Marquez left Q1 at Misano on Saturday using Honda test driver Stefan Bradl as a reference for most of the session – a plan developed by Marquez that was given the go-ahead by HRC.
In Q2, Marquez got his hook in the back of future poleman Francesco Bagnaia in both races of the session, but fell late in pursuit of the Ducati rider, finishing seventh.
Earlier on Saturday at FP3, Marquez was caught on camera, expressing frustration at his team’s delay in getting him back on track late for a time attack, as he had hoped to get out behind Mir’s Suzuki to stop his attempt help to get straight to the finish line Q2.
Marquez spoke earlier this year about his physical condition being forced to follow other drivers and says he doesn’t like to do so.
But Mir criticized his tactics again and said: “Well, all drivers know about Marc what Marc needs, right?
“He always needs a bike to be strong, I think. I don’t know, it’s hard for me to understand how an eight-time world champion can’t do his job alone and needs it all and always [to follow] someone’s wheel.
“But yeah, it’s the game Marc always likes to play and that’s it.
“Today I was [he tried to follow]So I tried to do my job, I don’t care if I have someone on my back and that, I try to give my 100% and fight for the race and work for it. “
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Marquez says he spoke to Mir after qualifying and says the Suzuki driver admitted that what Marquez did was simply part of the game.
“First of all, I didn’t follow me in qualifying,” said Marquez. I followed Stefan Bradl, we basically did a really good job.
“It was my idea and HRC accepted it. He just pushed forward and I was able to set a good lap time behind Bradl and get into QP2.
“I already talk to him about myself in the media and he said to me, ‘It doesn’t matter what they ask of you because I don’t push as they will say’.
“He said that it is normal for a slower driver to try to find a fast driver to follow. That goes without saying with motorcycles, of course always if you don’t disturb the others. “
I only qualified for 11th place after having a problem with his front tire on his first run before Suzuki mistakenly gave him a box call on his dashboard.
This forced him back into the pit lane late and in the end only left him one lap – but could not finish this because he had to abandon his last attempt when Fabio Quartararo fell in front of him.
“It’s a message that the team put on the bike and they didn’t realize it was there,” said Mir.
“It’s a shame because it’s not like a driver is following you, you have no problem, you go.
“But in this case, usually when they [tell you to] Box, it’s because you have to pit and it was a shame, but I think the team is also disappointed with this mistake and I fully understand this situation because obviously it’s not my fault, but I trust we will have a solution.
“Sometimes I make mistakes, so they can make mistakes, so that’s not a problem.
“We’re going to try to fix the problem tomorrow because we’re not in our realistic position here in Misano, so we don’t know and we’ll try to fix it tomorrow.”