It is a Joan Mir in a mixed mood who has finished with his 2021 off-season. The reigning World Champion thus openly regrets the last day of testing in Qatar, spoiled by a strong wind bringing the sand from the nearby desert onto a track made in fact almost impassable. He will therefore approach the season at the end of March with uncertainties since the Suzuki work plan has not been completed in its entirety. He will remain on site with his team and will be vaccinated there. A question of responsibility, he says, which places his colleagues who made other choices in particular relief...
Thanks to the approach of the State of Qatar, Dorna can offer this opportunity to its paddock to be vaccinated against Covid-19. A chance for the protagonists of a World Championship who aim to travel from country to country. However, they are acting on their borders under the pressure of the pandemic still declared and, tomorrow, a health passport will undoubtedly be the norm for anyone who wants to leave their country to go to another.
From this perspective, the Grand Prix paddock has the chance to be one step ahead. And to guarantee the continuation of its activity. However, there is nothing imposed and everyone will do according to their soul and conscience. Which does not prevent the debate. Faced with this situation, not everyone reacted in the same way. Some pilots left the Qatar to return home. Vaccinated or not. Others opted for the total package, i.e. staying with the team at losail and get vaccinated there.
Joan mir is one of them. He says he plays solidarity and responsibility by following the recommendation of the team leaders to stay at the Qatar : " all team members stay here. I'm their pilot and I'll stay here too. I have training opportunities here and the team can work on the computers. It's really not the end of the world, after all we are staying in a luxury hotel ».
He adds : " I will probably also use the time in the Gulf State to get vaccinated against Covid-19. I have not done it yet. I can't say I don't want that because the vaccine won't benefit anyone else. We travel a lot and we also have a responsibility to bear. After all, we don't go on vacation, we work. I would like to thank the State of Qatar and Dorna for this opportunity. I will accept the offer in the coming days », Reports the 23-year-old pilot.
Joan Mir: “I am at 70% of my capacity”
Coming back to the tests, Joan mir regrets having ended his offseason with a doubt in mind, which will haunt him until the start of the 2021 campaign which will take place on March 26: “ the last day was not positive for us. We still have a lot of work to do. We tried a lot of things in the first few days, but some didn't work or are only planned for 2022 »Regrets Mir.
« I don't know if the competitors should be afraid of us. I would say I am at 70% of my capacity. I'm definitely not the strongest driver yet, but I'm still one of those who should be on the list. I feel prepared for the race weekend, because on Thursday we were able to get some important information for the Grand Prix weekend ».
However, it seems that Suzuki will build on the chassis of the previous year. “ It will probably be so ", confirmed Mir. " We didn't have time to find the right configuration for the new chassis. But the key is a good setup and we already know what to do with last year's chassis. We still have a lot of work to do in the next ten days. We had high hopes for Friday, but we couldn't carry out our plan ". The annoyance is clearly displayed.
MotoGP Tests Qatar 2: combined ranking
Credit rankings: MotoGP.com
