Some time ago, I wrote an article about the driver who currently worried 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's serious. We need to look into his case.
Counterproductive
Recent years have been marked by some, let's say… astonishing performances from factory drivers. Previously, an official rider represented the cream of MotoGP, notably from manufacturers such as Yamaha and Honda. Then, we had the disastrous 2022 season of Franco Morbidelli within the tuning fork firm. At the time, I said it was the worst exercise ever done by a factory driver in the 21st century. But in 2023, Joan Mir managed to do even worse, having combined falls, mediocre results and injuries. However, his previous campaign was much better than what it currently does.
Rarely have we seen a double world champion struggle so much. Photo: Honda Repsol.
It's very simple, I've never seen that, and I see you coming: 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, compared to only 21 for Mir: we cannot 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, and above all, is only falling! Exactly, this is what we are going to talk about.
I'm not even going to use 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. Idropped it nine times. The 2020 MotoGP world champion has crashed as many times as he has finished Grands Prix. Obviously, he is number 1 in the number of crashes in the race.
What he does is actually counterproductive, because I don't see how a driver who is so often on the ground – and, consequently, who cannot bring back as much information as someone who finishes the tests – can help his team to get back up. In this, I much prefer the approach of Luca Marini, who, despite a lower speed, only thinks about the long term and 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 points more than Mir in the general classification?
A dangerous approach… which no longer pays
Every weekend, and sometimes twice a weekend, we see a small tablet appear informing us that Joan Mir has fallen. We're rarely shown his mistakes, because he's too far down the rankings to take up airtime, but I think some of them are pretty violent. Current MotoGP is unforgiving, a fall can jeopardize a rider's career. Historically, the worst thing to do is to push a MotoGP lacking performance to its limits to try to make up for its deficit compared to the others.. Most of the time, it ends 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 was already heavily affected during the 2023 season, and yet he doesn't try to calm down.
Is Joan Mir the right one to carry Honda? I don't think so. Photo: HRC
Since the start of this overseas tour, all that remains is his falls, his speed has soared. Luca Marini is frequently ahead 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's sometimes scary: there was almost a second difference between the two in Australia, in favor of the Italian of course.
A serene future?
Where I struggle to understand Honda is that we never hear any rumors regarding Mir's future. No communication, no hallway noises that would whisper of his eviction. From what he had hinted at earlier in the year, he had no other interesting offers. But does the firm with the golden wing never question its status? I still have the harsh words of Yamaha management against Franco Morbidelli in my mind, while he was finishing the races!
I'm curious to know what you think of 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.
Luca Marini went ahead. Photo: HRC
Cover photo: HRC
