What you’ve forgotten about MotoGP’s underrated champion

It takes a rider of considerable talent to win the Moto3 title in their second season, spend just one campaign in Moto2 before making the move to MotoGP, and then become world champion with one of the grid’s smallest factory teams after just two years.

Yet, these are achievements that have long since faded into the rearview mirror for Joan Mir. His title defence with Suzuki in 2021 was pegged back by a lack of development on the GSX-RR, with the Spaniard slipping to third in the standings.

In the middle of negotiations to extend his stay with Suzuki into 2023, the Japanese brand sensationally pulled the plug on its MotoGP project early into the 2022 campaign. Mir was left scrabbling about for a ride with few up for grabs. He landed one at the factory Honda squad, just as HRC hit its nadir in the modern four-stroke era.

He managed a best of fifth in an injury-ravaged 2023 season, as team-mate Marc Marquez hit the eject button and gambled on a move to Gresini Ducati to rebuild his stalled career. For 2024, Mir was left to lead the factory Honda team, but couldn’t crack the top 10 in a season he failed to see a chequered flag in a grand prix 10 times.

There was some light at the end of the tunnel in 2025, as he managed a pair of third-place finishes in normal conditions in Japan and Malaysia. But that progress for Honda hasn’t continued into 2026, with the brand now shifting its focus fully to its 2027 850cc project and the resurgence it hopes to have with Fabio Quartararo at the helm.

After the British Grand Prix, Mir sits 18th in the standings on 29 points, five behind LCR’s Johann Zarco, who hasn’t turned a wheel since a horrifying crash at the Catalan Grand Prix in May. Partly, that’s down to a tyre pressure penalty denying Mir a second-place finish and 20 points at Barcelona. But mainly, his attrition rate remains too high.

Of the 68 races he’s started for Honda since 2023, he’s failed to see the chequered flag on 40 occasions. Not all of those have been his own doing, but enough of them have for it to be a concerning trend.

“I think we started the season with higher expectations, and also the test at Sepang was very good, I remember,” Mir says, reflecting on the 2026 season when Crash sits down with him at the British Grand Prix. “The first races were not bad, but we couldn’t finish the race because, probably, I was too optimistic. I wanted to start the year in the same way that I finished; I wanted that too badly. And that made me risk more than what I should, and there were a lot of crashes. That was a bit of a lack of management on my part. I thought that our momentum was there and that I could finish with those results, and then that led to a lot of crashes.”

If there is one thing Mir can’t be accused of, it’s a lack of trying. Honda has been a shadow of its past, glorious self, for the duration of his tenure with the brand. Taking this year alone, he lost at least a fifth place to a crash in Thailand, a seventh in Brazil, a sixth in the USA, a sixth in France, an eighth in Hungary and an 11th in Germany. That’s 58 points extra that would currently see him leading team-mate Luca Marini in the standings.

“I think people always check the list of where I am now in the championship,” he said. “But if in those races I didn’t crash and I scored those points, I would be top six or top five in the championship. But that’s not the way to do something - you need to finish. We have the potential, I think that we are very close to finish those things and not expecting struggle from the others [to deliver us good results].

“We can earn those good results from our speed. This is something I also assume a lot of responsibility for, because until now I struggled a lot to do that. I remember back in the Suzuki days, or in the past, I was not feeling like this because I knew I had the package. The risk, I could manage to one point, but for me it’s very hard to come here knowing I don’t have the possibility.”

Mir’s ability to wring the neck out of the Honda hasn’t gone unnoticed, with Marini noting recently: “Joan is doing an amazing job, because he brakes really hard and deep in these last couple of events, and he's able to make the difference in qualifying compared to me.”

'I expected more from Honda'

But there is only so much a rider can do when the bike can’t come along for the ride. HRC test rider Aleix Espargaro’s huge claim that the 2026 Honda was the best bike he’d ever ridden in the pre-season hasn’t been followed up with the big results that were expected. Honda is currently down 22 points at this stage of the season compared to the same point in 2025, when it had scored a win in wet conditions in France and a dry podium in Britain.

Honda’s rate of development has always been more cautious than its rivals’. And with a new regulations cycle coming up in 2027, resources have had to be diverted. Both Mir and Marini have called on Honda to keep bringing new parts to the 2026 bike, because they will be useful in development for 2027. But it’s seemingly a request that has fallen on deaf ears.

“Inside the team, the box, the environment is very good, and I feel like they listen to me and they also want good results,” Mir said of Honda. “And when I crash, they suffer and they struggle. But the reality is, it’s been half a season, and we didn’t receive anything super positive to continue our progress.

“That, I will not lie, I’m a bit disappointed [about] also because I expected more. I think that if somebody here [in MotoGP] can follow two progress lines, it’s Honda. I probably expected more, but probably they are working so hard, and now at the end of the season I will get it all! Who knows? I don’t think so (he says with a chuckle), but if they start making evolutions and we start receiving those things, that also motivates me to keep pushing. If not, it’s hard. I feel like in 2023 it was like this, where we struggled a lot and nothing was coming. And then in ’24 it changed a bit, ’25 also. And now this year, we are again waiting for more.”

