Jack Miller “p***** off” by Vinales clash but “he apologised, I accepted it”
The KTM rider was sent wide by an early overtake from the Aprilia, which included minor contact.
It sent Miller outside of the top 10, and he had the rain to thank for a late run to an eighth-placed finish.
“The contact with Maverick? It sent me out,” Miller said. “The issue was the metre of grass between the two asphalts.
“I was pretty nervous, not with hitting the grass but with what might happen after the grass, because of the rain in the past two days. The grass was pretty sloppy.”
Miller used a cricket analogy: “You’re always pissed off when you get sent for six!
“But it happened [on Saturday] with Johann Zarco. This track draws it in with its long corners where you take a while, if you miss the line, it runs away on the outside.
“I understood that [Vinales] said he was sucked in by Marquez. I’d been passed by Marquez. I went in for a second dip. The next minute, there was an Aprilia there.
“I had to stand it up. There was a bit of contact. I had to properly stand it up and go off the track.
“He came up to apologise. I accepted the apology. I understand he didn’t mean to do that.
“It’s one of those things. It’s racing. He went for a gap and felt that he had better pace than me.
“These days, you can see when it’s coming, the majority of the time. You have two options: keep turning in and see what happens, or stand it up. I chose the latter. There was no damage on the bike - not like Fabio’s, anyway!”
Miller was delighted to see the weather turn, with eight laps remaining, so he could advantage of the newly-wet conditions and salvage a slightly better result than he feared.
His teammate Brad Binder, meanwhile, was on the podium.
Miller detailed his recovery from the Vinales incident: “I took time to get it turned. I got back to work, behind Fabio, trying to chase him down.
“But I didn’t have any pace in the dry.
“It started getting a bit better mid-race, I felt like I was managing the rear enough so that I could make one or two overtakes towards the end. But then we got lucky with the rain, that threw us a Hail Mary.
“I was able to take more risk than the others. I had plenty of bikes in front of me, I could see how the grip was.
“I was able to make up a few spots.
“So it’s not all bad, we got lucky in that sense. We salvaged a couple of points - it was looking pretty grim.”
Miller admitted he wanted heavier rain: “Yes, of course, the situation I was in, I hoped it would piss down, it would be all-out chaos!
“I wasn’t expecting it when the white flags starting flashing. I thought ‘what’s this all about?’
“Then I got to the back straight and saw what it was about.
“We got a warning light for the temperatures, saying it was getting cold when I was on my own. When I got back with the group it was alright.
“I had a lunge at Zarco, got him on the last lap. I was shaping up to Luca Marini but didn’t have enough to get him.
“It was one of those days - you want more, you didn’t get it, but we didn’t end up in the gravel.
“It was tricky conditions and we learned a lot, in terms of set-up.
“We live to fight another day.”
