Luca Marini insists he’s been pushing at 100% every lap while awaiting much needed technical progress from the Honda RC213V.

The Italian, a double MotoGP pole and podium finisher at VR46, has endured a torrid start to his Repsol career and is the only full-time rider without a point in 2024.

To put that into perspective, the top Honda competitor – team-mate Joan Mir – has scored just 12 out of a possible 185 points. Nonetheless, Marini has been in last place during 7 of the 10 races so far, including Sprints.

With test rider Stefan Bradl’s recent Honda prototype being given a thumbs down by all four race riders, the standard bikes were again used during last weekend’s French MotoGP.

Marini was at the back in both Le Mans races but explained that – while the delivery of technical updates is out of his hands – he can experiment with body position and riding style, taking inspiration from Ducati’s title leaders Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia.

“I’m trying [despite the results]. I’m trying to work on my style or my position because now you can see that Pecco and Martin can make the difference with their body,” Marini said.

“So only those two are pushing in this way, with their body below the bike and make the bike turn.

“So for me, I think that this will be the key for the MotoGP, for the next years. Everybody is trying to make this change.

“So I’m working on it, but every lap I’m pushing at 100%.”

Honda riders are mainly suffering with a lack of turning and acceleration, issues they hope will be addressed during this week’s private test at Mugello.

“So now we have a lot of work to do in Mugello, focus on the new bike,” Marini said before leaving Le Mans. “I’m sure that the new upgrades will bring us more towards the top, not a lot, but a little bit.

“We have good expectations about that test. 

“For sure it will not change [our situation] day and night, but for me it can be a very good improvement. And especially, following that direction, we can make other steps for the end of the season.”

If Honda progress was made at Mugello, the new parts could be used during next weekend’s Catalan round.

Honda’s start to the 2024 MotoGP season has done little to create optimism.

The first year of their post-Marc Marquez era has yielded only 14 points from the first two rounds.

Starkly, fellow strugglers Yamaha have scored 18 points with two fewer riders.

Luca Marini, their replacement for star man Marquez, sits bottom of the MotoGP standings without a point to his name yet.

The four Honda riders qualified for the Portuguese MotoGP in the last four spots on the grid, an early display of their struggles.

No Honda scored a point in the sprint, and Joan Mir’s 12th-placed finish in the Portimao grand prix owed a lot to the late DNFs of Maverick Vinales and Francesco Bagnaia.

Alberto Puig, team manager of Repsol Honda, was quoted by Todo Circuito: “Our riders are not completely satisfied with the performance, but they can see that we are trying our best.

“We are in the development process, that is clear.”

Puig insists Honda are “progressing”.

However he admits: “At the same time, others are also progressing.”

The bullish Puig summarised: “We have achieved as much as we expected.

“But we have a mission. Our plan is clear.

“We said it last year. It is not easy, but we are investing a lot of resources.

“We have also reinforced the project in terms of personnel.”

Honda’s MotoGP project has received help from staff assigned to its Formula 1 programme to develop the RC213V.

The technical team at the top of Honda’s MotoGP project was also reshuffled for this year.

“We are not there yet if we look at the classification,” Puig said.

“But it is a process. Of course, right now we would prefer to be ahead.

“But things are what they are. We will keep trying.”

Grip is the obvious area that every Honda rider has declared a weakness.

Puig vows to: “Seek more contact with the ground on the rear wheel when entering and exiting the corner.”

He insists Honda have “made progress recently” but “it is clear that we need more”.

Puig added: “That’s all I can say. We are on a mission and we have our objectives.

“People know Honda. We will not stop until we achieve it.”

Puig was asked when Honda might return to winning a MotoGP race.

He answered: “I think we will be able to move forward with the concessions after the summer break.

“Let’s hope to see clearer progress in the second half of the season.

“That is our hope and it is reasonable to believe it. Those are our expectations.”

Speaking at Saturday night’s Gresini Ducati team presentation, the eight-time world champion – who negotiated an early exit from the final year of his big money HRC deal after two winless seasons – maintained “I hope our futures will cross again”.

“Of course, it was a super difficult decision, for that reason it took me a long time, until after Motegi,” Marquez said.

“But on the other side my ambition is the same as 2013. If I’m here, it’s because I feel I have the chance or level to fight for the top 5 positions.

“I cannot say fight for championship, because you need extra in many areas, but still I feel I can fight for top 5-6 positions.

“So I chose that [Gresini Ducati] direction to prolong my career. Only this. The easy way was to stay in Honda. Less pressure, more money in my bank. But it’s not the target.

“I’m very thankful to Honda and I said at the Honda Thanks Day and I’ll say again, that I hope our futures will cross again.

“But it’s not only my decision.

“I need to fast on the race track, to open more doors in future. If I am fast on the racetrack then I will be in a better position to choose my future.”

Marquez has signed only a one year deal with Gresini, where he will race alongside younger brother Alex this season.

Meanwhile, after failing to get on top of the RC213V’s deficiencies for several seasons, the 2024 Honda prototype was greeted as a real step forward by Marquez’s former team-mate Joan Mir at the Valencia test.

