Joan Mir: the quickest MotoGP champ since Nicky Hayden

That result was an important sign to any MotoGP teams watching his progress, because many riders struggle to adapt from a skinny-tyre 100 kilo Moto3 bike to a fat-tyre 150 kilo Moto2 bike. Two weeks after COTA, Suzuki team manager Davide Brivio approached Mir at Jerez and they quickly came to an agreement.

Brivio must’ve wondered if he had got the right man, because after three podiums in the first half of the 2018 Moto2 season Mir went to pieces. He crashed out of three races on the first lap and only redeemed himself with a close-fought second place at Phillip Island, behind Brad Binder.

His MotoGP rookie season was up and down, but Suzuki didn’t put pressure on him. The factory had him on a two-year contract and believed he would come good within that time.

“At the moment they say to me, ‘Don’t worry about the result, just get used to the races, the bike and the rivals’,” Mir told me at Assen last year.

Five weeks later a terrifying 180mph/290kmh crash during post-Czech GP testing at Brno put Mir in hospital with internal injuries. Even worse, Suzuki engineers knew that the accident had been caused by a technical fault, but they weren’t sure what. There are few things more worrying for a rider, because he can’t be sure how to avoid another smash when he next gets on the bike.

Mir missed two races recovering from his injuries and returned to action at Misano, where he qualified tenth and finished eighth.

This was another hugely important weekend, because the ability to bounce back from even the scariest crash is a prerequisite to greatness in MotoGP.

At the end of that weekend I asked Mir what it’s like riding a 220mph/355kmh motorcycle without knowing why the bike had spat him off at close to top speed at Brno.

“I’m young, that’s it; this is the secret,” he grinned. “I’m conscious of the fact that ten years from now this will be more difficult for me, but now it’s not a problem.”

Mir’s youth and intelligence continue to serve him well. This year he’s been entirely unruffled by his transformation from a rookie who finished outside the top ten of the championship to MotoGP title contender.

He’s taken 2020 in his stride after making his only real mistake at the season-opening Spanish GP, where he crashed out on the second lap while hurrying to come back from a fourth-row start. Qualifying is the GSX-RR’s only weak point but the bike’s stunning corner-entry performance usually allows Mir to quickly carve his way through the pack.

Mir has had his share of bad luck too. He was taken out by Iker Lecuona at Brno, where he had spent morning warm-up riding around with race-winner Brad Binder, proving he had the speed to run at the front. Next time out at Red Bull Ring he launched his championship bid with his first MotoGP podium. And the week after that at the Styrian GP he was on his way to a first victory, until the race was red-flagged following the Maverick Viñales shunt.

After that breakthrough second place in the Austrian GP his podium hit rate was superb: third and second at Misano, second at Catalunya, third and third at Aragon and finally victory in the first race at Valencia.

Last weekend the pressure did rattle him somewhat. In cool, tricky conditions he crashed in FP2 and then struggled in qualifying, putting him back on the fourth row again. His nerves were obvious in the race-day warm-up session, when his crew experimented with different front-tyre pressures. They were concerned he would end up deep in the pack, where heat from other bikes would raise the pressure of his front tyre, reducing grip and feel.

In fact the race turned out just right. Mir was never higher than seventh but he had a clear track ahead of him for much of the race, so there were no tyre-pressure worries.

But it wasn’t an enjoyable 27 laps. “I don’t want to talk about the race, because this was the race where I struggled the most all year,” he laughed afterwards. “And I risked more too. It was really, really difficult. But we have the title so I don’t care about the race!”

Hopefully MotoGP 2021 won’t be run under the same Covid cloud and hopefully the world will get to see Mir defend his title against six-times MotoGP king Marc Márquez.