Mir: “Dangerous” Miller clash must be punished in future
Reigning MotoGP world champion Joan Mir says a “dangerous” clash like the one he had with Jack Miller in the Doha Grand Prix has to be punished in future.
After making an aggressive move on the Ducati rider on lap 13 of the Doha race two weeks ago which resulted in contact, Miller and Mir clashed at close to 200km/h on the main straight of the Losail track.
Mir slammed this action from Miller as “intentional” at the time, with footage from the incident clearly showing the Ducati rider – who was behind Mir – looking over to him before the clash.
Race Direction deemed it wasn’t worth penalising, while Suzuki ultimately didn’t appeal the decision despite being unhappy with the Stewards’ panel’s reasoning.
Speaking ahead of the Portuguese GP this weekend, Mir says he “respects” Race Direction’s decision – but doesn’t agree with it.
Joan Mir, Team Suzuki MotoGP
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“Suzuki went to Race Direction without any success, the decision was already taken,” he said having had time to reflect on the clash.
“They saw the action was legal. It’s something that I don’t share with Race Direction, I think this action was out of the limit.
“But I respect the decision, I know what Race Direction thinks about and also what Jack’s thinking about.
“I think that for me it’s clear, it’s out of legality for sure because you see Jack is looking at me and then he just touches me.
“It’s something that if it happens in the future, the same action in the future, if they will penalise. I think they will do it, but I don’t know.”
When asked by Motorsport.com if the decision sets a bad precedent going forward, Mir responded: “The decision is clear. They think that it’s legal.
“I don’t think so, I think it can be dangerous also if it happens in the future to other people and I think they have to penalise this type of action because it’s dangerous, it’s in the straight, it’s intentional.
“But anyway, it’s better to think about this weekend, forget that.
“For sure, I will not do this action to another rival, it’s something that I will not do.”
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