“Sure, if we could have this experience at the beginning of the year, like if the race in Portimao was the first race, the year would have been much easier and different. “So, we needed to use the small tests as a very important test for us, and through the year these tests – especially from the middle of the year to the end – we really improved the bike, we really improved our set-up and I started to feel much better on the bike. Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images Then I needed to discover how to ride the bike during the race weekends, which is very, very difficult because you have all the pressure, you want to perform well, you have crashes, you have no time to work on the bike. “We went into the first race in Qatar not ready, actually, with a few a laps in Qatar and a few laps on the bike. “So, you have no time to say you are adapting, or you have no time to test, you have not so much testing now. “And especially when you are changing bikes, the level now in MotoGP is fantastic, it’s super, super high. “Basically, the experience in MotoGP is half of the way – it’s super-important,” Espargaro said.

Reflecting on his first season as a Honda rider, Espargaro admits he started it really on the back foot – but felt tangible progress had been made on the bike on the run in to the end of the year. Several post-race tests during the season allowed him to make some headway, with Espargaro scoring pole at Silverstone and claiming his best-ever MotoGP result of second at the Emilia Romagna GP to complete Honda’s first 1-2 behind Marc Marquez since 2017. The 2021 Honda lacked rear grip, which caused issues for its riders exiting corners as well as into them – Espargaro unable to utilise his normal braking style of using the rear brake as a result. With COVID-19 forcing pre-season testing to be cut down to just five days in Qatar before the first two races of the year at Losail, Espargaro was left playing catch-up for most of the campaign.

The 2013 Moto2 world champion made a shock switch from KTM to the factory Honda squad for 2021, but found the transition immensely difficult. China replaces soldiers with machinegun-carrying robots in Tibet © Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

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