One of Honda’s main objetives is to accelerate its development, which involves creating dedicated facilities in Europe, a plan recently unveiled and already confirmed by Stefan Bradl. However, this matter is not yet finalized, assured Alberto Puig, who nevertheless reiterated the manufacturer’s intention.

Speaking to Motorsport, the Honda factory team’s Team Manager was asked if there was anything already established in the Old Continent regarding this topic, but he explained that there wasn’t yet: ‘We’re evaluating the possibilities in Europe, but for now we haven’t finalized anything. The idea is to accelerate the process of implementing ideas in bike development.’

Puig then explained that the manufacturer aims to be faster in its support actions for the team: ‘We want to increase our reaction speed, but, at this moment, there are also interesting technological options in Europe.’

What is certain is that one of the factors pointed out for Honda’s delay was precisely the slowness in implementing and supporting new developments for the team, which extends to cultural issues as various team members have emphasized.

Max Bartolini, Yamaha’s head – also Japanese – had already spoken precisely about this distinct way of working between Europeans and Japanese, while Lucio Cecchinello (LCR Honda) also mentioned some difficulties that he expects will accompany Romano Albesiano – Honda’s new technical director – precisely because of the different work philosophy between people from that country compared to Europeans.