Let's talk MotoGP: Joan Mir's descent into hell

For more than a season and a half, Franco Morbidelli was at the center of all questions. The Italian, 2020 world vice-champion, was no longer able to perform since his injury in 2021 even though he confirmed that he had returned to 100%. At Yamaha, the criticism was rife and rightly so: The official did not “didn’t do the job”. Just when we thought it was impossible for a factory rider to do worse, Joan Mir arrived at Honda Repsol. Hang in there.

I) It's even more serious than it looks

“Before it was dead, now it’s worse”. This quote perfectly sums up Joan Mir's start to the season with Honda. The accounting situation is absolutely catastrophic (no points scored in Sprint, 11th place at the Portuguese Grand Prix), but the context is even more worrying.

First, Joan Mir has always relied on her consistency in performance. Obviously it's a failure. Even on a Suzuki GSX-RR in the race, he never shone with his intrinsic speed, which penalizes him even more in the Sprint era.

Second, there was a fear that he would get run over by his teammate Marc Márquez but in reality, the 2020 world champion does not do better even when he is alone under the Honda awning.

 

Third, the number of falls is hallucinatory, almost unheard of at the highest level. LThe Spaniard started seven times and only finished twice, during the Portuguese Grand Prix and during the Sprint in Austin! The icing on the cake was that he was injured in Argentina after yet another volume.

We have found an incredible statistic for you to illustrate this phenomenon. In the race (Sprint and Grand Prix), Joan Mir only completed 51 laps in seven starts, out of 114 possible.

II) Is there even reason for hope?

Honestly, and even if we don't want to get rid of Grand Prix drivers, the situation seems (already) inextricable. It would take a miracle not for him to play in the top 5, but for him to perform as well asAlex Rins, which says a lot!

Adapting to the RC213V is complicated, yes, but Rins succeeded brilliantly at LCR Honda, a team supposed to be lower in the hierarchy. Even Takaaki Nakagami, a more than anecdotal pilot for several years, is still well ahead when he should have been replaced by Ai Ogura from 2023!

The worst is that there is no progress made and it even regresses. At Jerez, where he finished 5th in 2021 and 6th in 2022, he qualified 20th behind Stefan Bradl. He fell after seven laps during the Sprint, and after only one loop completed during the Grand Prix.

 

It pains us to say it, but it is, taking into account the context, of the worst performance by an official driver in the 21st century. Joan Mir is in 20th position in the championship and has not scored a single point since March 26. Overall, this places him behind Dani Pedrosa ou Marc Márquez (who only completed one Sprint), and tied with Michele Pirro, only one GP contested at 36 years old. It's not over: He only has two points more than Jonas Folger, who had no longer touched the handlebars of a MotoGP since Aragón 2017, when Mir was in Moto3!

III) How to bounce back

We've been telling you this since last year; we are extremely pessimistic about the Joan Mir case. This is the first time that we confess this to you but we do not see literally no way out for him.

The scenario where he begins to find the magic setting to finally go fast, what he never managed to do on the GSX-RR for four yearsas Marc Marquez comes back, back to the wall, on an already complicated bike, and all after an injury seems really improbable. So many parameters must be met that a return of Franco Morbidelli to the forefront seems less uncertain. We sincerely hope that he makes us lie. 

Perhaps he will make some breakthroughs later in the season, when he gains confidence in his machine. But will that be enough to continue the adventure at the highest level if it falls so much again? We don't think so, praying we're wrong.

Can you imagine a return to the top for Joan Mir? Tell us in the comments!

 

 

Cover photo: Michelin Motorsport