Honda made a major rider market play at the beginning of the year in signing 2021 world champion Quartararo from Yamaha. With Zarco and Diogo Moreira locked in on deals, only one seat remained at Honda for 2027. For a while, both Mir and Marini were in the frame. But after the Spanish Grand Prix, Mir decided he needed a fresh start.

Before committing to Suzuki, Mir had strong links to a Ducati ride. In hindsight, it’s easy to look at this as a major missed opportunity. That chance has come around again, with Mir getting a factory bike at Gresini next season. That said, he doesn’t regret his career choices to date.

“I’m a little bit more burned than probably my rivals,” he adds. “In certain moments of my career I could have chosen different ways, as with everyone. But I chose this one [Honda], and I don’t regret it. But for me, what was something that I had very inside of me, staying here giving more chances, was something that came to my mind, to continue like this. But I need a change.

“I need a change for my mind, for everything. I wish them the best for the future. And if next year they are able to have a competitive bike, I will be happy because I was part of that. But I need a change. This is something that is part of the process and will be part of my career. I cannot wait more time. And maybe, because next year nobody knows, this is not the right decision. But this decision was taken with the heart. I think if you take the decision with the heart, it’s the right one.”

"I've not enjoyed racing for a long time - I want to do that again"

Mir will also be following in the footsteps of two former Honda riders who ultimately found Gresini to be the environment that would help them rejuvenate their stalled careers. Alex Marquez, disillusioned with Honda come 2022, decided to try his luck on a year-old Ducati at Gresini. He’s now a multiple MotoGP race winner, a championship runner-up and put himself in the picture to snatch a factory deal to join KTM next season.

Marc Marquez did the same for 2024, after years of struggle to get back to full fitness following his serious right arm injury in 2020 were not met with a competitive bike from Honda. He won three times with Gresini in 2024, rediscovered his love for racing and barged his way into a factory Ducati move for 2025 that ultimately led him to his seventh MotoGP title.

More than having a competitive bike, the familial atmosphere of Gresini has seemingly helped bring out the best in riders. As of 2026, everyone who has competed for Gresini since 2022 has won a grand prix with the outfit. For Mir, who will be reunited with his title-winning crew chief Frankie Carchedi, he sees a lot of similarities between Gresini and Suzuki.

“This happened that they’ve had competitive bikes in the last years,” Mir said of Gresini. “But, more for the competitive bike they have, which was a super important part of my decision, it’s what the team transmits to the people. And that team looks super familial. It’s similar to Suzuki; you remember how people spoke about that.

“Marc went there [to Gresini] in the worst moment of his career, Alex the same; he was pointing outside of the championship in a certain moment. And look now? He enjoys riding, he made his career longer, and I think that also the story of the team, Nadia [Padovani] taking over the role of managing the team - it’s a beautiful story. I’m motivated for the future; I will not lie. Also, I’m motivated to close this chapter with Honda in the best way possible, not struggling, just enjoying a bit.”

Assuming nothing changes across the rest of this season, it will have been seven years since Mir won his only MotoGP race on his way to the title in 2020 when he lines up on the 2027 grid with Gresini. There’s no escaping the fact that this is a shocking statistic for a rider with a demonstrably higher quality than his results suggest.

This, coupled with his struggles at Honda, has seen Mir come in for a lot of criticism and raised some eyebrows when he secured a top ride for 2027 while other race winners have missed out. As we conclude our interview, I pose one final question to the 28-year-old: What have people forgotten about Joan Mir?”

“That’s a good question but is difficult to answer, because people forget very quickly and the people see what they want to see,” he began. “The other point of view is what we’ve been able to do with a non-competitive bike in these years, like in Barcelona when we fought for the victory; we made two podiums with Honda in normal conditions, which in the last years I don’t know who else has been able to do that [with this bike].

“At Suzuki we earned a championship. The people think like, ‘How did I win?’ The question is not how? I mean, the point is I won a championship with a manufacturer that hadn’t won any championships for 20 years. When I went to MotoGP, I had the offer to go with Honda, with Ducati, with brands that were winning, and I took a risk to do that [go with Suzuki] because my dream was to be like Kevin Schwantz, who won with a completely different bike and he became a legend. And nowadays, to do things differently, it looks like it removes value from you.

“If I did the same thing with Yamaha or Honda, which were the bikes that were winning in those years, maybe that was more valuable or what? I thought it was the opposite. We won that title being consistent, because the bike was a Suzuki. We won with a very small team. We won with a team that was giving 100%, and I am so proud of them. But we beat a super big manufacturer with a small one. And that is the most difficult thing for me. I am super proud of it.

“For sure, I go next year where I go because I want to prove things. But in MotoGP, you never know; I don’t know how I will feel next year. But in case I feel good, it’s for me - it’s not for them [the people]. That is the most important thing, to prove to myself, probably nothing, but to enjoy it again. I’ve not enjoyed racing for a long time, and I want to do that again…”