Why Joan Mir’s MotoGP podium return goes hand-in-hand with Marc Marquez’s title

As far as title defences go, Jorge Martin’s will be looked back on as arguably the worst ever. Moving to the factory Aprilia squad at the conclusion of his championship-winning campaign in 2024 was billed a tough challenge, but one that ultimately could have really upset the apple cart in a Ducati-dominated landscape.

But it has just been one nightmare after another. Two big injuries pre-season kept him out for the first three rounds. When he returned in Qatar, he was struck by a third major injury battle which would sideline him until July’s Czech Grand Prix.

In the interim, he engaged in a messy contract dispute to try and quit Aprilia for Honda for the 2026 season. That ultimately didn’t go his way. And just as he was beginning to make genuine strides, he made a “serious misjudgement” - as his Aprilia boss Massimo Rivola termed - at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix sprint, which resulted in a tangle with team-mate Marco Bezzecchi and a displaced fracture to his right shoulder.

Martin had to watch his time as reigning world champion expire from a hospital bed ahead of surgery in Barcelona, as Marc Marquez wrapped up the 2025 world title on Sunday at Motegi.

If there’s one rider on the grid who can understand Martin’s situation well, then it’s 2020 world champion Joan Mir. The Spaniard didn’t suffer the same injury hell as Martin did, but the rapid fall that followed his sudden rise was a stark reminder of something Mir himself made mention of on Sunday at the Japanese Grand Prix: you’re only as good as your last result.

From the moment Mir popped up on the grand prix scene as a replacement rider at Leopard Racing in 2015 at the Australian Grand Prix, he was destined to get to the big leagues. He won a race in his rookie 2016 campaign before dominating Moto3 in 2017 with 10 victories to be crowned world champion.

Read more: Joan Mir breaks MotoGP podium drought 

He spent one year in Moto2 in 2018 before Davide Brivio snatched him up for Suzuki in MotoGP for the 2019 campaign. A year later, he would be crowned world champion in one of MotoGP’s wildest years, facing not only the pressures of on-track warfare but the new fear of a positive COVID-19 test result forcing him into a 14-day quarantine.

The doors for that title were blown open when Marquez suffered the serious arm injury that would alter the trajectory of his career at the season-opening Spanish Grand Prix. Mir didn’t really start the campaign off all that well, but then proved to be the only consistent runner throughout the field - so much so that he very nearly won the title without topping a podium. He broke that duck in the European Grand Prix in Valencia, before sealing a first title for Suzuki in 20 years at the follow-up Valencia Grand Prix.

In 2021, the Suzuki package didn’t develop at the same rate as its rivals and Mir was pinned back. He didn’t win again and achieved just six podiums. He was third at the end of a campaign that was a lot more solid than was given credit for at the time and is remembered for today.

The 2022 season was where the wheels really fell, off, though. The season started solidly enough with four top six finishes in the first five rounds. At this stage, Mir and his management were nearing a deal to re-sign with Suzuki for 2023. And then the Japanese brand sensationally pulled the plug on its factory programme.

Mir had to scramble to find a new ride with a market value that had crashed in the wake of Suzuki’s departure. Between sixth at the Spanish Grand Prix when Suzuki made its decision and breaking his ankle at the Austrian Grand Prix, he finished twice in seven rounds. A Honda deal was secured for 2023, but his fortunes wouldn’t improve.

The uncompetitive RC213V that effectively ended Marc Marquez’s time as a Honda rider in 2023 also stung Mir horribly, with the 2020 world champion breaking his leg in Italy. That followed a non-start in Argentina and three successive DNFs from COTA to Le Mans. The highlight of a year in which he contemplated stopping was a fifth in India.

The misery carried into 2024, with no top 10s and a meagre total of 21 points as Honda suffered its worst year of the modern era. A glance at the scoresheet in 2025 doesn’t paint an altogether better picture on the face of it: 10 GP non-finishes and 18 crashes for the season.

But speed has not been in short supply for Honda or for Mir, who has been the unfortunate victim on quite a few occasions of other people’s incidents. At the Japanese Grand Prix, he offered a timely reminder of his class, as he narrowly missed pole and went on to score his first podium as a Honda rider and first since the 2022 Algarve Grand Prix, 1422 days prior.

Honda gets its own full circle moment at Motegi

“In sport in general, you are what you make in your last race, but not particularly with  me,” Mir said. “I think everyone has the same problem. At the end, it’s very easy to hide behind the phone and to speak about shit that doesn’t give any benefit to anyone. But, at the end, I know what I achieved. I think the people that knows a little bit about this world and about sports in general value everything as how it is.”

With Johann Zarco proving competitive on the Honda for well over a year now and Luca Marini beginning to be a much more prominent force, Mir has been facing increased pressure. That is only going to intensify next year as Honda gets set to become a major player on the rider market for 2027.

That Honda is now in that position is something that can be traced back to the last time it stood on the podium with one of its factory team bikes. Before Mir’s third at Motegi last weekend, the works team hadn’t celebrated a result like since Marc Marquez was third at the Japanese Grand Prix two years prior.

And there wasn’t really much to celebrate. In what was a torrid year for Honda, its sole Sunday rostrum came because of heavy rain. Moreover, it was at the hands of a rider who a few days later would officially part ways with the brand he’d been with since the end of 2012 to pursue a career rebuilding ride at Gresini Ducati.

Read more: Why Marc Marquez 'closing the circle' has ended MotoGP's GOAT debate

At the time, Marquez viewed it pragmatically.

“I think that in this decision right now for next year, it’s also a win-win decision,” he said in Valencia in 2023. “Why? Because I will move to a bike that is leading the championship and I will try to achieve my target, which is to try to feel competitive again.

“Feeling competitive doesn’t mean winning, it just means to feel competitive and ride more comfortably and try to fight for the top positions in some races. The reality is that all the budget they pay to me will go to the bike. That is also important.

“My comfort zone was here, to stay here and ride the bike and take the salary and no pressure. But I believe now [what] is the best for the project is that they will invest all of [what they paid me] into the bike. Honda is Honda. Honda will come back to the top with or without me. So, I believe they can do it.”

Marquez’s salary at Honda at the time was not inconsiderate - something in the region of €15-20 million. But in the wake of his departure, Honda did start to invest. It began working with a more European mentality and even poached Romano Albesiano from Aprilia to become technical director from this season. That thinking has continued, with Honda now snaring former KTM engine chief Kurt Trieb.

The test team was also beefed up, with Aleix Espargaro brought in following his retirement from racing alongside Takaaki Nakagami.

From a best of eighth last year, Honda has celebrated a race win (albeit in wet conditions), a second in the dry at Silverstone and a third in the dry on merit at Motegi. There has been clear, tangible improvements to the bike package as the season has gone on and that isn’t slowing down into 2026 despite a regulations shift on the horizon for the year after.

It was fitting that Honda should be able to share in the celebrations with Marquez last weekend as he wrapped up his seventh world title. But it was also a reminder of how far it has come since 2023. For all the genius that Marquez posses, his leaving Honda was ultimately the right thing for the brand and at the right time.

As Marquez said two years ago, it’s a win-win for both parties…