Joan Mir had finished pre-season testing for his rookie 2019 MotoGP campaign with the twelfth fastest lap time, 0.789s from the top and 0.404s beh♑ind team-mate Alex Rins.

Fast forward a☂ year and the young Spaniard was just 0.271s from the front, in sixth overall and a 'mere' 0.061s from Rins.

Race simulations had been equally i♓mpressive and Mir looked set to threaten his rookie season best of fifth place in the opening Qatar race.

That event never happened, due to the coronavirus, and it looks l♛ike it'll be mid-July by the time♏ MotoGP finally returns to action at Jerez.

But Mir has 𝔉given an insight into the way he h🃏as changed his riding style during the winter, most notably toning down his level of aggression.

"In the pre-season I was ൩improving a lot," said the former Moto3 world champion, now confirmed at Suzuki until at least the end of 2022.

"One of🎐 the weak points that I had was that my style was too aggressive. I wanted to do a lot more than I needed to and at the end this is time that you lose.

"For sure it's something that I needed to correct and this pre-season I improved a lot in that area. I was much smoother🍷."

However, the 22-year-old emphasised that it's not simply a case of✤ trying to be smoother in every area and there are times when you have to be rough on the bike.

"In the points ♏where you have to be strong and aggressive, I've kept this aggression," he said. "This is important.

"For examp💜le, on the brakes, you need to brake really hard. If you brake smooth the lap times are not comi💮ng.

"I think that with these🔴 [MotoGP] bikes you need one year to learn a bit these things, beca༒use it looks like the bike is smooth and all of this, but the truth is that it's not really like that."

The GSX-RR has been tipped as perhaps the most impressive all-round package during winter testing, with Mir confirming he and Rins have b🐬een ste🔯ering development in the 'same direction'.

"Between Alex and my bike, both of us fol𝓰low always the same direction. This is a really good thing," he said.