“Bragging rights”: Yamaha Mugello MotoGP battle ‘like fight for the win’

Jack Miller says “anyone would think we are fighting for the victory” after a tight battle with his Yamaha stablemates for a point at the MotoGP Italian Grand Prix.

The Mugello weekend proved difficult for Yamaha, who languished at the bottom of the top speed charts and came away with just a single point from both races.

That honour went to Jack Miller, who finished behind Pramac team-mate Toprak Razgatlioglu on the road, but was promoted to 15th after the Turkish rider was penalised for exceeding track limits.

He said it was a fun battle, which “helps improve the package”.

“It was as fun as fighting for one point is; if it was for the win, you would enjoy it a lot more,” he said on Sunday at Mugello.

“Anyone would think we are fighting for the victory for sure. It's bragging rights at the end of the day, but that's what we're there for.

“Those little fights between us all, I believe, make us better riders, but it also helps improve the package.”

Miller is facing an uncertain future in MotoGP, with his place at Pramac linked to Moto2 frontrunner Izan Guevara.

Outside of Pramac, there are few options, while rumours of Australian Senna Agius making the step from Moto2 likely harming Miller’s prospects.

Asked if other teams may have been watching his battle at Mugello, he replied: “It's up to them. I don't know what other people think; it's just how I feel when I go home.”

As well as a lack of straightline speed at Mugello, a lack of turning was a major complaint all Yamaha riders had last weekend.

Miller admits the bike struggled in this area, but he feels the chassis he has been using since Jerez is the direction for Yamaha to go in.

“It wasn’t easy for sure,” he said.

“We know that. Since Malaysia, we’ve been trying to make steps to work on it.

“We made a step, I've been using this different chassis since Jerez.

“Outright performance, maybe it's not as good as the other one, but in terms of feedback and understanding of the tyre, I'm quite happy with it; that's the direction we want to work and understand how we can improve performance as well with that package.”