“Honestly, I expected the podium,” said Honda's Leon Haslam after WorldSBK race one at Portimao yesterday. “I expected to be in that battle with Baz. I was ahead of that battle. We struggled a little bit with the front brake from lap one and I didn’t have the confidence on trail braking.

"Just in general something that we struggled at a little bit here. So, I was riding a little bit cautious. When I was in a battle with him, I didn’t have the confidence to follow them into the corner."

It wasn't to be for the Derbyshireman, however, as a strong start from the front row culminated in a fifth place which is a far cry from running outside the top ten.

"When I lost a bit of time when we ran off the circuit, I found it quite easy to close the gap again. So I was more happy, I would say, that the pace was there. Then I passed some people for the first time this year on brakes, so that for me we made a big progress with the bike. The last sector, I think I was nearly 0.3 every lap faster than Toprak. He won the race. In sector one, I was 0.3 slower every lap. So, we’re very clear of where we need to improve.”

Haslam was also much slower than his own team-mate on the straight at Portimao. “We’re losing a lot of top speed compared to Alvaro, nearly 18ks on average, which is a lot. We need to understand if it’s down to wheelie or strategy. Obviously, the Honda is really fast, and I’m the fastest in the last sector to the start and finish. But then from the start and finish to the end of the straight, I’m losing a good few tenths. So, little bits. But, I passed a few people. Finished fifth. Not too far off the podium.”

Not Haslam’s best race of the year though, as he himself said, “I felt quite comfortable at Donington when we were battling for the podium there and we finished fourth. Here, I made a couple of mistakes and I didn’t feel like I had quite the confidence that I wanted to. But when I was on my own and I didn’t have bikes around me, the pace was there. So, we have to take the positives of that.”

The Honda in general is improving in 2021, finally for both Haslam and Bautista. “There’s a lot of things it doesn’t do quite as good as where we’ve had it, but definitely the stuff that we’ve tried in the Montmelo test and the Jerez test… it’s not a coincidence that Alvaro has made two podiums and now we’re both fighting for the podium here,” said Haslam.

“For me, Jerez and Barcelona, I nowhere near maximised my potential on the bike. We had some problems in those races. Alvaro showed the potential in those races. So, for me, I was very, very frustrated over those races. But here, again, I feel that we should have been in that fight for where Alvaro was where he crashed, and obviously where Baz was. So, we found a step from being 12th every weekend. There’s still also a few areas that we want to improve, for sure.”