“꧋Point One: Marc had many crashes and could not race. Point Two: In the pre-season we were📖 very fast and then suddenly Michelin changed the tyre and our bike was also changed completely," Puig said.

"We still don’t fully understand what happened and we will have to discuss deepl🔴y with Michelin the tyre situation.

"To go from being very, very fast one month ago to the situation we are in this weeke🏅nd, it’s very difficult for our riders to be consistent an♔d have confidence. Overall, we can’t be happy.”

Pol Espargaro had ꧙gone further on Sunday, putting team-mateဣ Marquez's huge warm-up accident down to an 'external partner choice'.

Espargaro had been fastest at last month's Mandalika test, when all four Honda riders set a very strong race ♋pace on the all-new RC213V, putting them as favourites for the race weekend.

But blistering issues due t🤡o the searing heat saw Michelin call-up a special heat-resistant tyre casing for the grand prix - not used sinc📖e Buriram 2018 - onto which the latest compounds were attached.

Whi♍le ultimate lap times🌃 were the same as the test, the unfamiliar stiffer carcass shuffled the deck.

Ducati and KTM appeared to take a step forward, with rid🌜ers such as Jack Miller enjoying the stability of the modified casing. Yamaha and Aprilia performed roughly the🥀 same, Fabio Quartararo matching Espargaro's best test lap for pole position.

But ♕Suzuki and especially Honda struggled for rea༺r grip. Such issues were magnified by relying more on the front tyre to turn, causing overheating problems.

In other words, t💯hey were suffering for both one-lap 🅘speed and race distance endurance.

By the end of Saturday, the top Honda of Marc Marquez was only 15th on the grid, after three accidents, with Espargaro directly behind and openly questioning if his f😼ront tyre could finish tꦚhe race.

LCR Honda riders Alex Marquez and Takaaki Nakagami, who had delivered among the best race simulations at the test, qualified 19th and last♏ (24th) respe♊ctively.

Despite Rins qualifying in eighth, the tyre situation🎶 was similar at Suzuki.

"With the fron✃t tyre we are on the limit," said Rins. "But when we tried the hardest compound, it was too hard."

Team-mate and former world champion Joan Mir, starting down in 18th,♔ felt he was more likely to fa🅘ll than finish.

"I’m struggling a lot to find the corre𓆉ct setting, the electronics, the geometry, everything. I’m almost crashing in every corner, I'm going really on the limit and I'm not able to be strong," Mir said on Saturday afternoon.

"I was struggling for rear grip with the [normal 2022] carcass. With this [modified] one, I’m struggling even more. Theꦰ biggest problem is going into the corners. I don’t have grip going in fast and the rear wants to come around.

"I will be not ab🐼le to, in these conditions, finish the race. I think I ꦐwill crash, honestly. I’m too much on the limit in every corner and like this it’s really easy to make a mistake."

A Sunday afternoon downpour and familiar wet weather tyres washed 🐓away such concerns for the race, but not before a lack of rear grip into corners had bitten Marc Marquez specta𓂃cularly in warm-up.

The eight-time world champion's final accident of a punishing weekend sawꦚ the rear step out at almost 200km/h on the entry to Turn 7. The resulting highside left the Spaniard unfit to race due to concussion.