Joan Mir: “I'm in a completely different situation to Marc” - Exclusive

The parallels are obvious. Two former MotoGP champions, riding for the struggling Repsol Honda team in 2023.

Marc Marquez, who had won all his six premier-class titles with the team, then sought an early exit to join Gresini Ducati, where he revived his career with three wins and a factory Ducati deal for 2025.

Meanwhile, former team-mate Joan Mir, Suzuki’s 2020 title winner, stayed for the second year of his HRC deal, but then surprised by signing a contract extension until 2026, despite his and the RCV’s results sinking further this season.

Mir raised the comparison with Marquez, unprompted, during an exclusive interview with Crash.net in the closing stages of this season.

Quizzed on a campaign in which he would score a total of just 21 points - less than Francesco Bagnaia (31 points), Brad Binder (29) and Jorge Martin (28) managed in the opening Qatar weekend alone - Mir reflected:

“For sure it was unexpected to be struggling that much with this bike.

“I expected to get better results in the short term but for some reason, we didn't improve in performance, because we are too far off the other manufacturers. This is a bit the reality at the moment.

“We are getting better, getting closer, but it's not enough. This is what we can see.

“We are not in the position that we want. But I still believe in the project and it is a matter of time, with the amount of work we are doing, to arrive where we want to be.”

“What [Honda] were doing was working for another era”

Mir added: “For sure, I was able to see a lot of changes [this year]. They [Honda] understood that what they were doing until now was working for another [MotoGP] era. But this is a completely different story. We need more European help. We need more engineers.

“The Japanese people are fantastic in terms of making a bike, the quality of it. When you look at the details of a Honda MotoGP bike it's always been unbelievable, probably the best. But in terms of performance, we are behind.

“So we need help. 

"We need help from European people. Italian, Spanish people who work for the European manufacturers. 

"So all the news that we have, when someone is coming [to Honda], as a rider it’s always a relief. Because it means that they are doing what I think is the way.

“We need the Japanese, we need the Europeans, we need that mix. This is what will be our strength.”

Those words naturally led to the subject of Romano Albesiano, who is arriving from Aprilia to become HRC’s new MotoGP technical director.

Did Mir know about Albesiano when he re-signed with HRC?

“No, no. But I saw that they [Honda] were moving, I saw what they wanted to do. I have also a special relationship with Alberto [Puig] and always he has been very clear with me from the first moment. I’m still believing [in this team].”

“I'm in a completely different situation to Marc”

Then came the Marquez comparison, as Mir explained why he had opted to stay at Honda rather than follow the #93’s path to a proven bike, even if it was at a satellite team.

“Of course, I'm in a completely different situation to Marc when he left [Honda], because he showed everything with this manufacturer. In my case, I didn't show anything at the moment,” Mir said.

“For me, if I change manufacturer now, I will start completely from zero and I will feel that these two years have been for nothing. And the amount of happiness that I will have if this works [at Honda] is immense. So I will try to do it.”

With Marquez gone, Mir moved to the other side of the Repsol garage to work with the ex-93 crew headed by Santi Hernandez this year.

The race results - a best of ninth in a Sprint and eleventh in a grand prix - may not have been anything to celebrate, but Mir was full of praise for his crew.

“Very good. I felt very nice with them from the first moment,” he said. “They have a lot of experience technically and also strategically they are fantastic. I enjoy a lot working with them honestly, even in this situation - so imagine if we get close to our goals!”

One of the few positives for Mir this year was that his punishing accident and injury tally from 2023 was mercifully reduced.

The 2017 Moto3 world champion suggested that was down to a mix of improved aerodynamics making the limit of the RCV clearer, plus a conscious decision to avoid throwing the bike down the road when development data is needed.

“Of course, we always give 100%, but there is a [development] process you have to accept. And I already accepted where we are,” Mir said. “And probably also the aerodynamic side helps a little bit more to understand where the limit is now.

“We are in the process of getting better and that process [isn’t helped by] crashes and crashes and crashes. It means doing things with the correct mindset and being healthy for where the bike is really.”

Mir’s new team-mate Luca Marini was the only full-time rider to finish behind the Spaniard in the riders’ standings, with 14 points. LCR’s Johann Zarco was the top Honda rider with 55 points and best race result of eighth.

Honda, like Yamaha, will continue to receive technical concessions in 2025, allowing perks such as private testing for race riders, exemption from the engine design freeze and extra aerodynamic modifications.

The factory Hondas are also set for a new visual appearance next season, with long-standing title sponsor Repsol ending its partnership a year after Marquez’s exit from the team.