Mir’s crashes show the price of performance at Honda

Joan Mir has crashed 16 times this season, joint-highest in the field with Jorge Martín. Since joining Honda he has had 79 crashes across 69 Grands Prix, compared with Luca Marini’s 13 in 51 Honda events.

Mir accepts part of the responsibility. He says some incidents come from traffic when starting far back, while others happen because he takes more risk than the bike allows. He could ride more conservatively, but refuses to give up when a result is available.

For Honda the issue is both technical and sporting: if Mir feels he must push beyond his normal margin to chase a strong result, development data is inevitably mixed with the consequences of crashes.