The Suzuki rider won no races in 2021 and took just six podium finishes on his way to third in the standings, 70 points behind champion Fabio Quartararo.

Mir was hurt by the poor development of the 2021 GSX-RR compared to the championship-winning one a year earlier.

Speaking about his 2021 season, Mir insisted that he got everything he could out of the Suzuki, but he couldn’t do more this year.

“It’s true that I didn’t win, but what nobody can say is that I didn’t give 100% of the bike,” Mir said. “This is clear, and also within myself I am very disappointed.”

“But I’ll sleep well because throughout the year I haven’t been able to do better. If someone believes me, it’s fine with me. If someone says that I’ve made the worst title defense in history, welcome. But they have to live everything to understand the situation and know a little more before making those comments. I don’t give a shit about those people, honestly.”

Davide Brivio and Joan Mir, Team Suzuki

Suzuki’s season was affected by the internal changes that took place following the departure of Davide Brivio , team principal since the return of the MotoGP brand, at the beginning of 2021.

Suzuki chose not to sign a replacement for Brivio and divided his duties among the rest of the staff, but the team lost part of the unit it had until then.

However, Mir believes that Suzuki “will be stronger” in the future after learning this season.

“If you have a winner in your team, it’s also difficult to manage,” he said. “All this pressure that I put on myself throughout the season was enormous.

“Also, I think that with this situation that we have experienced, that Suzuki has experienced this year, we will be stronger in the future because this year we have learned many things about how difficult it is to win in MotoGP.”

“It’s not enough to do what you have to do, you have to do more to win the title. And not just the driver: all the people within the team.” 

Gallery: all Suzuki bikes and riders in MotoGP

2002: Kenny Roberts Jr

1/51

Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

2002: Sete Gibernau

2 / 51

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

2002: Akira Ryo*

3/51

*wild card

Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

2002: Yukio Kagayama*

4 / 51

*substitution

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

2003: Kenny Roberts

5 / 51

Photo by: Richard Sloop

2003: John Hopkins

6/51 _

Photo de: Richard Sloop

2003: Yukio Kagayama*

7 / 51

*substitution

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

2003: Akira Ryo*

8/51

*wild card

Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

2004: Kenny Roberts

9 / 51

Photo by: Suzuki MotoGP

2004: John Hopkins

10/51

Foto de: Suzuki

2004: Gregorio Lavilla*

11 / 51

*wild card and substitution

Photo by: Suzuki MotoGP

2004: Yukio Kagayama *

12/51 _

* sustitución

2005: Kenny Roberts

13 / 51

Photo by: Suzuki MotoGP

2005: John Hopkins

14/51

Foto de: Suzuki MotoGP

2005: Nobuatsu Aoki*

15 /

*wild card and substitution

Photo by: Gauloises Fortune Racing

2006: John Hopkins

16/51

Foto de: Crescent Suzuki

2006: Chris Vermeulen

17 / 51

Photo de: Todd Corzett

2006: Kousuke Akiyoshi *

18/51 _

* wild card

Foto de: Crescent Suzuki

2007: John Hopkins

19/51

Foto de: Crescent Suzuki

2007: Chris Vermeulen

20 / 51

Photo de: Crescent Suzuki

2007: Kousuke Akiyoshi *

21/51 _

* wild card

Foto de: Crescent Suzuki

2007: Nobuatsu Aoki *

22/51 _

* wild card

Foto de: Crescent Suzuki

2008: Chris Vermeulen

23 / 51

Photo de: Crescent Suzuki

2008: Loris Capirossi

24 / 51

Photo by: Crescent Suzuki

2008: Ben Spies*

25 / 51

*wild card and substitution

Photo by: Crescent Suzuki

2008: Kousuke Akiyoshi *

26/51 _

* wild card

Foto de: Crescent Suzuki

2008: Nobuatsu Aoki*

27/51

*wild card

Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

2009: Loris Capirossi

28 / 51

Photo by: Crescent Suzuki

2009: Chris Vermeulen

29 / 51

Photo de: Crescent Suzuki

2010: Alvaro Bautista

30 / 51

Photo by: Crescent Suzuki

2010: Loris Capirossi

31 / 51

Photo by: Crescent Suzuki

2011: Alvaro Bautista

32 / 51

Photo by: Crescent Suzuki

2011: John Hopkins*

33 / 51

*wild card and substitution

Photo by: Crescent Suzuki

2014: Randy de Puniet*

34 / 51

*wild card

Photo de: Suzuki MotoGP

2015: Maverick Vinales

35 / 51

Photo by: Suzuki MotoGP

2015: Aleix Espargaró

36 / 51

Photo by: Suzuki MotoGP

2016: Maverick Vinales

37 / 51

Photo by: Suzuki MotoGP

2016: Aleix Espargaró

38 / 51

Photo by: Suzuki MotoGP

2017: Alex Rins

39/51

Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

2017: Andrea Iannone

40/51

Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

2017: Takuya Tsuda *

41/51 _

* sustitución

Foto de: Suzuki MotoGP

2017: Sylvain Guintoli*

42 / 51

*substitution

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

2018: Andrea Iannone

43/51

Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

2018: Alex Rins

44/51

Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

2018: Sylvain Guintoli*

45 / 51

* wild card

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

2019: Alex Rins

46/51

Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

2019: Joan Mir

47 / 51

Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

2020: Alex Rins

48/51

Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

2020: Joan Mir

49 / 51

Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

2021: Alex Rins

50/51

Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

2021: Joan Mir

51 / 51

Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images