MotoGP world champion Joan Mir will stick with recent convention and use his traditional #36 race number on his Suzuki for 2021, rejecting the chance to use #1.
Speculation over whether Mir would remain with his usual number or would become the first rider since Casey Stoner in 2012 to use the number one plate began almost as soon as the 2020 title was wrapped up at Valencia last November.
Mir said he would reveal his decision on Friday morning via social media, and duly declared he would stick with his usual #36.
JOAN MIR: THE DECISION
1 or 36?
A difficult choice for our champion, watch as he reveals and explains his race number! 💙 @MotoGP @JoanMirOfficial #TheDecision #NuMIRology pic.twitter.com/h51sVX8WZv— Team Suzuki Ecstar (@suzukimotogp) February 12, 2021
“I woke up one day and just decided,” he said in a video released on Suzuki’s social media channels, “that the number will be the same as normal.
“It would have been really awesome to use #1, a unique experience and a dream.
“But I believe that #36 is the number with which I’ve worked hard and has taken me to where I am now, winning two world championships.
“I consider my job is not finished yet, I have to continue working, more than ever, with this number.”
The Race says
Mir’s decision marks a rather boring continuation of the tradition broken by Valentino Rossi in 2002, when he remained with his now-familiar #46 after winning his first premier class title the year previously.
Since then, only Jorge Lorenzo (for one of his three titles), Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden have elected to use #1, with Rossi, Lorenzo, and Marc Marquez instead sticking with their own personal branding.
It’s disappointing that a young rider like Mir has elected to not follow the original tradition of the champion taking #1.
Using the number one plate shows respect to the past and pays tribute to the hard work it takes to win a championship.
Sure, it might not be the best exercise in branding for a rider – but for a factory like Suzuki, there’s an awful lot of prestige to come from being able to share photos of its machine with a very obvious stamp on it that says ‘we’re the best in the world.’
Plus, in the case of Mir, the youngster is a mere 23 years old.
There’s plenty of time – probably the best part of a decade – left to sell t-shirts with the #36 brand, but there might only ever be one chance to wear the #1 with pride.
