Reigning MotoGP champion Joan Mir says his main mistake in the French Grand Prix was not the crash that wound up ending his race, but rather what he did after it.
Unlike his charging Suzuki team-mate Rins, Mir was running somewhat conservatively in the early laps and sat behind Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco – who would go on to finish second – as the rain picked up and the field prepared to come in for bike swaps.
However, Mir was not among those peeling into the pits, instead crashing right before he was able to enter pitlane.
“I’m really disappointed,” he said afterwards. “I didn’t expect that crash, it was so unpredictable, there was a lot of water on track and we were with slicks, I was not pushing, I was just going to the box.
“I lost the- I don’t know if it was the front or the rear, but the bike disappeared. And then with the adrenaline and everything I made a mistake, I saw that the bike was not on, was not running, and I started to run to go to the box. Without any sense.”
It admittedly depended on the state of his GSX-RR, but a crash didn’t have to mean that Mir would leave Le Mans empty-handed. Tech3 KTM rider Iker Lecuona had an early fall but recovered to finish ninth, while Marc Marquez would’ve been even higher after his initial highside if he didn’t fall again.
However, article 1.18.17 of the FIM Grand Prix World Championship regulations stipulates that, in order to make a change of bikes, “the rider must enter pit lane with his machine” – which Mir did not do.
“I have to learn from this experience, because I already knew that I had to come with the bike to the box if I wanted to rejoin the race, but in that time I made a mistake,” he said. “Sorry to the team, this something that I cannot repeat again.
“Again, a shame because I felt really good and good potential in dry conditions and also in wet today. Even the warm-up was really positive. I expected to be there in front with the guys. But anyway, this is racing, and now we leave Le Mans, hopefully.”
On the other side of the garage, Rins had a phenomenal start to the race, moving up from 15th to third by the time he entered pitlane for the bike swap.
He came out one place higher, too, but then fell at the second part of the Dunlop Chicane, before rejoining, swapping bikes and falling again to record his third consecutive DNF.
Prompted initially after the race to give a general overview of his grand prix, a despondent Rins said: “I don’t know what to say. Ask me and I’ll try to answer something”.
“Sincerely was a big shame, that heavy rain,” he said subsequently. “I said yesterday to my staff, to the team, that in dry condition I was feeling quite good, and we were able to finish on the podium.
“But then you saw it – perfect start, perfect laps on the beginning, then it started to rain, we risked a lot, all the riders, on those conditions because it was big water.
“I exit from box, usually in that corner, corner 4, on the practices we don’t use the brake and this time exiting from pitlane I braked a little bit with the front to turn and I lost it, I lost the front.
“And then I went inside to change again the bike, but the biggest problem was the dry set-up for the wet bike. I struggled a little bit the first laps to warm the tyres, but you know, in the brakes in general I was feeling the bike too hard, not smooth, a bit aggressive. And I lost the front again.”
💢 @Rins42's miserable day is complete!#FrenchGP 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/4vEWxYJ0gl
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 16, 2021
“So, that’s all for today,” he concluded while letting out a melancholic chuckle.
Mir is now sixth in the standings, 31 points behind leader Fabio Quartararo, while Rins is a further six places and 26 points behind.
