Joan Mir says he has "zero regrets" about his approach to the sprint race at COTA on Saturday, despite the event ending with a last-lap fall.
The 2020 world champion was enjoying his strongest ride of the season thus far, pressuring Pedro Acosta for third place as the pair embarked on the final tour. But he pushed a mite too hard entering the first corner and dropped the bike.
Although he tends to enjoy the highest peaks of any Honda rider, Mir's finishing record has come in for increased scrutiny over 2025 and the early part of 2026. But the notion of making sure he brought the bike home safe was not part of his thinking on this occasion, said the Spaniard.
"[I have] zero regrets because in this case I had the opportunity to fight for a podium with our bike. I have to take the chance.
"If I don't try, it's going to be difficult to go to bed knowing that [I could have given] more, you know?"
Mir said he would take the same approach if he got a sniff of a podium on Sunday.
"If I have the opportunity again, I will go. And if not, I will try to finish."
As on Saturday, Mir will start the Sunday race in fifth place on the grid.
"If we continue working as we are doing, one day we will be there. I think the podium is something very close."
He also suggested that the more the bike improves, the fewer crashes there will be.
"When you give 150% of your package, you ride more on the limit than the others. These things can happen. So, zero regrets.
"Hopefully, with a bit of work [from] Honda and all together, we can be much faster and I can ride with more margin.
"I know my potential. I know what I'm capable of doing with a correct bike and with a good bike.
"If Honda helps me a bit with a better package, I'm sure that I will ride with more margin."
Although there have been occasional mitigating circumstances, Mir has now finished only one of his five starts this year. That came on the first outing of the year, when he finished the Buriram sprint in seventh place.
"Sometimes it's my fault, sometimes not. This time it was my fault, 100%. So I'm sorry. I apologise to the team for that. And just, you know, keep working."
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