Joan Mir’s second season with Repsol Honda i♛s unlikely to be much b💜etter than his first.

Last year, Mir publicly 𝓡discussed a shock retirement just months after leaving Suzuki.

A crash-ridden 2023 has given way to a new season and Mir’s best re🐠sult, after four rounds, is P12 in Portimao.

It is a far cry from 2020 when Mir became the MotoGP champion with Suzuk♎i.

His future - and a possible future outside of ꦇMotoGP - was debated at last weekend’s Jerez round.

“It’s a tough one,” Sylvain Guin🐟toli said on TNT Spor🦹ts.

“You ๊get to a poiꦕnt - just like Marc Marquez did at Honda - where you lose motivation.

“Is it better to go and do something else?

“It’s a tough one for Honda in that situation. They’ve got to manage the performance side, make the bike 🤪🐓better.

“They also have to manage the riders, and the𝄹ir motivation. You h🌸ave to keep your guys motivated.

🐬“Thℱese guys are still the best in the world - they could go into another series and get some wins, they could be tempted to do something else.

“Because it does get depressing. You’ve got more than 20 races but, basically, you 🎶are just racing and testing all year.

“If your bike is not up to the 𒊎task, it’s a tough one to keep the motivation꧒.”

Neil Hodgson repli✤ed: “He’s not old. I know Joan, he’s obsessive.

“If you are his manager, you’re trying to ge꧒t him on a Ducati or on a KTM.”

Mir wouldn’t be t🎃he fir🧜st rider to quit Honda in recent years.

“Look at the Marquez brothers,” Guintoli said.

“Happy faces. Everyone is laughing in the box.

“They𝐆 are on ten-times less money but are having fun, and areꦗ in the mix to win races.”

Mir finished P9 in last weekend’s sprint (largely due to the huge amount of crashes in front of him) th🅺en P12 in the grand prix at Jerez.

Repsol Honda teammate Luca Marini is faring even worse in his ൲first rounds on the bike, since joining from VR46.

Overall, Honda are bleakly at the back of the MotoGP and are watching on as even Yamaha, their fellow Japanese-manufactured strugglers, are outperformin♏g them.

Mir, still only 26, is into the final year of his Honda contract so could be targeted to go e𓄧lsewhere.

But after two seasons of poor results, blighted by his below-par machinery, he may find himself with something to prove as new, hu𓆉ngry contenders jostle for the best seat on the 2025 grid.