"Every weekend I start by telling my crew, my guys: 'Don't worry, this GP we will have a crash.'"
For once, Luca Marini was correct in his prediction, as the Malaysian Grand Prix sprint at Sepang marked the very first time he hit the deck in any MotoGP grand prix weekend session in 2025 - a remarkable 20 rounds into the season,
Thankfully, his other prediction - "so let's prepare everything, because every time that I crash, I make a big one" - didn't pan out, with the crash the result of a collision with KTM's Pol Espargaro, which really was about as gentle as those get.
😱💥 @Luca_Marini_97 has gone down after a contact with @polespargaro!
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) October 25, 2025
The incident is currently under investigation ⚠️#MalaysianGP 🇲🇾 pic.twitter.com/wgNZK1nHRs
It wasn't Marini's best moment and he acknowledged he got it wrong in the aftermath. But nor was this something he was clearly predominantly culpable for; the stewards concurred, issuing a verdict of no further action. And it doesn't diminish the run of bringing the bike home in one piece session after session through the year until that sprint.
Joan Mir and Johann Zarco, the other two riders in Honda's stable, have not been able to do that - both are well towards the sharp end of MotoGP's crash table (Zarco leads it on 29, Mir hit 20 today). Without them, the RC213V would still have the reputation of a crash-y, difficult-to-trust bike.
Marini's 2025 was nearly defined by another crash, a fall off the CBR1000RR-R Fireblade in Suzuka 8 Hours testing that left him badly injured, but on the MotoGP bike he has been the model of consistency and reliability.
He has proven he can be trusted, and so can the bike.
"I think I have a very good feeling with the bike - every time I am pushing at the limit but I can save many times the bike and the crash with the front tyre,” he explained.
"When I lose the front, every time I can save it because Honda can give me a very good feeling on this way.
"Many times you cannot see me on TV because I'm still too far in the back - but I risk crashing many times! But like I said, it's like a friendly bike in this area, especially on the front. I can save it many times.
"About the rear - because in the past with Honda it happened that you can crash also with the rear tyre, with the high-side - we improved something technically, with the bike, that allowed us to solve this problem.
"If you do a big mistake, still you can crash [like that] - but we did a step forward on this area, and the bike now is much easier and friendlier to ride also on the rear."
Marini is unlikely to ever truly match the prodigious, title-winning race pace of Mir, nor the single-lap RC213V wizardry of Zarco. But he's found a way to stand out against them in another area - and it was once again highlighted at Sepang, as while Marini exited the sprint in a racing incident, Mir fell out of fourth place all on his own.
Utter heartbreak for @JoanMirOfficial as he was inches away from fighting for 3rd 💔💔💔
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) October 25, 2025
And @Aldeguer54 into fourth now! #MalaysianGP 🇲🇾 pic.twitter.com/v17JwXTOCf
It is the 16th time this season that Mir did not make the chequered flag in a race. A fair few of those weren't his fault - but enough of them clearly were, and today sounds like it was, too.
"It's true that we have a bit of grip problems compared to the others in this track," said Mir. "So I have to use the front more, have to brake a little bit harder, go into the corner with slightly more commitment than the others, and it's easier to make a mistake.
"It was completely my mistake, we checked in the data and it was this type of crash that you open the throttle slightly earlier than the previous lap - but, I mean, super similar. Very difficult to see a difference between one lap and the crash, the previous lap and the crash. So it means that this type of crash I could not avoid, and was unexpected."
It's not the first time this season that Mir has claimed the Honda's shortcomings are coaxing crashes out of him in race situations - the rear is weak, the front is strong, so "you abuse more than what you should".
But Marini clearly has had no such problem, no issue adjusting himself accordingly.
So while both crashed out on Saturday, and both clearly made mistakes, the pattern of 2025 so far means it's the rider in front - Mir - who has much more to answer for, and the comparison to Marini remains unfavourable.
