Joan Mir is one of many riders without a contract for the 2025 MotoGP season. Currently with Repsol Honda, the least competitive manufacturer at the moment, his results are far below what he has achieved in the past, as evidenced by his 2020 title.
While the bike is a factor in the equation, the Spaniard admitted that he no longer has the same bargaining power he once did: ‘The people consider the bike that you use. One thing that I say is that nobody leaves Honda in a better way that they went in. When I came to Honda, I had many offers. I could go wherever I wanted at that time. And now is not like this; I have to wait for others, they have the priority at the moment because I have to show again’.
In a world where performance is demanded at every moment, Mir admitted that the past is not as important: ‘This is a bit the reality. It doesn’t matter what you did in the past. Now the others that are doing the results at the moment, four or five riders, have the priority and we are the next ones’.
Despite being a MotoGP world champion, the rider from Palma de Mallorca downplayed his value, citing the example of Marc Márquez, who had to go through Gresini: ‘Marc also had a value when he moved to Gresini, not to a factory team, and his value is bigger than my one. This is a bit the reality. Nowadays MotoGP is like this’.