Mir ‘surprised’ by Marquez overtake, ‘angry’ with braking issues

Joan Mir cut a frustrated figure during day-one of the Austrian MotoGP as braking issues meant the Suzuki rider struggled to complete a time attack. 

He described doing a time attack as ‘the worst moment’, while never before encountering the type of braking issues as he endured today. 

"Honestly at the moment I don’t know what is the problem but it was difficult in FP1 when I wanted the time attack; the worst moment," said Mir.  

"The problem was that the lever was coming to my hand in the middle of the lap and in the last two sectors I could not brake. 

"So we have to understand the problem, and why. In FP2 it was more for the temperature and some locks on the front due to this type of problem. 

"I was angry because I couldn’t complete one lap. I was going wide and almost crashing and I was not riding comfortably. That’s why I was angry. 

"We’ve never had any problem with the brakes but its’ just that this track is really critical and there is always a bit of trouble to adjust. It was today so I hope tomorrow we will fix it."

The braking troubles come as a surprise given his outstanding performance at the same circuit last weekend - also over his career as it’s statistically been his best venue. 

But with that said, it wasn’t a ‘bad day’ by any means for the defending champion as Mir was second fastest in the dry conditions of FP1. 

Instead, it was the struggles in full wet conditions that would perhaps be a cause for concern. 

The Spaniard was around three seconds off the top times that were being set by Marc Marquez, Iker Lecuona and Jack Miller. 

On one of the fast laps set by Marquez, the Repsol Honda rider made a move on Mir at the final corner which seemed to disturb the Suzuki man.

There wasn't any contact between the two, but Mir was less than impressed and ‘didn’t understand a lot this manoeuvre’.  

Mir added: "He decided to overtake me on the last corner like it was the last corner of the race! I didn’t understand a lot this manoeuvre. 

"I understand it is his style during the races, it’s OK and even more than this no? 

"But I don’t think it was necessary to take the position on this line. I was a bit surprised. Nothing more to say."