Mir says 2021 MotoGP title out of reach after British GP
Reigning MotoGP champion Joan Mir admits the 2021 title is now out of reach for him after a difficult British Grand Prix left him 65 points adrift of Fabio Quartararo.
The Suzuki rider recovered from 11th on the grid to run strongly inside the top six early in the race and was running pace that threatened a podium charge.
But while teammate Alex Rins went on to secure second, Mir faded to ninth at the chequered flag as he encountered an issue with his soft front tyre.
With Quartararo winning in dominant fashion, his championship lead over Mir now stands at 65 points with a provisional six races left in 2021 – leading Mir to admit his title defence is now likely over.
“Yes. It’s not done until the chequered flag, this is clear. But yeah, I’m disappointed about today,” Mir said when asked by Motorsport.com if the championship was now out of reach.
Later asked how his title challenge ended up in this position, having only scored four podiums in 2021 compared to Quartararo’s five wins, Mir added: “I expected to be closer honestly and to be able to get more podiums this season.
“We got a couple of fourth positions that couldn’t be some podiums.
“But well, honestly today I’m not really optimistic because what happened is really strange and something that happened today for me is not clear.
“So, we have to understand.”
Mir made a late change to the soft front tyre on the grid ahead of the 20-lap Silverstone race, with the cooler conditions forcing a number of riders to do the same.
But the Suzuki rider doesn’t believe his front tyre issues had anything to do with the softer rubber, given Quartararo won the race on that same option.
“Well, the feelings honestly on the first laps were really good,” he explained.
“I was able to ride in a good way and to be in the position that I wanted for the end of the race.
“But I had a problem with the front tyre. This problem was making me lose two, three seconds on the last five laps and quite a lot from 10 laps till the end, or 12.
“I had this problem that before I didn’t have and we have to understand.
“I was racing with the soft. Well, I’m not sure it’s a problem of the tyre choice because the winner was using this tyre and I was able to work a lot on this tyre and something similar never happened to me.
“So, we have to understand.”
Share Or Save This Story
MotoGP 2025: Full rider line-up revealed
A year on from Marquez’s Germany MotoGP meltdown, has Honda improved?
What’s behind MotoGP’s right-hander chaos in Germany practice?
What role does a MotoGP rider really play in bike development?
Joan Mir explains why Gresini is the right move after Honda struggles
Five MotoGP riders who need a big 2026 season
The MotoGP philosophy Suzuki's "madman" installed that Honda and Yamaha can't
Mir: No publicity campaign will replicate what MotoGP gave Suzuki
Rins was ‘crying on the grid’ before taking Suzuki’s farewell MotoGP win
Porsche backs Stephane Ratel over GT3's direction: "We don't want prototypes"
Why Mercedes finds other F1 teams' upgrades "scary" with its out-of-phase plan
How F1 drivers were "drooling over" Formula E's Gen4 car
Max Verstappen unveils special helmet for final F1 Dutch Grand Prix
How MotoGP's summer break has revitalised Aprilia's factory team
What we learned from MotoGP’s return at the British GP
The humble origin story of a MotoGP powerhouse
Does nobody want to win the 2026 MotoGP title?
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments