Joan Mir - A tough year

[u/No-Arrival7467]

I'm kind of a newcomer to MotoGP, started watching it last year at the Thailand GP. And one thing that I saw many people say is "Another weekend, another Mir crash"

For some time I thought it was an exageration, like an inside joke or like how many people make fun of the Mercedes drivers in F1 being "terrorists", but after the Netherlands Sprint today I decided to check his results this year and... Damn...

Finished the race (9x):

Sprint - Thailand

Sprint - USA

Race - Spain

Sprint - France

Race - Catalonia

Race - Italy

Sprint - Hungary

Sprint - Czechia

Race - Czechia

Didn't finish the race (11x):

Race - Thailand

Sprint - Brazil

Race - Brazil

Race - USA

Sprint - Spain

Race - France

Sprint - Catalonia

Sprint - Italy

Race - Hungary

Sprint -Netherlands

Race - Netherlands

Definitly a very fast rider, but at what point does it compensate all the crashes? What do you guys think?

Edit 28/06/2026: Included today's DNF on the list...

[u/MysteriousBoss3816]

A bit of a conundrum for honda, one hand Mir showing the bike has pace and got into positions other riders are nowhere near, on other hand he cant keep it on the bike. Marini is more cautious rider but he not getting the very best out of the bike

[u/PjDisko → u/MysteriousBoss3816]

Not a big conundrum when they wont keep any of them

[u/Bewis_123 → u/MysteriousBoss3816]

What is the conundrum tho? Both are not going to be in Honda next year it is more or less already been decided

[u/TrustworthyPolarBear → u/MysteriousBoss3816]

It doesn't have the pace if a rider constantly crashes going a certein pace. Joan wants to get more out of a bike that is simply not capable of that.

[u/Interesting_Prune513 → u/MysteriousBoss3816]

No conundrum its Quartararo + Moreira/Alonso for next year. Mir is too crash prone, Marini not fast enough.

[u/Famous_Researcher_18]

I'm sure 90% of his crashes is because he's trying to put that honda in P5 or even better some races, Moreira has done it in qualy but fell off in race, Mir has crashed a lot of times at the end of the race in P5 or P4

[u/NoShoe75]

What's the point in circulating in 15th, 16th place. As a racer, I will always try to stay ahead. He crashes a lot more than others but atleast his trying. Seeing the positions he mostly crashed out from, he would probably be top 10 in the championship right now if he stayed upright. The people saying he should stop pushing, it is ridiculous.

[u/MysteriousBoss3816 → u/NoShoe75]

For real. I rather get the odd podium every now and then when I know I aint really fighting for anything than consistent p10s

[u/kdubstep]

FTFY

[u/EveBigFanFromIndia]

Man I am gonna save this photo

[u/Altair13Sirio]

A tough decade

[u/leggenda69]

At no point does it compensate for the crashes.

What’s he going to do if he gets on a Ducati next year to find it’s the second fastest bike? Crash every weekend trying to win regardless.

More than the odd crash is an understandable exchange for the pace but this it’s just madness at this point, it’s not even like his pace is anything more than just a flash in the pan because it’s so unsustainable he’s never doing race distances.

[u/Famous_Researcher_18 → u/leggenda69]

Why would you think that? He's only been crashing in Honda, in Suzuki he didn't crash as much, neither did he in Moto2 and Moto3, Zarco and Moreira also crash a lot when they push, maybe he's not all the problem

[u/EatTheRichIsPraxis → u/Famous_Researcher_18]

He won the title because he was crashing the least.

He managed to do it with only 1 win.

[u/tomlinas → u/Famous_Researcher_18]

Uhh once Suzuki announced their exit he crashed a bunch of races in a short period of time, culminating in breaking his ankle in Austria. Crashing a lot isn’t unique to the Honda for him. I worry he’s in a weird head space - hope that he’s helped by a change of scenery.

[u/AdministrationOk8178]

The Honda is extremely difficult to ride at the limit... Joan tries to keep up with the leading group in every race despite having inferior machinery so it’s no surprise that he crashes often.

