Joan Mir’s second season w✃ith Repsol Honda is unlikely to be much better than h♚is first.

Last🔯 year, Mir publicly discussed a shock retirement just months af🐈ter leaving Suzuki.

A crash-ridden 2023 has given way to a new season and Mir’s🌜 best result, after four rounds, is P12 in Portimao.

It is a far cry🔯 from 2020 when Mir became the Mot♏oGP champion with Suzuki.

His future - and a possible future outside of MotoGP - was𝔉 debated at last🍌 weekend’s Jerez round.

“It𒁃’s a tough ⛦one,” Sylvain Guintoli said on TNT Sports.

“You get❀ to a point - just like Marc Marquez did at Honda - whe𝓀re you lose motivation.

“Is it better to go and do something else?

“It’s a tough one for Honda in that situation. They’ve got to manage the performance ♑🅷side, make the bike better.

“They also have to 🦋manage the riders, and their motivation. You have to keep your guys motivated.

“These guys are still the best in the world - they could go into anoꦰther ser🎐ies and get some wins, they could be tempted to do something else.

“Because it does get depressing. You’ve got more than 20 races but, basically, yo🥂u are just racing and testing all year.

“If your bike is 🦩not up to the task, it’s a tough one to keep the motivation.”

Neil Hodgson replied: “He🔴’s n🦩ot old. I know Joan, he’s obsessive.

“If you are his manager,ꦜ you’re trying to get him on a Ducati or on𝓰 a KTM.”

Mir 🦄wouldn’t be the first rider to quit Honda in recent 𓆉years.

“Look at the Marquez brothers,” Guintoli said.

“Happy faces. Everyone is laughing in the box.

“They are on ten-times less money but are having fun, and𓃲 are in the mix to win races.🎐”

Mir finished P9 in last weekend’s sprint (largely due to the huge amount of crashes in front of him) then P12 in the grand 𓂃prix at Jerez.

Repsol Honda teammate Luca Marini is faring even worse in his first rounds on the bike,𓂃 since joining frꦜom VR46.

Ove🍷rall, Honda are bleakly at the back of the MotoGP and are watching on as even ▨Yamaha, their fellow Japanese-manufactured strugglers, are outperforming them.

Mir, still only 26, is into the 🃏final year of his Honda contract so could be targeted to go elsewhere.

But after two seasonꦏs of poor results, blighted by his below-par machinery, he may find himself with something to prove as new, hungry contenders jostle for the best seat on the 2025 grid.