Why Mir's MotoGP title defence can’t be written off yet

Autosport has been lucky enough to sit down one-on-one with MotoGP world champion Joan Mir on three occasions since he wrapped up the 2020 title back in early November. And on each occasion, he’s always been in fine form. The latest was no exception, despite fielding a fairly tough set of questions about a 2021 season that has so far been – as he put it – “under expectations”.

Mir’s not a typical world champion. He made this obvious immediately after his title win in Valencia last year, when he batted away questions about the pressure he felt being nothing compared to the ordinary person struggling through the COVID-19 pandemic. And even through the numerous awards and increased media attention, Mir’s profile remains fairly humble when you consider his achievements.

PLUS: How Mir became Suzuki’s humble MotoGP hero

“I’m not really a media guy,” he tells Autosport ahead of last month’s Dutch TT. “I don’t like the fame, I don’t like all this. I just like to ride the bikes, to do my job and to go back home and continue training to then come back here and try to win again. So, I don’t like to go to Monaco Formula 1 or to go around and all this stuff.

“Of course, I’d like to go there, but I prefer to do my thing and to be quite private with my life. I’m quite a different character and I don’t need the media, let’s say. It’s a different character that people have to respect and not everyone likes the fame.”

Mir may not “need the media”, but he certainly knows how to use it. The Suzuki rider is one of the rare athletes in world sport whose words give you no reason to doubt him. He’s honest, but not brutally so, and knows exactly how to craft an answer to get his point across without necessarily creating a major headline.

This has been obvious in the way he has spoken about the 2021 Suzuki across the first half of this season.

Joan Mir, Team Suzuki MotoGP

Photo by: MotoGP

It took Mir until the third round of the championship to register his first podium of the season, a third in Portugal. This made him the first world champion since Nicky Hayden back in 2007 not to kick off his title defence with a podium in the opening round. Since then, he has scored just two more – both of them thirds, at Mugello and at Assen as the objective has largely been damage limitation. He ended the first half of the season 55 points adrift of Fabio Quartararo down in fourth in the standings.

After qualifying down in 10th for the Catalan GP, Mir told the media that Suzuki hadn’t improved its MotoGP bike in 2021. After qualifying 17th in Germany and finishing the race ninth at a track which suited Suzuki on MotoGP’s last Sachsenring visit in 2019, he said Suzuki’s rivals were “being better than us”. And after his Dutch TT podium, he said in the post-race press conference – broadcasted to the world – that the current package he has underneath him isn’t enough to fight for the title with.

"I didn’t expect such a big improvement from the other manufacturers. Probably Suzuki also. This makes it probably a bit more difficult" Joan Mir

Mir backs the work Suzuki is doing in Japan and its philosophy of evolution over revolution (COVID-19 cost-saving measures for 2021 meant it had no choice on this occasion) is one he agrees with. But his comments to the press are very much him trying to get what he needs pushed through a bit quicker.

“I think that it’s more that they didn’t find a big step to make the bike better this winter,” Mir says when Autosport asks him to elaborate on his comments about the bike not being the step forward it needed to be.

“I think this is the real problem. Normally, the philosophy of Suzuki is a philosophy I share, because they normally don’t bring new bikes. In the pre-season tests, you see Honda, Yamaha, Ducati, also Aprilia, KTM with different bikes.

“And Suzuki normally never brings a new bike. They bring a new chassis, a new swingarm, engine, step-by-step and progressively try to make a step on the bike. Normally this works but you have to bring some things. Also, I have to say I didn’t expect such a big improvement from the other manufacturers. Probably Suzuki also. This makes it probably a bit more difficult.”

The step forward Suzuki’s rivals have made compared to 2020 has been fairly dramatic when you consider the freeze on engine development for 2021.

Joan Mir, Team Suzuki MotoGP

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Yamaha has built an M1 which is far more consistent than its predecessor, while Ducati has a bike that more or less works everywhere on the calendar now. Aprilia has taken a huge stride in 2021 as being a concession manufacturer meant it could develop an all-new bike over the winter. And since bringing a new chassis to Mugello, KTM has dug itself out the hole it found itself in at the start of the season.

“I don’t think that they are doing better than the previous years,” Mir adds, somewhat backtracking on what he said after Germany, but making a valid point. “Yeah, you can be more mature and learn from your mistakes, but I think the important thing is the package that you have.

“Last year with this package, I was able to be on the podium every race. And this year I’m not able to do it, so probably the other riders it’s happened the same – with the same effort they are able to be closer to the podium and last year not. So, doesn’t mean they are better or not.”

Of its rivals, Suzuki had the biggest shake-up over the winter. Talismanic team manager Davide Brivio quit to take up a role with the Alpine Formula 1 team and Suzuki elected not to replace him.

