations in 2026, despite making some progress at the end of 2024.

Honda ‘missing’ key Ducati system that gives MotoGP advantage

New satellite team rider Johann Zarco discovered Honda’s 2025 bike may be worse than its predecessor in a private test at the Jerez circuit for LCR.

It offers them little hope going into the next campaign where they are expected to be backmarkers yet again.

READ MORE: Lucio Cecchinello makes ‘big’ admission about Honda placing Somkiat Chantra at LCR

Lluis Zuniga believes that Ducati’s testing system, where they can find out if any upgrade works almost immediately, is something that Honda is missing.

“Espargaro, however good he is, cannot make the difference [as a test driver]. Let’s go back to Ducati. Let’s take Michele Pirro for example, the test rider of the Rosso does a lot of kilometres,” he said.

“He naturally has his say on the bike but then the analysis is done by the engineers. They created a system that immediately identifies whether or not an innovation brings advantages. As far as I know, this is missing at Honda.”

When will Honda’s next big MotoGP break come?

Without any drastic changes, Honda appears destined to remain at the back of the pack for the foreseeable future.

Their bike is comfortably off the pace and the only thing that could shake the field up at short notice is a new set of regulations.

READ MORE: Johann Zarco shares what Aleix Espargaro is not ‘allowed’ to say after 2025 Honda MotoGP test

The rules are going to change again ahead of the 2027 season but it means that the Japanese manufacturer potentially faces two more tough years before reaching a competitive level again.

Honda have been tipped to sign Francesco Bagnaia for 2027 which would be a huge coup for their project.

His experience and development understanding could be exactly what they need to return to the front of the grid.