“Mentally it destroys you” - Mir “scared” of ending up like Lorenzo, Espargaro

Both Lorenzo and Espargaro secured big moves to Repsol Honda over the last few years, only for results to end in major disappointment and therefore lead to a move away, or in Lorenzo’s case, retirement. 

Mir’s adaptation from the Suzuki to Honda has so far gone even worse than the two riders above him, after Le Mans saw him crash out of his fourth consecutive race.

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Teammate Marc Marquez has been impressive throughout both race weekends he’s taken part in, even if results haven’t always shown it, while Alex Rins won at COTA aboard the LCR Honda.

For Mir however, the Spaniard has been nowhere when it comes to fighting for the top positions which is why his issues, particularly with front-end feeling, led him to say this.

"It’s true that you have to be very focused on all the details, because you are like on a knife edge. 

"More than physically, it's more mentally. Mentally it destroys you, because you have to be super, super precise, always fighting with the front, trying to not over try, because then it's worse. 

"And it's a little bit difficult and completely different from the bike that I experienced before."

Unless results improve, Mir could find himself in a position similar to Lorenzo and Espargaro where the Japanese manufacturer looks to move on.

Worried that he could be the next Honda rider to fail, Mir was quoted by GPOne.com as saying: "Of course I’m scared. I want to win. It’s difficult for a rider like me to see myself in the position I’m in. 

"My motivation is to win, get on the podium and stay ahead. These results are my fuel that I haven’t had in a long time. I need it. 

"I remember here, last year, with the Suzuki I was racing one second faster."

Talking of pace, and in particular race pace, Mir did have some positives to take away compared to previous rounds as he appeared to be slightly more competitive.

Able to hold his pace in the low 1m32s prior to his fall, Mir said: "I made a really good start to the race and I was able to ride comfortably in the opening laps. 

"When you are battling with the top ten and in a big group, there’s a really big slipstream effect and it becomes harder to stop the bike. 

"I stood the bike up to avoid hitting Aleix and this is where the mistake came from and I lost the group. 

"Then I tried some different things with the bike and I unfortunately fell. But I was able to ride in low 32s, this is really important and the thing that we have to focus on. 

"We take these positives, study everything well and prepare for the next race."