Joan Mir feels it was tough for him to accept an uncompetitive bike at Honda because he had been “spoiled” by his early success in MotoGP with Suzuki.
Mir’s arrival at Repsol Honda in 2023 coincided with a slump in the Japanese manufacturer’s performance in the premier class, and he has since struggled to get the best out of the RC213V.
The Spaniard ended up 22nd and last in the championship in his maiden season with Honda and only finished ahead of new team-mate Luca Marini in another bruising campaign in 2024.
Honda was already banking on Mir’s knowledge for the development of the bike last year following the loss of its star rider Marc Marquez, and team boss Alberto Puig reiterated in testing that it needed the best version of him this season.
“The rider is still the cornerstone of this discipline. That's why we need Joan to be at the top of his game,” Puig told Autosport.
In response, Mir had no qualms admitting that he suffered from a lack of motivation at certain points last season as he contemplated his future in MotoGP, before ultimately agreeing to a new two-year deal with Honda.
The 27-year-old further explained that his impressive start to life in MotoGP, including his title win in 2020 in his sophomore season, meant that he wasn’t prepared to race at the back of the pack upon his arrival at Honda.
“Alberto knows me very well, he knows that when things go wrong I go down, and that's probably because I was very spoiled,” Mir said.
“Throughout my career I've had very good results and very early on. I came to MotoGP [in 2019] and the first year I was already like a shot. And the second, I won the title.
“I had an injury [at Brno], I overcame it and that's it. I hadn't had any bad moments until I came to Honda. And here the odyssey began.
“It's easy to lose motivation when you've always been driven by results and then suddenly you stop getting them.
“It's been a long time since I've enjoyed racing.”
Mir breathed a sigh of relief in pre-season testing, having felt that Honda had finally delivered the kind of step he wanted from it.
Setting the eighth-fastest time at Buriram, Mir ended up 0.850s off the pace of Marquez on the factory Ducati and was the fastest rider within the Honda contingent.
This is a massive boost for Mir after two seasons in which he was outscored by riders from Honda’s satellite LCR team.
“What I've enjoyed during these days of testing is amazing – simply for being able to ride the bike the way I like it,” he said. “For example, for being able to enter the corners sideways. Not for the results.”
There is only one thing that Mir now wants from Honda: “That the bike runs a little faster, [has] a little more top speed.”
