Silverstone, the tyre enigma: everyone in trouble except Joan Mir

In the MotoGP Sprint at Silverstone, Joan Mir was the only one not to suffer tire issues. In the GP he needs to do well and avoid mistakes after a nightmare first half of the season.

All the riders who chose the new, stiffer soft rear compound, a sort of “heat-resistant soft” specially developed by Michelin, encountered unexpected and unusual degradation problems... Except Joan Mir. Surprisingly, the Spanish Honda HRC rider appeared to be the only one able to reach the end of the Sprint with his rear tire still in good shape: that allowed him to attack right to the end, finishing with a solid 7th place and a smile. After a first part of the 2026 MotoGP season with 12 crashes in 22 races between Sprint and GP, it’s already a good restart, but it needs to be confirmed in today’s race, the most important of the Silverstone weekend, to avoid falling back into a string of errors. As for the tires, today it’s the long race, and the hope is that there won’t be further problems if the soft is chosen...

“We have to be satisfied, I think we made the most of our package, and that makes me happy.” Joan Mir ended Saturday at Silverstone with satisfaction. With the only blemish being Q2, in which one particular incident affected him. “The only negative aspect of the day was qualifying. There was a small incident: I was trying to set my best lap on the last lap, and I saw a yellow flag, but it wasn’t.” the #36 of Honda HRC told motogp.com. “I saw that Marc had also aborted his attempt, and I thought it was due to a yellow flag because I’d seen something yellow. But it was a misunderstanding, and as a result I couldn’t finish my lap. We’re not at Ducati and Aprilia’s level here, but I think I could’ve started a bit further up the grid.”

With Acosta in his sights as “motivation,” Joan Mir ran his race, this time without the mistakes we’ve unfortunately seen far too often from him on the opening lap. “I got a good start and spent much of the race on my own, focusing on my pace. Of course, with a better grid position we could have done more... But our realistic target is around this position,” he continued. He then emphasized that “Our tires were still in good condition at the end, and I think this will be a key point for the Grand Prix.” As mentioned, everyone suffered degradation with the soft tires, with some riders even calling it a “survival race” because of this.

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