Jack Miller’s Hungarian MotoGP “head-scratcher” a "missed opportunity"

Jack Miller ‘cancelled’ his three-place grid penalty by charging from 17th to 12th on the opening lap of Sunday’s Hungarian MotoGP at Balaton Park.

When Fabio Quartararo served his long lap, Miller climbed to 11th and became the top Yamaha rider.

But hopes of a strong result evaporated with a fall at Turn 1 on lap six, followed by a second and final crash ten laps later while trying to recover from last place.

“Definitely not the day I wanted or expected,” said Miller.

“I got off to a decent start, settled in behind Pol [Espargaro] and waited a bit before making a move, knowing I had the pace to get ahead.

“But then, at Turn 1, slower than the lap before, as soon as I touched the throttle the front went away and that was it. Honestly, I hadn’t done anything different from the lap before, apart from being slower. A real head-scratcher.

“I picked the bike up and tried to push, hoping to catch someone, even with a small clutch issue, but a few laps later I went down again at Turn 11.

“I was pushing probably a little bit too hard at that point, just trying to catch back up.

“A real shame, because we had a decent pace this weekend and I feel it was a missed opportunity.”

Pramac team director Gino Borsoi added: “I think the top ten was within reach for him, but unfortunately he went down once, and then again. For sure, it doesn’t help the morale – as I’ve told him many times, the key is to try and finish races.”

Despite the pointless weekend, an announcement confirming Miller alongside Toprak Razgatlioglu at Pramac for 2026 could arrive before the upcoming Catalan MotoGP round.

“We’ll see what comes in the next weeks,” Miller said.