Honda MotoGP riders Marc Marquez and Joan Mir have offered vastly different views on the prospect of racing the 2024 prototype bike their employer debuted earlier this month.
An early 2024-spec RC213V chassis - for now without a new engine to go along with it - was raced by Honda tester Stefan Bradl in the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano a fortnight ago, before being trialled by all of Honda's full-time riders (apart from the still-injured and Yamaha-bound Alex Rins) in the post-race test.
The initial reactions were lukewarm, particularly from Marquez and LCR's Takaaki Nakagami, but Mir did at least float the idea of having the prototype for the rest of the 2023 season already as effectively an extended test for 2024.
This is allowed by the regulations, given the new chassis still fits the current engine (which is the season-homologated bit) - but Mir's enthusiasm is not necessarily shared by his peers.
And it means that, though Mir and Marquez are at odds over the best course of action for the rest of 2023, they are also both clearly not particularly satisfied - for different reasons.
Mir wanted it in India
The 2020 champion Mir, who's joined Honda from Suzuki this year and has had an utterly miserable time on the RC213V so far, reiterated in India that the prototype bike was "a little bit better" - a "first step in the correct direction", though still "not where we want to be".
And in that context, Mir struggled to hide his disappointment that the prototype wasn't made available for him to race this weekend at the Buddh venue - and expressed hope it could be available for Honda's home race at Motegi.
"We didn't receive the bike here. Honestly, I expected it but we don't have it. We will make the weekend as the previous ones. So we will struggle, that's it," Mir said matter-of-factly.
He indicated he had specifically made the request but "they [Honda] said they had some trouble on the transport to Japan because they wanted first to send it to Japan, then here. Well... well, it is like it is".
Mir said he had seen a gain in terms of used-tyre pace and that it was "a shame" not to be able to further verify this here.
"For my height and everything, I was able to be more comfortable," he said of the prototype, which offered a different riding position.