MIR SAYS MARQUEZ’S HONDA EXIT FORESHADOWED HIS OWN DEPARTURE

Joan Mir says Marc Marquez’s decision to leave Honda in 2023 eventually proved a warning he should have taken more seriously. Mir had only just joined the Japanese manufacturer after Suzuki withdrew from MotoGP, and initially believed Honda could rebuild into a competitive force.

Marquez, a six-time world champion with Honda, departed a year before his contract ended after a difficult spell following his 2020 arm injury. From 2021 through 2023, he managed three victories and six podiums as Honda’s competitiveness declined. His move to Gresini gave him a route to a factory Ducati seat.

Mir arrived at Honda as the 2020 world champion and a third-place finisher in 2021. He expected his first season to be challenging, but hoped the team would soon provide a bike capable of returning him to the results he had achieved with Suzuki. Instead, his first Honda campaign ended 22nd in the standings, with just one top-10 finish. He placed 21st in 2024 and 15th in his third season.

“I expected the first year to be difficult, but that Honda would then build a competitive bike and I’d get back to achieving positive results like I did with Suzuki; that was my thought,” Mir told GPOne. “Instead, it was more difficult than expected; the timeframes got longer, and we weren’t always able to be competitive.”

Mir eventually scored Honda podiums in Japan and Malaysia last year, but said they required near-perfect circumstances. “In the end, there were some podiums, but to get them, the situation had to be perfect,” he said. The struggle to fight for modest points took a toll on his motivation: “You could really hurt yourself to fight hard for a top 10, top eight, top six.”

When Marquez left, Mir still had faith in Honda and chose to wait. “After the years from 2020 to 2023 without results, he had decided to leave,” Mir said. “I had recently arrived and still had faith, when I saw him leave, I thought I’d have a little patience, but in the end the decision was…”

Mir is now set to follow Marquez to Gresini, where he will partner Moto2 graduate Daniel Holgado. He has been among the riders with the most crashes, recording 18 retirements last season and 13 so far this year, and says he has opted to ride aggressively in pursuit of stronger results. He missed the Austrian Grand Prix and has also been ruled out of the Japan and Indonesia double-header because of fatigue.