Honda’s Joan Mir says he doesn’t understand why he crashed out of the Dutch Grand Prix and cannot guarantee he wouldn’t fall in a similar fashion again.
The 2020 MotoGP champion failed to complete a single lap across the two races in Assen, despite progressing through from Q1 to qualify inside the top 10.
The Spaniard tucked the front end of his factory RC213V at Turn 4 in the sprint, before another front-end fall at Turn 10 on the opening lap condemned him to a second retirement of the weekend.
While he attributed his Saturday crash to failing to stop the bike on a “dirty” part of the track, he was left baffled by the incident that forced him out of the main race.
However, instead of dwelling further on the loss of points, Mir said he would rather not think about what happened in Assen to prioritise his mental health.
Joan Mir, Honda HRC
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images
“On Saturday, I knew why I crashed; on Sunday, I don’t,” he admitted.
“I lost the front end on the first lap, and I don’t know why. I don’t think I was overtaking anyone. I was simply behind everyone else, at the same speed, and then I lost the front end. So that’s how I feel inside. What other people might think is another story. But inside, the reality is that I wasn’t attacking.
“This is something that happens quite often, that you crash and you don’t know why. That’s a bit the reality. When you don’t understand why you are crashing, it’s very difficult not to repeat the action, because you don’t understand.
“But I think I’ve been in this situation before many times, and the best thing for my mental health is not to think so much about it, and try to rest and relax.
“For my mental health, it’s important not to dwell on it too much, because you can lose a lot of confidence with your crash, and you don’t know why.
“Two races in a row is tough for everyone.”
Mir put together one of his best performances of the season just the week before in Brno, claiming fifth place on the best of the Hondas. That came as most of the top runners finished the race, meaning his result was entirely on merit.
Mir said that Honda’s lack of consistency in 2026 feels “painful”, with even Yamaha finishing ahead of the Tokyo-based manufacturer in Assen.
“What we are missing a bit from a long time is trying to be more constant in terms of results at difficult tracks,” he said. “I think we showed that we can have a top five normally; not every weekend, but almost.
“I think today is not an exception. I think I could be fighting there with Alex [Marquez], with [Enea] Bastanini, maybe with Marc [Marquez] at the end. So, I think that I was in that group. But the thing is that I cannot repeat it every weekend, and this is painful.”
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