Simply, there is no one driving Honda at the front like Nakamoto-san. Think about it, when Honda was last really in the doldrums was in 2007-mid 2009 it was someone as maverick as Nakamoto who made sure things changed for the better.

After the failed F1 gig Honda bought back their esteemed engineer Nakamoto to right the ship. He immediately went out and made big changes after what he witnessed the Honda lacked compared to the other bikes in that period. He poached three italian electronics guys from Fiat Yamaha-which was the best package during the 800cc era. He then set about to get more money from Repsol so that they and also HRC could invest more money in getting Honda back to the top. He then set up three different teams within HRC, one for the chassis, one for the engine, and one working on future tech. A benefit he also bought from F1 was the seamless gearbox, which is now standard in motogp. He then also poached Livio from Ducati along with the mercurial Casey Stoner. And the rest has been history.

​

I just don't see currently Honda being a leader of anything, just merely following the others. There's no figure like Shuhei that comes in and shakes the tree and gets things done. Its just a crying shame that the organization he shaped has now become a mess.

​

TLDR: shuhei was instrumental in reorganizing a lost HRC department to become leader once again.