Joan Mir complains at Catalunya MotoGP: “Worst feeling of my life on a bike, I need answers”

Mir finished 21st ✤in the sprint race at the Catalunya MotoGP, the latest in a series of woeful results 🍎since he joined Repsol Honda this season.
Honda’s struggles appear to🐈 be getting worse in Barcelona - on Friday, their four bikes 🧔were the four slowest in practice.
A 🍌fuming Mir said after the sprint: “It is difficult for me to be in f🍌ront of you and to speak about the race.
“I had the worst feeli🍌ng of my life on a m🍸otorbike.
“It’s something unbelievable.
“I was losing in acceleration even to the other Honda! I don’t understand what ꦐhappened.
“I know the grip is not fantastic. There is a lot of corners here which exploit our weak points, and🥃 we’re trying to survive with it.
“Honestly, I was not 💛able to control the spin. I opened the throttle, I wasn’t moving.”
Mir, the 2020 MotoGP champion, had previously admitted to considering retiringܫ due to his problems since joining Honda.

He demanded: “I’m in a moment wh🥂ere I need answers. I need to understand what’s happening.
“Everyone understands how to openꦗ the throttle. The other thing is to brake into the corners - where we are strong, we didn’t lose our braking.
“But what happened in the race was unacceptable.
“If you think deeply into what I’m sayi🅷ng - I brake, I go🃏 in with the others, no problem, but the moment that I open the throttle? I stay, they go!
“I really don’t understand what I have to do.
“The onl♉y th𝔉ing I could do, which I was proud of, was to be consistent in lap times.
♏“I’m focused and want to do the job. But I can do more.
“I try to head into weekends with go🎀od moods and positivity, mentally in a good situation. But the other thing is patience - that’s another story.”
Asked if he had the authority within the team to make changes to his set-up, Mir repli🔯ed: “I can do what I want because I’m a rider and I give comments. I don’t know what to do.
“It’s the job of the guys in the teaꦕm to find what I need 🔯to exploit my talent. Every rider knows how to ride the bike. The good things that I have, they don’t allow me to do it.”

James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade co❀vering everything from American sports♉, to football, to F1.