The 2020 world champion has finis🔯hed in the points just once so far this season, an eleventh place in the Portimao season-opener.

Mir’s cause wasn🦂’t helped by a sprint race injury in Termas, ruling him out of the Sunday race, bu🃏t he heads into this weekend’s French Grand Prix just 20th in the world championship.

Meanwhile, former Suzuki team-mate Alex Rins ಌis eighth in the standings for the LCR Honda team, with two podiums and a victory in COTA.

But Mir insists it ཧhasn’t been tougher than he expected:

“No, ﷺit's exactly hꩵow I expected,” Mir said. “You always want more and you start very optimistic and everything, but I knew that the start always is difficult.

“I remember ꦑmy start in Suzuki, being a rookie, without experience, one year in Moto2 going there, with a bike that in the first year is not easy until you find something.

“It's a🔴 little bit similar situation, but w💞ith more experience, and also knowing what I want to be fast. Sooner or later, we will reach the position that we deserve, I know.”

Mir scoಌred points in just one ofꦺ his opening five MotoGP races for Suzuki in 2019, and missed two mid-season rounds due to injury.

But he fought back to deliver a strong finish to the year, followed by his first podiums, win and the world title 🌳in 2020.

Mir heads to this weekend’s Le Mans round having qualifieওd 💧20th and then crashed out of both the previous Jerez races.

“With the hot temperature, we𒉰 have a problem that every time I try to push, to carry more speed in the corner, I lose the front. So the limit is there for my style, for how I appro💟ach the corner,” he explained.

“We just have to be patient and to find a solution. It's not that I'm not trying, but 𒁏it's like there's a limit there. Because if there isn't, you don't crash. So we just have to give me [something] that allows me to make the corner.”

The Spani𓆏ard then spent the Monday test at Jerez trying to increase confidence in th😼e front, having suggested that their base setting might also need changing.

“The base that we have is a base that we made race by raceജ, and being also a rookie [on the Honda] in Sepang [test], without knowing the bike a lot. So maybe we have to go back a bit,” Mir had said.

The 25-year-old also retried a differ⛄ent RCV chassis during the Monday test, when he was 15th fastest.

“We wanted to make a back-to-back with a different chassis that we tried in the preseason, and my feelings were a bit better,” he said. “Maybe all the crashes that I had were a bit related to that, and with the other chassis, I 🦹was able to fe🌄el a bit better.

“Then when I said that, we put new tyres, and I destroyed the bike in Turn 6! Not destroyed the bike but I lost the front in Turn 6. So that complicated a little bit the day, because then I had to go with the base✨ and work on some geometry and stuff.

“So I could find some in✤teresting stuff, but I couldn'🦩t put it all together.

“But I think we madꦏe a small step in confidence. The priority was to improve the feeling with the front. And now my impression is that even if I didn't put a soft tyre, I was always with mediums, my confidence with the 🅘front improved and I was able to carry more speed in the corner.

“So that's something that I'm happy about because during the [race] weekend, I wasn't able to t▨urn the bike with more corner speed, like ꦓmy style. And now more or less the direction is a good one to follow. So let's see.”

Opening pra🎀cti🔜ce at Le Mans takes place on Friday morning.