The Suzuki rider had made good progress from 14th on the grid and had made it into the top 9 when he slipped out of the race at the end of lap five when the rain got heavier.
After Mir failed to return his damaged bike to the pit lane, during the flag-to-flag stop, Mir was unable to switch to his second bike, which was designed for wet conditions – something he attributed to his lack of experience, which he has never been in had driven a flag -flag race before.
Mir, who is now 31 points away from the championship lead, explained his day: “During a championship fight there are always some races where you make a mistake and there is a zero [score].
“If there’s only one, it’s really good. But that wasn’t part of my plan today.
“I wanted to do my best. To be honest, I felt strong on the track and was able to overtake a lot of drivers on the first few laps.
“I was there in the group. I passed once [Miguel] Oliveira I tried to overtake Aleix [Espargaro] and then to be in the group with Marc [Marquez] and [Alex] Kidneys.
“But the rain came and on this lap I don’t really know what honestly happened.
“For my part, I have to apologize to the team for making a mistake.
“I saw the bike wasn’t going and I’m starting to run to the pits… I knew I had to come on the bike, but the bike was a little damaged and I started walking.
“I don’t know why, the adrenaline or something. But from this experience I will learn for the future, I will not repeat it, that is for sure. “
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Teammate Alex Rins was in the top group at the end of the fifth lap when they came to change wheels and got out in second behind Marc Marquez.
But Rins crashed seconds later at the Dunlop chicane and then crashed a second time on his other bike, which was designed for the dry and consequently made the Suzuki “aggressive” on wet tires.
“It was a great shame that it rained heavily because I told my staff and my team yesterday that I felt pretty good in dry conditions and that we could land on the podium,” said Rins after his second fall in Episode in 2021.
“But then you saw a perfect start, good laps at the beginning.
“Then it started to rain, we risk a lot, all these riders, because it was big, big, big water.
“Then I left the pits, usually in this corner in the exercises where we don’t use the brakes when leaving, and this time I braked a little with the front to turn and I lose the front.
“Then I go in to change bikes again and we start with medium / soft, but the biggest problem was the dry setup for the wet bike.
“I had a little trouble warming up the tires on the first few laps, but in general I had the feeling that the bike was too hard and a bit aggressive and that I lost the front again.”
Alex Rins, Team Suzuki MotoGP crashes
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images