Marquez, Honda’s most successful grand prix rider in history with 59 wins, insisted he never doubted the factory will return to the top, but the big question mark is how long it will take.

“The biggest doubt if it’s going to happen in a month, two years or one year,” Marquez said. “This was also the risk from the point of view of my career. I thought the best choice was to do this [join Gresini Ducati].

“But Honda is Honda. HRC will definitely deliver and have big results [eventually], but the biggest change they did [so far] is changing project leader.”

Luca Marini will take over Marquez’s seat at Repsol Honda and work with the Spanish star’s former crew headed by Santi Hernandez.

At 26, rather than 30, former Repsol Honda team-mate and fellow (Suzuki) world champion Joan Mir can afford to wait longer than Marquez.

But not, he warned, “much more”.

“Yes. For sure something is changing [in Honda]. But normally, when they make such big changes in a company, you need a couple of years to understand if these changes work or not. It’s like a bet,” Mir said.

“We need a change. I was able to see that change [is happening]. But, honestly, I have a bit more time than Marc, but I don’t have much more… So we’ll see.”

Like most of the premier-class grid, Mir’s current HRC contract expires at the end of 2024.

The Spaniard, who slotted into Repsol Honda after Suzuki’s surprise exit, scored just 26 points during a miserable, injury-interrupted debut year on the RCV.

But there were signs of promise at the Valencia test, where Mir tried the latest 2024 prototype for the first time.

“Honestly, I’m very happy. It’s the first time I’ve been able to feel a difference since I arrived [at Honda]. That something really works better,” Mir said, crediting an improvement in weight, grip and front-end feeling, after a season in which he had suffered 24 crashes.

“Normally I wasn’t a rider that crashed more than 5-6 times per year in all my career, because once I was able to understand where the limit is… it was one of my strongest points,” Mir added.

“To fight for something big, you need to understand where you can be constant and not make mistakes. We won a championship [at Suzuki] for that reason.

“This year [2023], for some reason, all that disappeared and we are just trying to find a limit and trying to find a speed. All the crashes are in a similar point and this shows I am still pushing.

“You cannot say to me ‘Just finish the races’ – at some point of the season I thought about this, but mentally it wasn’t helping me.

“I prefer to give everything and crash and go back home thinking I gave 100%.”

Marquez likewise crashed a record 29 times and, before leaving Honda for Gresini Ducati, explained:

“Where we lose more [on the Honda] is the exit of the corner and where we are gaining is the entry.

“If you go too fast into the corner, you will go out slower. But if we go in slower, we cannot go out faster because we have a lack of traction.

“My strong point is a V style: go in super fast, stop and go, and pick up the bike very quick. But [some circuits] don’t have these kinds of corners where I can make the difference.

“So it’s there where [Honda] are trying to understand the way to improve for the future.

“I’m not the engineer to say what is the problem, but we have been trying different things and the problem remains the same.

“We also tried different [engine] torque character and they are working very hard, but [Honda] needs time to understand where is the problem exactly.”

While Marquez is swapping the Honda for a title-winning Desmosedici GP23, Mir will be hoping that two riders switching in the other direction – Luca Marini and Johann Zarco – plus the revised concession rules can help accelerate the RCV’s revival.

And if the 2024 Honda is up to the task, Mir insists he is more than ready to deliver.

“I know that if I have a competitive bike then I will be there straight away,” he said.

Marquez has not only made his switch from Repsol Honda to Gresini Ducati for the 2024 MotoGP season, as an impressive performance at the Valencia test has since followed.

Fourth fastest, Marquez made it clear that he means business on the Ducati, however, he will do so with a completely new team except for Ortiz. 

The Spanish engineer, who began working with Marquez in Moto2 during the 2011 season, always dreamed of being a mechanic.

Speaking on Honda’s ‘Behind the Dream’ Documentary, Ortiz said: “Since I was little I always wanted to be a mechanic. I bought a Scalextric and took out the engines of the cars and made fans. 

“When something broke at home like a dryer, my mother, before telling my dad, told me and would say, Javier, can you fix this. And there I was disassembling and assembling. 

“From when I was small I never liked video games. I never liked being at home. [I preferred] being out on the streets with friends, playing football.”

In terms of his relationship with Marquez, the pair have grown close throughout their time together in the paddock.

Ortiz has been alongside Marquez ever since they joined forces in 2011, which is why he knows the eight-time world champion better than most.

Discussing his relationship and who Marquez is as a person, Ortiz added: “In 2011 I started to work with Marc [Marquez] in Moto2. For me, he is like a little brother. 

“When he crashed I needed to repair the bike but the first priority was that he was safe. Even this makes me emotional. 

“Everyone knows him, everyone knows Marc. He is an incredible rider. How you laugh with him, the charisma he has, how close he is, but it is more than all that. 

“How he has always treated people and how I see him treat his people. If you tell me now… Tell me he is the person with the biggest head that you meet. Then the first thing that I am going to tell you it’s him.”