As it is well known, Honda is one of the manufacturers with the highest level of development concessions in MotoGP – thus being able to regain the competitiveness it lost in recent years. For now, the differences are not substantial – gains with the bike have occurred, but according to Joan Mir, they are still not enough compared to the competition.
The 2021 champion said after the Qatar GP that with this year’s pace, he could have been close to the front in 2023: ‘I don’t know what the engineers expect, but when you asked me on the test what I expected, honestly I don’t expect. I think that they are working, I said a lot of times. I think that our bike improved – the others improved too. I don’t know where we would be last year with our race time this year – I think not very far from top positions. But the others made an step, we also did, but it isn’t enough’.
Mir calls for commitment and intensity in development, hoping that the change he already sees in attitude will continue: ‘Inside the team we know what’s going on, we are working hard. What I ask is that they have to continue putting some intensity to develop some things and more. Because what we have is not enough. Last year we had the same package all the year and honestly this was very difficult to manage mentally. This year I expected a change, now I see this change, so I hope that they continue in this mood’.