MotoGP in 2021 has ushered in a new world championship, Yamahale has blossomed, and Honda has a sad head. The 2021 Honda is still struggling in the MotoGP, whether it is the factory team or the satellite team, the performance of the four drivers has ups and downs, especially the Honda factory team, and the injury of the Pony alone has touched the heart of the entire Honda.
Honda's 2021 record improved compared to 2020, scoring 214 points in the manufacturers' standings, and although it was only 9 points more than KTM, it ranked third from the bottom, but it scored 70 more points than last year. Judging from the performance of the team, the REPSOL HONDA factory team ranked 5th with 250 points, and the LCR HONDA satellite team ranked 7th with 146 points, which was an improvement over last year. Judging from the results of the points, Honda is actively developing for the better, finally breaking the championship drought in 2021, winning 3 championships throughout the year, and even winning the top two in the second half of the season, but these still can't hide the serious problems exposed by Honda.
If Honda's suffering in 2020 is due to excessive dependence on ponies, then Honda's suffering in 2021 is only dependent on ponies. Honda signed Xiao E, who had performed well in KTM before signing for the 2021 season, and Xiao E was also looking forward to his Career at Honda before the season, which seemed to be an instant battle. But after the start of the race, Xiao E did not show the characteristics of quickly adapting to RC213V, and struggled with the top ten for most of the season, and in desperation, Honda could only rely on the Ponies who returned from injury again. There is no doubt about the pony's fighting spirit, as long as he is on the court, you can always believe in the pony's desire to win, but a strong spirit does not mean a strong body, and the 2020 season of the ponies has proved this very well. By the 2021 season, the ponies have obviously learned to be obedient, and the driving style has also converged a little, except for one Highside rescue car throughout the year, the picture of the pony's rescue car is basically not seen, but the number of falls is not less.
In the 2021 season, 18 games were played, and the ponies participated in 14 games, including three consecutive falls in Spain, France and Italy, and the annual fall was as many as 22 times, ranking second in the total wrestling list, with an average of more than 1.5 falls in a race, for a driver who has just returned from injury, this wrestling data is really scary. But even if the ponies fell so wildly, they still won 142 points for Honda throughout the year, accounting for more than half of the team's total points, and won three championships and a runner-up for Honda, and the ponies were also the most scored by Honda's four drivers. The car that fell the most, took the most points, and the ponies were really cruel to themselves in 2021, and still Honda's most trustworthy thigh.
The other three Honda drivers also had a highlight performance in the 2021 season, and Little E suddenly opened up in the second half of the season, taking the first pole position of Honda's career in the United Kingdom, returning to Misano to start with the 4th place and finally finishing 2nd, which is a proof of his strength. Although Xiao Pony and Zhongshang are not as brave as in 2020, their performance is also stable in the middle, and The Little Ponies' penultimate stop even once had hopes to reach the podium, which is undoubtedly a carbon in the snow for Honda.
Although the ponies are still fighting, they cannot rely on the ponies forever, which can be seen from the development of the 2021 season of racing. Honda RC213V is notoriously aggressive and requires drivers to spend a lot of energy to find the limit, before Honda's racing development mainly focused on the pony, the pony a muscular human attribute plus aggressive driving style, and the RC213V coincided, but also created the glory of the 2019 season. In the 2020 season, the pony retired, Honda also found that the tendency of the car was too obvious, and began to improve, and the 2021 season of the pony returned, Honda seemed to put the car back to the pony's familiar state, until the end of the season, E Jr. was complaining that the car was too aggressive and difficult to control. So to change the current situation, Honda will have to adjust its racing development strategy, but Honda plans to start with increasing the grip of the rear wheel in 2022 and make the car more friendly, after all, Honda can't count on the Ponies forever. And the pony also knows that even if he is a muscle, brave and aggressive, he can't resist the injuries and years, and if he wants to maintain a high competitive state like Rosie for a long time, he will have to change his style.
Throughout Honda's three seasons, from the sun in 2019, dominating the paddock, to falling into the trough in 2020, and then to the continuous struggle in 2021, in just three seasons Honda experienced a roller coaster in MotoGP, which also made Honda finally make up its mind to make a change. The good news is that the ponies are already gradually recovering, the little E has also shown good adaptability, in the Test of Jerez, the little E and the middle up have good feedback on the car, the little ponies are more promising in the future, and even rumors that Honda will join the battle for the small Q in 2023... These all indicate that things are on the good side, and hopefully in the 2022 season, Honda will bottom out.