The conditions at the MotoGP Thai Grand Prix proved to be too much for many riders, including Joan Mir, who crashed out of the race while struggling with extreme heat from his bike.

Racing at the Buriram circuit is always tough, as track temperatures can exceed 50°C. Mir pushed hard in the race, starting 11th and climbing to seventh, even chasing Jack Miller, until he crashed on lap 15. His front end folded at the final corner, making him the first rider to retire from the race.

At first, the crash seemed like a simple mistake. But Mir later explained that he had been battling extreme heat from his bike, making it difficult to stay focused.

“We were having problems with the bike’s heat,” Mir explained in an interview with MotoGP.com after the race. “We tried to make changes to improve it, but it actually got worse. I was literally burning myself.”

The 2020 MotoGP champion admitted that the intense heat only made controlling the bike harder. “It was the worst I’ve ever experienced on a motorbike. I was never burning like this before. And honestly, that didn’t help with the crash. I made a mistake, but the burns made it even harder to avoid mistakes.”

Mir wasn’t the only rider suffering in the extreme Thai weather.  Alex Rins, also experienced burns, revealing them after the race. Meanwhile, Ducati’s Fabio Di Giannantonio was forced to retire from the sprint race due to burns on his hands, legs, and neck.

While Mir didn’t have to retire mid-race like Di Giannantonio, he still suffered painful blisters from the bike’s heat. “The worst was on my legs. I don’t know the exact temperature, but it was incredibly hot,” he said in a post-race interview with Motorsport.com. “In slow right-hand corners, I could really feel it burning. And I crashed in the same corner where I was burning the most.”

With several riders struggling in the Thai heat, MotoGP teams may need to rethink cooling strategies for future races in extreme conditions.