Jack Miller “took a hit to the butt!” "Speed was there" for Miguel Oliveira

A final turn accident and ride-height device issues complicated day one of the 2025 Italian MotoGP for Jack Miller.

The Pramac Yamaha rider began the Mugello weekend with eleventh in FP1, but saw the crucial afternoon hour – which decides direct Qualifying 2 entry - disrupted by a crash and technical issues on his spare M1.

"Jack‘s crash probably cost him the chance to go straight into Q2, though his pace from this morning suggests he can fight his way through Q1 tomorrow, we‘ve got the data to back that up,” said team director Gino Borsoi.

Instead, the Australian was left in 13th place but only 0.807s from leader Maverick Vinales (Tech3 KTM).

"I‘m sorry about the crash, it definitely affected the good work we‘d been doing. Thankfully I didn‘t [injure] myself, just took a hit to the butt, which is odd since I landed more face-first!” Miller said.

“On the second bike, we had a small issue with the ride-height device not working properly, which also cost us something.

“But overall, the bike is working well. We‘re still struggling a bit with front-end feel under braking, but after the work done in testing, stability has improved and so has traction, historically our biggest issue.

“If we can fix that one small problem - and the guys in the box already have a few ideas - I think we can do well."

Miller was outpaced by team-mate Miguel Oliveira, who missed out on the top ten by just 0.125s.

"Being so close to the top ten was a good sign, the speed was there, but I missed a couple of lines as I wasn‘t completely comfortable with the front,” said Oliveira.

“I couldn‘t carry speed into corners because I was struggling with stopping the bike at corner entry.

“Tomorrow we need to focus on maximising what the bike does best, braking, and hopefully we can use that to our advantage and fight for those two Q2 spots."

Borsoi added: “Miguel seems to have fully recovered his speed and continues to improve race after race.

“He went through a tough stretch, but now I see him fully back and ready to make a strong contribution to the team‘s results. That makes me really happy, for him and for his crew.

“We still have a few things to refine for tomorrow, but we‘re not far off, and that‘s encouraging.”

Fabio Quartararo defied a shoulder injury to be the fastest Yamaha in fifth, with Monster team-mate Alex Rins also heading straight to Qualifying 2 with seventh.