“It's no secret”: Alex Rins, Jack Miller battle ‘spin and slide'

Alex Rins and Jack Miller say the same rear tyre overheating problem continues to undermine Yamaha’s MotoGP progress, after the factory endured another tough Sunday at Assen.

Despite Fabio Quartararo starting from pole position, the Frenchman could salvage tenth in the grand prix, albeit losing time avoiding Fermin Aldeguer's accident.

Rins, caught in first-lap drama, crossed the line close behind in 13th, with Miller in his wheeltracks.

But even without the early setback, Rins insists the final result, almost 25-seconds behind race winner Marc Marquez over 26 laps, would have been unchanged.

“The race was really tough, because couldn't do more,” Alex Rins said.

“I had a big moment on the first lap in the 5th corner avoiding Oliveira and was last by 3 seconds. 

"From there I tried to recover and I arrived in P14 fighting, doing some overtakes,” added the Monster Yamaha rider.

“But even without this problem in the first lap the result would be the same. We are struggling a lot during the races.

“Today, the same problem happened as in Mugello and Aragon.

“We are overheating a lot the rear tyre on maximum lean angle, and then our electronics are not able to cut the sliding.

“It’s so difficult as a rider to manage this because you cannot avoid the slide. As soon as, for example, corner 2, you generate the [high] temperature, then when you arrive in corner 3 the bike is already sliding.

“Then at maximum angle, you can either wait, or you keep pushing. If you wait, the rider right behind overtakes you.

“So this is especially the problem. Yamaha knows this is happening, but in the end, as soon as the tyre became unridable, you don't have more strength to do the change of directions. The bike becomes super heavy.

“They need to do something because from our side, we give everything on track.”

Rins confirmed that spinning on the edge is an issue for all riders and manufacturers, but that others control the overheating and sliding better.

“It's not that the other riders and other manufacturers don't have this problem. Sure, they go high on temperature, but they are able to cut this slide [with the electronics].”

Jack Miller, racing for Pramac Yamaha, echoed Rins’ comments.

“Yeah, it’s very difficult, once you go on the edge, to kind of get any grip,” said the Australian.

“Most bikes I've ridden around here you accelerate out of Turn 1 and 2 and then maintain, whereas this kind of spins the whole way through.

“Then by the time you get into 3 the right-hand side of the tyres cooking. Then it's just floating the whole way. Hence the right-hand side backing in on entry.

“That's just because the tyre temperature is through the roof.

“It's no secret, we need to find some more rear grip. But we're working on it, that's the point.”

Asked whether the next round at the much slower Sachsenring could offer some relief, Miller replied:

“I think for turning it can be good for us. I mean, power is not our issue. Usable power is the issue.

“We need to be able to keep the bike in the grip window, which is kind of tough.

“But Sachsenring has plenty of long corners and this bike turns quite well so we’ll see what we can do.”

While Rins, Quartararo and Miller finished in a line, Oliveira failed to reach the flag after suffering damage in the same first-lap pile-up.