Factory HRC rider Joan Mir feels concessions brought no notable improvement in results for Honda in MotoGP this year.
MotoGP revamped its concession system in 2024 to help Honda and Yamaha close the gap to European manufacturers, with the two fallen Japanese giants having slipped away considerably from competition the previous year.
Among other things, Honda was given extensive freedom to introduce new developments on track, including different engine specifications, while Mir and team-mate Luca Marini were also allowed to take part in private tests.
However, Honda still finished at the bottom of the manufacturers’ standings and ended the year with just 75 points on board, fewer than half of the 185 points it tallied up in 2023 when Marc Marquez was part of its factory team.
It's why Mir feels that concessions, despite their intended purpose, did not help Honda to get out of its current slump in MotoGP.
Asked where Honda would have been in the pecking order this year if it hadn’t had the luxury of concessions, he said: “This year probably in the same place we are.
“I hope this helps us for the next one. But in the short term we didn't get any advantage. We see it in the results [that there was no improvement].
“We have to find a way to get good pieces [on the bike] that help us to be faster. At the moment, we couldn't get it.”
Mir also felt his schedule in 2024 was much more hectic than usual due to additional testing duties, making him wonder if there is any benefit to allowing race riders to run the bike outside of grand prix weekends.
“The thing that the factory riders are able to test more, I don't think that is an advantage because if the bike is better I would be faster,” he said.
“That's why we have a test team. If we go to test something and we stay all day between one week and another one, we don't rest psychologically.
“We go one test, race, one test, race [and so on]. Sometimes it's worse, [not] better.
“That's why we have a test team that now is being reinforced and we have to make them work to have proper stuff. What they think is working, we try [that] on the GPs and we see that it's better.”
Honda has bolstered its test team for 2025, with three-time grand prix winner Aleix Espargaro joining Stefan Bradl in Europe and LCR rider Takaaki Nakagami retiring from active duties to take on a Japan-focused test role.
Mir believes these changes, combined with concessions, could deliver some much-needed gains for Honda next year.
“The test team was not [big] enough [this year],” he said. “We had just one test rider, and honestly we could improve a lot of the infrastructure of the test team, so they are doing it and I think this for the next year will be very good.”
