Jack Miller: We were swinging for the fences, chasing our arse a bit

While Francesco Bagnaia made a set-up breakthrough during MotoGP warm-up in Argentina, team-mate Jack Miller's woes continued to the chequered flag.

Peter McLaren

07 Apr 2022

"It felt like probably the most embarrassing race of my life, not to be able to overtake anyone," said Miller, who finished where he had started in 14th.

"For sure I've had worse results, but it just doesn't feel nice when you don’t pass somebody. You don’t feel like a racer, you feel like a rider."

The problem, Miller explained, was a 'perfect storm' caused by a unique low grip track, cancellation of Friday practice and lack of a base setting with the new GP22.

"We were a little bit swinging for the fences, let's say, with set-up and we made a mistake," he said.

"We were struggling for grip all weekend, then prior to the race we rotated the bike onto the rear. But we didn’t gain any rear grip and only made the front even more nervous than it already was.

"We are still chasing our arse a little bit after missing some time through testing and I think combined with the short weekend and not having a decent base setting, we were really lost. We didn't really know which way to go."

The Australian added that differences in the favoured settings between all the Ducati riders means it's not as simple as mimicking Bagnaia's warm-up change.

"Last weekend we were all very much struggling, all the Ducatis, and we all sort of went in our own way. We kind of had to," he said. "But generally we all run quite a different set-up anyway.

"If you look back to last year or whenever, Pecco and I have considerably different bikes. Martin is another way a little bit. Zarco's another way a little bit. Bastianini as well. So there's not many bikes that are the same. We all have our own styles. We're all very different in settings and riding styles.

"You can [try what Pecco used in warm-up], but then you have to change it to make it kind of work for you," he added. "But what we were looking for in the race, and what we got, was not what you would expect from what Pecco changed. But it seemed to have worked for him."

Either way, Miller is confident he won't face the same grip issues at COTA this weekend.

"Understanding the problem is not resolving the problem, I don’t think we can do that until we go back to a place like Argentina because it’s a very unique track," he said.

"But I'm expecting a better result here. We definitely had some meetings to understand what the situation is, what we need to fix and how to be stronger this weekend.

"The grip should be good here so I don’t expect to have the same issue again but I can be wrong."

Aiding grip levels relative to last October's event is a partial resurfacing of what had been an extremely bumpy track.

"You can't tell walking, but what they've done looks good," Miller said. "Basically the corner onto the back straight is I think the only old asphalt now. Just that tight 90-degree corner. And then the rest is either new asphalt or was already done for last year."

Miller, who like Bagnaia is still chasing a first podium of the season, is currently eleventh in the world championship with 15 points, 30 behind new leader Aleix Espargaro.

"Last weekend I had a bad weekend, but this time last year I was in a much worse position!" said the Australian, who was 47 from the top at this stage of last season.

"So I'm not complaining. We're just in the trenches again, same as always, just need to keep working and it'll sort itself out I'm sure."

Miller finished seventh at COTA last season.