Joan Mir, the new MotoGP world champion, was one step away from joining Honda in 2019 after Dani Pedrosa’s farewell, but the deal was not reached since Alberto Puig gave no guarantees to the spaniard that he would stay in the factory team.
It was Livio Suppo who reported the situation, as quoted by GPOne: ‘When I was at Honda, I spoke to Mir, because [Shuhei] Nakamoto and I thought he could be Pedrosa’s heir’, the former head of manufacturer’s team started to say, before proceeding:
– Then I left and as far as I know the negotiations continued, but Puig told Mir that he would sign with Honda without having any guarantees in the team. Joan wanted a factory team and so he preferred Suzuki to Honda’s satellite team.