Joan Mir makes glum assessment of how much MotoGP concessions helped Honda
‘We have to find a way to get good pieces on the bike’
Joan Mir says Honda having concessions to aid development of its struggling MotoGP bike offered ‘no advantage’ in 2024.
The woes of Yamaha and Honda in recent years prompted MotoGP to introduce an updated concessions model to provide a boost for both to improve the competitive order of the grid.
Those came into effect for the 2024 season and included unrestricted engine development and testing with race riders.
But both Yamaha and Honda ended the year without any podiums, while both scored less points in the constructors’ championship than they managed in 2023.
Honda didn’t even breach a century of points in 2024 across its four riders, having managed 75 compared to the 185 it achieved in 2023.
Mir endured a torrid campaign, scoring points on just seven occasions to amass five fewer than he achieved in 2023 with 21 while also registering 17 crashes for the season.
Asked where he felt Honda would be without concessions in 2024, Mir glumly replied: “This year probably in the same place we are.
“I hope this helps us for the next one. But in the short term we didn't get any advantage.
“We see it in the results [that there was no improvement].
“We have to find a way to get good pieces [on the bike] that help us to be faster. At the moment, we couldn't get it.”
Mir has been Honda’s most open critic from its stable in 2024 having bemoaned what he has felt has been a lack of progress with the RC213V.
He cut a dejected figure at the post-season Barcelona test when he revealed to the media that Honda didn’t bring anything he hadn’t already tried.
While Honda made use of its testing allocation to run private sessions between races in 2024, Mir says this was in some ways detrimental to the riders because of the strain it placed on them.
“The thing that the factory riders are able to test more, I don't think that is an advantage because if the bike is better I would be faster,” he said.
“That's why we have a test team. If we go to test something and we stay all day between one week and another one, we don't rest psychologically.
“We go one test, race, one test, race. Sometimes it's worse, [not] better.
“That's why we have a test team that now is being reinforced and we have to make them work to have proper stuff.
“What they think is working, we try [it] on the GPs and we see that it's better.”
Honda’s test team for 2025 has taken a significant step as the Japanese marque brings in three-time grand prix winner Aleix Espargaro, who retired from racing at the end of last season.
He will be supported by Takaaki Nakagami, who has been moved into a development role at Honda after losing his place at LCR to Somkiat Chantra.
