Joan Mir defends himself over his crashes: "I know how to ride without crashing; it's very easy"

With 22 crashes last year and 16 so far this season, Joan Mir has suffered the joint-most falls of any rider on the MotoGP grid, but the Spaniard attributes his high crash count to the risks he has to take to extract the maximum performance from his Honda.

Marc Marquez left Honda at the end of 2023 because, among other reasons, he crashed off the bike every time he tried to make it go fast. That year, in 15 grands prix appearances, he suffered 29 crashes, almost two per weekend.

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That same season, Mir joined the official team from Tokyo, and in the same number of grands prix, he crashed 24 times, exactly the same number of times he had crashed with Suzuki in total over the previous three years.

It's a dynamic that has accompanied him ever since.

In the 69 grands prix he has contested with Honda so far, Mir has recorded a total of 79 crashes, averaging more than one per event. Johann Zarco has posted similar numbers, crashing 49 times in the 48 grands prix he has competed in with LCR's RC213V, with the most recent in Barcelona leading to disastrous consequences.

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At the Aragon GP, Mir was asked to interpret that statistic and the large number of crashes he was having, especially because most of those 16 crashes have been in races, and quite a few of them before completing the first lap.

"There is no specific explanation because every crash has a different reason," he explained. "At Silverstone, for example, I had contact at the start and crashed. What is clear is that if you start from the first or second row of the grid, you don't crash. The way of racing at the front of the races is very different from how you compete at the back. And what you have to try to do is be further forward.

"It is clear that we have had crashes of that kind, and also others from taking more risks than necessary and trying to push more than was possible. And these are the ones I have to control more as a rider."

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This year, with 16 crashes each, Mir and Jorge Martin have fallen the most times so far.

Joan Mir, Honda HRC crash

"Many crashes come from trying to find more from the bike than there really is," he said. "I am an experienced rider, but now I am also a rider who has to take advantage of any opportunity to get a good result, because I don't know when another opportunity will come.

"Not having results consistently can have two readings: that it increases your hunger to do well, or that it switches you off for good.

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"In my case, there was a moment in my career when I wasn't sure whether it was worth continuing. Now, on the other hand, if I have the opportunity, I try because I want to do it and I am hungry to achieve more. I should probably control that impulse because I don't have the bike to do more."

Marini doesn't crash

What draws the most attention about Mir's crashes is that his team-mate, Luca Marini, is the complete opposite. The Italian, in the 51 grands prix he has contested with Honda since arriving in 2024, has only crashed 13 times. Only three of those crashes came in races, two in his first season and just one in 2025 (Japan).

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It's unclear whether Honda values the search for more performance, which inevitable leads to risks and crashes, or a measured approach in Sunday races.

"I think it is valued," Mir said. "In a competitive project, what is most appreciated is speed, trying to go to the maximum and getting the best possible result.

"Other types of projects may prefer development and finishing races. They are different ways of riding a bike. I also know how to ride the other way, without crashing.

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"Surely, if you have the speed, going slower is very easy. But if you don't have it, going faster is the difficult thing. For me, the important thing is not to get used to going slower, but to push to always be a better rider. Never settle.

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"That is the vision I have had at Honda, especially now. It is a very complicated situation to manage mentally for a rider who has won. That is the thing: when you have won and you know you can be at the front, you wonder why you are not there and you want to keep taking risks. But these are my demons."

While Mir previously admitted to having had "doubts about my future", he has now recovered his ambition, desire and excitement ahead of the 2027 season, where he will compete for Gresini on a satellite Ducati.

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