Mir "in a another phase" mentally in Honda MotoGP struggles

The Spaniard joined Honda’s factory team for 2023 alongside Marc Marquez after Suzuki’s shock exit from the series at the end of last season.

The 2020 world champion has only finished one grand prix, the season opener in Portugal, where he took all five of the points he has scored so far this season.

Mir sat out the Argentina GP after a crash in the sprint and withdrew from the Italian GP after suffering a hand injury in a crash during second practice. He then missed the German and Dutch rounds with the same injury.

Speaking after the British Grand Prix, Mir said that though it has been difficult mentally, he has now turned a page and is “in another phase”.

Asked whether it was hard to stay motivated, Mir said: “It was difficult but honestly now, I’m in another phase.

“The first part of the season after the stop was very difficult to manage, but now my mentality has changed a bit.

“I’m trying to keep the positive things from the weekend and that’s it, do what I can do and we will have the correct package that I will feel more comfortable with. We will see what we can do.”

Joan Mir, Repsol Honda Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Mir’s comeback at Silverstone proved challenging, finishing 17th in Saturday’s sprint race before crashing out of Sunday’s grand prix on lap three.

He had several issues during the race with his front ride height device and “something mechanical” on his RC213V.

Mir said: “First of all, I had the problem at the start that I couldn’t engage the front device. I tried four times and that’s why I went one row further because I wanted to try one more time and then I came back and started without the device.

“There was a problem there that we have to understand, because I made the same thing and it was not really working.

“Then, there was something strange on the bike that every time I was braking, the rear was locking every time I moved down a gear.

“I almost crashed in the old Turn 1 due to this problem, I almost had a bad one, and then I went full fast in the gravel and I crashed on the gravel. So that was our Sunday.

“I feel something mechanical but I don’t know at the moment. That was our race, the two laps that I did.”