“Like he had a problem” - Luca Marini on Jack Miller’s dramatic MotoGP slowdown

Jack Miller was holding a season-best equalling eighth place with just five laps remaining in Sunday's German MotoGP.

But as his rear tyre grip faded, the Pramac Yamaha rider was forced to switch to a different engine map.

The effect was so dramatic that Honda's Luca Marini thought Miller had suffered a technical problem.

“Sincerely, Jack was really fast, really strong,” said Marini. “But then I don't know what happened to him.

“It looked like he had a problem because he was really slow from one lap to another.”

The Australian - who had spent most of the race tucked in behind factory Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo - was suddenly passed by Marini, Brad Binder and Enea Bastianini on the same lap, losing two seconds and almost 4km/h of top speed.

Miller later dropped another position, to Diogo Moreira, for 12th at the chequered flag.

“It was [a good race] up until about five to go. And then the wheels fell off!” Miller said.

“I was able to stay with Fabio for most of the distance, but I was having to use the rear tyre a little more than the riders around me to achieve the same lap time.

“Once the tyre dropped, I started to struggle with grip and had to switch to a different engine map just to bring the bike home... and then I had no power.”

Told of Marini's reaction, Miller said:

“Yeah, when we went on the last map it was maybe not ideal. I felt strong right up until then, but I didn't have enough tyre [left], otherwise I would have just swapped the map back.

“I felt it was necessary [to switch the map] because I was starting to spin quite a bit in a straight line. Whether or not we messed up the calculations or not, it's too early to tell. I won't say something that's not true unless I have information.”

The result might not have been much to celebrate, but Miller's performance until the closing laps was a “small win”.

“We were competitive today for 24 laps. So the progression is there,” he said. “We're getting closer and closer.

“I knew there'd be some dog days with this [new V4] project,” he added. “We'll take the small wins, small gains, when we can and, as I said, keep working on myself.

“Hopefully, the boys can find something over the next three weeks, and we can have an improved bike in the second half of the season.”

Meanwhile, after finishing behind Miller on Friday, Quartararo completed the weekend in seventh.

“He normally has a pretty different setup, and this weekend he kind of went similar to what we went with – like we've done, for example, in Le Mans and places like that, when we went to his setting," Miller explained.

“That's the beauty of having four bikes.”