Brutally honest Joan Mir’s confession: “I considered retirement”
The Repsol Honda rider has endured a miserable campaign since switching from Suzuki, where he won the 2020 MotoGP championship.
Mir finished 11th at Portimao on the first Sunday of the 2023 season on his Honda but shockingly hasn’t finished a grand prix since, while teammate Marc Marquez hasn’t completed any of the nine rounds.
Asked by DAZN if he contemplated quitting the sport, Mir replied: "Yes, in a way I have considered it.
“What is certain is that I am convinced that in the future I would have regretted it.
“The day I decide that, I have to be sure that in the future I will not repent.
"Right now I have realised that this is not the time because I am going to regret it, so you have to keep gritting your teeth.”
Mir suffered a hand injury in a crash which sidelined him from two rounds, and when he returned he found a bike which was utterly uncompetitive.
“We weren't going to win much either because the situation we were in was complicated.
"An elite athlete, in the end, feeds off of the good results, the good times, of all this.
“And even more so when we have had good results in the past.
“I don't consider myself a rider who comes here to hang out and enjoys all this.
"What I like about this is winning, the good results.
“I enjoy when I am at home relaxed, all the pressure that MotoGP entails, if it does not have a reward, it really is quite difficult to carry or it is quite difficult for me.
"I haven't fed on those good results for a long time, only taking the bad part of all this, which are the falls, suffering on the bike, travelling…
"All these bad parts are what I've been eating since last year with Suzuki when they decided to close.
“Somehow the results don't arrive and I think this break has gone super well for me."
A ray of light in an otherwise awful year for Mir was the recent arrival of his and his partner’s baby son.
"I have been lucky enough to also be a father and I think that in such difficult moments, having a light of joy, this is fantastic,” he said.
“This is what I have experienced this break, this will have been fabulous for me. It has given me strength to keep trying.”
Mir reflected on the life of a MotoGP rider: "We are lucky that we do what we like, we earn a very good living, but it is true that we are subjected to a lot of pressure from a very young age.
“Since I was 10 years old I have been subjected to that pressure of 'wake up or we don't go on’.
"This year before the break I think my head said 'hey, calm down, we're going to prioritise things'.
“I've been working with a sports psychologist, I've been doing everything I think is necessary because I want to continue."
Mir will return for this weekend’s Austrian MotoGP.