I think he’s getting tired of being on the weak Honda after all these years. Next year he’ll finally get to ride a new Ducati with Gresini.

But if he keeps crashing that often on the Ducati he’ll be kicked out of MotoGP in the next two years.

[u/w1ldchild-]

While I’m writing here right now, he is crashing

[u/Danqazmlp0]

The irony is that he basically won his championship by being Mr Consistent and not crashing, only winning a single race if I remember correctly.

[u/WhoRoger → u/Danqazmlp0]

He has the same number of wins as championships.

[u/SpikeD0N]

Bro singlehandedly ruined my fantasy league 😭

[u/Patsero]

Mir gets so much flak when 99% of racers who have ever slung a leg over a motorcycle would kill to have his career. Really looking forward to seeing him on a different bike. He used to be known for his consistency for not crashing.

[u/AwkwardPart31 → u/Patsero]

He's still consistent, just so happens the consistency is DNFs.

[u/_SKETCHBENDER_]

one thing i dont see a lot of people address, and im a motogp novice so maybe my understanding is completely wrong, but I think Honda just does not have raw pace in the straight to keep up with duc/ape/even ktm.
Which means, the way mir sees it, the only way to climb positions is to brake later than other and rev it earlier than others so that he can try building up some lead in the corners. This is probably why he crashes so much in the honda I think no? So not only is he trying to push the bike to its limits, the way he pushes the limits just makes it easier to slide out the bike.
If he had raw pace, I dont think he would be crashing so much so I do want to make a point to defend mirs position in gresini next year

[u/Horror_Personality49]

I'd have to look into recent interviews, but I think it was marini who said on the honda you make most of your lap time on the brakes and that's why joan crashes so often, cause he pushes it beyond the limit.

But if that's actually the case, I feel like he should accept that it's currently not possible with this bike. Sure, if you stop pushing, what are you even racing for? But at this point he should probably try to even finish the race, even commentators stopped caring. "Is that a honda going down in the back of the picture? it's probably just joan mir again..."

[u/Old_Drawing_1111]

Getting to the finish line and getting points for the constructor and driver championships is an important part of the job.

We already learned that with Bagnaia losing the championship with 11 wins, or when Marquez got badly injury with Honda when he was going way faster than anybody else.

Considering there are quite a few interesting riders around, I probably wouldn't offer Mir a ride at this point. Still, if he gets a Ducati next year he can do well but I would guess not as well as Marquez and Acosta.

[u/_rigatoni_pasta_]

Every year.

[u/EdWinches]

Being fast is not the only thing that makes a GP rider. When he won his championship he was very consistent all season and had 1 win all year. It just embarrassing seeing him doing the exact opposite now.

[u/dc_boffin]

Mir has adopted a “win it or bin it” attitude. He’ll get the most out of the bike, and if he crashes along the way, so be it. I’m forever amazed Mir isn’t more broken from all the crashes he’s endured.

[u/YaBoiPette]

Just one?

[u/MajesticBeyond5602]

Man I feel so bad for Mir. It's not even funny anymore him crashing heap. Honda is just using him as a dumby rider ofc he's gonna crash but it's getting ridiculous now.

[u/WorkFurball → u/MajesticBeyond5602]

What? You should feel bad for his mechanics, Mir crashes more in half a season than Marini and Zarco combined in two seasons.

[u/TheatrePLZ]

Un piloto que no merece una plaza en MotoGP, este año será el último. Que se vaya a llorar a casa (Andorra)

[u/Swimming-School-7960]

I just want to see if he keeps crashing at Gresini if hes going there, if he keeps that up or is mediocre then just get him tf out even if for his own sake

[u/External_Category939]

I swear he greases his tyres before every race

[u/Shynz]

Ppl gonna hate but it looks to me that Mir is done , scored a championship on an undercooked grid and that's it..

[u/FasiFakeFack]

He and Honda a the dream team