It is fair to say Honda has not lived up to expectations in the first half of the 2026 MotoGP season. After showing encouraging performance gains with the RC213V late last year, the Hamamatsu manufacturer delivered a subdued start to its campaign—ultimately dropping back down in the concession rankings.
A far cry from its historic front-running pace for several years now, Honda generated early buzz toward the end of last season and entered the new campaign with high morale. As the races unfolded, however, results fell well short of anticipation.
Their standout moment came in Catalunya, where Joan Mir crossed the line second in a chaotic GP, only to be slapped with a 16-second penalty for a tire pressure violation, dropping him to 13th.
Qualifying remains a major stumbling block for Honda. Out of the 11 rounds contested so far, at least one of the brand’s four riders advanced directly into Q2 on nine occasions, but whenever relegated to Q1, they rarely look like contenders to advance. At Germany’s Sachsenring—where the Japanese manufacturer collected a paltry eight points across the weekend (beating only their six-point hauls from Assen and Mugello, and seven from Goiânia)—neither the factory riders nor satellite LCR entry managed to break into Q2.
As Luca Marini has consistently emphasized, modern MotoGP results hinge heavily on grid position. That reality became even more pronounced post-Sachsenring, when the championship expanded grid row spacing as a safety measure, making overtakes off the line even harder.
Honda’s campaign hasn’t been helped by the prolonged absence of Johann Zarco. The Frenchman sustained knee injuries in a heavy crash in Catalunya—his leg getting trapped in Francesco Bagnaia’s bike after a Turn 1 incident—and has been sidelined ever since. As one of the brand’s strongest riders, Zarco’s absence is heavily reflected in the points standings.
Another major hurdle for the Japanese factory is Joan Mir’s high crash tally. The Spaniard has gone down 15 times so far this year—second only to Jorge Martín’s 16 crashes—and registered DNFs in Thailand, Brazil, the United States, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Germany. In four of those races, the #36 was running inside the top 10 before crashing out.
Unsurprisingly, Luca Marini leads the Honda contingent in the championship. The Italian, who has scored points in every Grand Prix so far, sits 10th in the Riders’ Standings with 79 points—129 points adrift of the championship leader.
The fourth member of the lineup is rookie Diogo Moreira, who has acquitted himself well in his debut season. Sitting 15th in the standings, the Brazilian sits ahead of both Zarco and Mir, trailing Marini by 31 points.
The sub-par performance saw Honda demoted in the concession tier system. At the end of last year, the Japanese giant had climbed to Group C, losing privileges such as in-season engine development. However, in the mid-season review, Honda slipped back into Group D alongside Yamaha.
With sweeping regulation changes looming for 2027, expectations for major development updates on the RC213V are modest at best, though Marini remains hopeful of receiving more ‘spiced up’ parts to boost performance. That remains Honda’s primary hope, as the season so far has been a clear disappointment.
MotoGP now enters its summer break before returning to action August 7–9 for the British Grand Prix, Round 12 of the 2026 season.
