Marc Marquez 'felt something strange', went back to older Honda parts

Marc Marquez has confirmed he is no longer using the latest Honda MotoGP chassis after feeling 'something strange' with the 2021-spec RC213V.

The Spaniard was unable to take part in bike development from July 2020 to April 2021 due to complications with a broken right arm.

Although Honda didn't win during his absence, they did finish last season with two podiums for Marc's younger brother Alex plus a pole position for Takaaki Nakagami.

Upon his return, Marquez began using the latest specification 2021 machine, still powered by the 2020 engine (due to the technical freeze) but with further modifications in other areas, most notably the chassis.

However, as his strength returned, the eight time world champion began to doubt the performance of the new parts.

"Last year I was not racing. Honda HRC continued trying new items for the riders that were racing, some of those items they liked and kept on the bike and definitely the performance of the bike was not bad," Marquez explained.

"Alex finished two times on the podium and in the last races he was consistently in the top ten. Also Nakagami was fast, pole position in Aragon.

"In my first races [back] I was not able to understand the bike, but as soon as I started to understand, I felt something strange and then I start to analyse with all the team and Honda engineers what they did in the pre-season, in Qatar.

"They changed a few things, all the riders in the Qatar test liked it and kept it, but the performance was the same. Or even worse. So if you like something you need to be faster on the track.

"So that is when we started to look at all these things and we arrived at one point where I said, 'okay, I want to come back to something that I know'. And something that I know is 2019 or 2020 in Jerez.

"Now we are racing with that base… and from that base we start to work.

"This is what we did since Le Mans, we did one step, since Mugello another step, Montmelo another step and Sachsenring was definitely my bike.

"The set-up is closer to 2019 and now all Hondas are looking for a similar bike like I'm using, because I'm the only one using a little bit different bike."

Marquez, who feels he has 'more-or-less' returned to his former riding style since Mugello, also plans to retry the latest parts "that the others already used, but it's to find the way for 2022 not to improve for this year."

Many suspect the engine is the root cause of Honda's rear grip issues, something that cannot be modified until 2022.

Nonetheless, following last weekend's Sachsenring victory, new team-mate Pol Espargaro plans to switch over to Marquez's chassis and settings in the near future to help his adaptation to the Honda.

"It's true that Pol at the moment is struggling a little bit to try the find the way to be fast and especially consistent with the Honda. Also the other Honda riders are struggling a bit, maybe Nakagami is the one that understands better the way to ride," Marquez said.

"But it's not like Sachsenring made everything disappear. We are in a difficult moment, I'm not helping the bike, the bike isn’t helping me and this compromise makes everything more difficult.

"But we are on the way and here we will try a few things and step-by-step let's see if in the second part of the season we can start to prepare 2022.

"[Winning] was a great motivation on the mental side and we are convinced that we can do it, but in the future. Not now. This will be the target. This weekend we will try to do a step, but do a step compared to Mugello-Montmelo, not Sachsenring.

"Sachsenring was Sachsenring. In other racetracks it will be different. This means trying to be in the top ten, not better."