Let's talk MotoGP: Joan Mir will (perhaps) never be able to get back on track

Some time ago, I wrote an article about the rider who currently worries me the most, but only from a physical and visual point of view: Alex Rins. The Yamaha official, much weaker than his teammate Fabio Quartararo, gives the impression of no longer being the one we knew before. On the other hand, the rider who is currently experiencing the most desperate situation in MotoGP is not Rins at all, but Joan Mir. At this point, it is serious. We must look into his case.

 

Counter productive

 

Recent years have seen some, let's say... astonishing performances from factory riders. Previously, an official rider represented the cream of the crop MotoGP, particularly among manufacturers such as Yamaha and Honda. Then we had Franco Morbidelli's disastrous 2022 season at the tuning fork firm. At the time, I said it was the worst performance ever by a factory rider in the 2023st century. But in XNUMX, Joan Mir had managed to do even worse, combining crashes, poor results and injuries. However, his previous campaign was much better than what he is doing now.

 

 

It's quite simple, I've never seen that, and I can see where you're going with this: for me, given the context, Luca Marini does a much better job for a first year at Honda Repsol. First, the Italian scored 14 points, against only 21 for Mir: we can't say that the difference is that huge. Then, Mir, a MotoGP world champion (This is an aggravating factor.) has been present at Honda for almost two years now, and above all, it has only been falling! That is precisely what we are going to talk about.

I'm not even going to write long sentences to try to emphasize the drama of the thing, the numbers will suffice. This season, Mir has competed in eighteen Sunday races, all but one. Ifell nine times. The 2020 MotoGP world champion has fallen as many times as he has finished Grands Prix. Of course, he is No. 1 in the number of falls in races.

What he is doing is downright counterproductive, because I don't see how a driver who is on the ground so often - and, consequently, who cannot bring back as much information as someone who finishes the events - can help his team get back on its feet. In this, I much prefer the approach of Luca Marini, who, despite a lower speed, only thinks in the long term. and to put Honda back on the top step of the podium.

 

 

How can we explain the clear difference with Johann Zarco, who also discovered the machine? Worse, how can we explain that Takaaki Nakagami at the end of the race has ten more points than Mir in the general classification?

 

A dangerous approach… that no longer pays off

 

Every weekend, and sometimes twice a weekend, we see a little sticker appear telling us that Joan Mir has crashed. We are rarely shown his mistakes, because he is too far down the rankings to take up airtime, but I think some of them are quite violent. The current MotoGP is unforgiving, a crash can jeopardize a rider's career. Historically, the worst thing to do is to push a MotoGP team that is lacking in performance to its limits to try to make up for its deficit compared to the others.. Most of the time, it ends up in the hospital, as was the case for Marc Marquez from 2020 to 2023, and this is only the most recent example. What I don't understand is that Mir, precisely, was already heavily affected during the 2023 season, and yet, he does not try to calm down.

 

 

Since the beginning of this overseas tour, only his falls remain, his speed has soared. Luca Marini is frequently in front of him at the finish, currently on a series of four consecutive races finished in the points. Mir, for his part, has never been able to string together more than two this season. Even in qualifying, it can be scary: there was almost a second's gap between the two in Australia, in favor of the Italian of course.

 

A peaceful future?

 

Where I struggle to understand Honda is that we never hear any rumors about Mir's future. No communication, no rumors that would whisper his ouster. From what he had let slip earlier in the year, he has not had any other interesting offers. But does the firm with the golden wing never question its status? I still have in mind the harsh words of the Yamaha management towards Franco Morbidelli, while he was finishing the races!

I'm curious to know what you think about his image and his future in MotoGP. Tell me in the comments!

As a reminder, this article only reflects the thoughts of its author, and not of the entire editorial team.

 

 

Cover photo: HRC