PLUS: Why Suzuki's Brivio replacement must come from within

Project leader Shinichi Sahara has become the de facto head but is part of a seven-person management committee Suzuki is now employing in lieu of a direct replacement for Brivio. Speaking to Autosport’s Spanish-language sister site es.motorsport.com, Sahara-san made it clear that Suzuki wouldn’t be changing approach anytime soon.

“It is clear that we won’t have a new team manager for this current season, it is something that requires a lot of thought and planning,” he said. “We have already been through a last minute and hasty decision just a few months ago when Davide announced his departure, and we’d rather take things more slowly this time.

“From my side, I need some time to really understand the team dynamics more. When you change something technical on the bike it’s quick and easy to see if it’s better or worse, but when it comes to a management change it’s a different story and it takes a lot longer to notice the effects and assess the situation.

Shinichi Sahara, Team Suzuki MotoGP

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“I will use the opportunity of the summer break to make an assessment of the first part of the season, there are many possible management combinations and set-ups and taking a break will help me to better evaluate if and how we need to change something for next year.”

There have been some cracks forming since Brivio’s departure. Sahara-san’s inexperience in the role led to Suzuki not pushing Race Direction further on the incident between Mir and Jack Miller in the Doha GP, when the Ducati rider triggered an avoidable collision with Mir that went unpunished.

PLUS: Why MotoGP's stewards must revisit Miller and Mir's Losail clash

Mir’s frustration about the bike largely stems from one key missing element. The Suzuki is the only bike on the current grid that does not have the ride height adjuster riders can use to lower the rear of the bike – similar to the holeshot start device – coming out of corners. Alex Rins says it’s very much track dependent, but at Assen he says the device was worth at least 0.2s or 0.3s per lap. In Qatar it was anywhere up to 0.5s. Suzuki is giving away free time without the device.

Consistency won Mir the 2020 championship and that will be even more vital to his cause as he effectively takes August’s resumption of hostilities at the Styrian GP as the real start to his season

It is coming but may not be ready until the second Austria race in August. One wonders if Brivio’s departure has hindered bike development. After all, the key trait Brivio had in this respect was how he bridged communication between the race team in Italy and the factory in Japan.

“I don’t think so,” Mir replies. “I think that for sure Davide was doing a super job here in Suzuki. But I think it’s more what I said: they couldn’t find an improvement, a technical improvement, a big a step as the others.

“That doesn’t mean Suzuki isn’t working – they are working. And Davide was not the one who was making the specs. So, in this case I think it’s more that they have to continue to improve and everything because we’ve seen that the others did it in a better way.

“I think the Japanese know very well what we need and I think that they are pushing between them. I don’t think so [that updates would be made quicker with Brivio around], but for sure more push is a help. But I think that they are doing [that].”

Joan Mir, Team Suzuki MotoGP

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

For the time being, Mir “trusts” Sahara’s management approach. And though he hasn’t hidden his disappointments in the bike, Mir hasn’t gone on a full-frontal attack. He remains calm in his approach and backs Suzuki to engineer its way back towards the front of the grid.

“The key of the season will be the second part,” Mir says. “It’s important to be as close as we can now because then with the improvements – I think that we will improve the bike – we will be closer to them. I think that we will do great, I’m looking forward to it.

“I’m strong, the team wants to get good results, this is always important. I want also the same and it will be difficult for sure because everyone works hard, but we work pretty hard also.”

The fact a relatively small update for KTM propelled Miguel Oliveira from being unable to crack a top 10 to standing on the podium at Mugello and then winning in Barcelona has only boosted Mir’s confidence that his title defence is far from over - providing Suzuki can deliver the goods after the summer break.

Going into the second half of the season, Suzuki is coming to a sequence of strong venues in Red Bull Ring, Silverstone, Aragon, Misano and COTA (if we ever get there). To boot, a poor start to the year for Rins – who crashed four times in a row between Portugal and Mugello, and who missed the Catalan GP after cycling into a van while looking at his phone and broke his arm – means Suzuki won’t have to worry about causing rancour in its ranks should it need Rins to play the team game to help Mir’s title push.

Mir feels it “not really productive” to dwell on the fact he is the world champion “because if you are a champion and you don’t push, you will never become a champion again”.

And you certainly can’t say he hasn’t been pushing in 2021. Starting no higher than ninth so far, he’s scored six top fives from the nine races run. Consistency won Mir the 2020 championship and that will be even more vital to his cause as he effectively takes August’s resumption of hostilities at the Styrian GP as the real start to his season. That consistency seemingly hasn’t deserted him.

Should Suzuki deliver a working ride height adjuster soon and give its riders back the free time they’re currently losing without it, the rest should worry because Mir continues to prove his champion credentials both in mindset and on the bike.

Third place Joan Mir, Team Suzuki MotoGP

Photo by: Dorna