Jack Miller’s Yamaha “unrideable” in Motegi MotoGP: “So safe it’s ridiculous”

Jack Miller has urged Pramac Yamaha to be more aggressive with its pre-race tyre pressures after a frustrating Japanese MotoGP race.

Starting 20th, Miller spent the early laps battling fellow Yamaha riders Alex Rins and team-mate Toprak Razgatlioglu, along with Honda stand-in Somkiat Chantra.

But he was soon struggling with high tyre pressures at both ends of the bike, which made the M1 "unrideable".

"So safe on pressures that it's ridiculous"

“I started all right, but immediately the pressure went through the roof. I was locking like mad, an incredible amount of locking,” Jack Miller said.

“I went straight, let Alex [Rins] pass. Went straight, let Toprak pass. Was fighting with Chantra, trying to keep him behind, but he passed me on the back straight basically with the indicator on.

“Then when Zarco rejoined after his long lap, he put [Chantra wide], and I was able to get past again, and he did the same move again. He had three, four bike lengths on me before the end of the straight.

“The biggest thing is pressures. The bike becomes unrideable. We start so safe on pressures that it's ridiculous. 

"We're starting 20th on the grid, we're going to get the heat [to raise the pressure behind other bikes]. If we're not getting the heat, then something's gone really f**king wrong.

"So we need to get better at this. Because this morning, I had a 15-lap front from the Sprint with the new hard rear, and I could run ‘44s all day," said Miller, who had been 14th fastest in warm-up. "My best lap was the last lap with a '44.1.

“And this afternoon, I can't buy a ‘44. I'm stuck in 45.0 and feeling ultra uncomfortable with it locking. Even the rear tyre is not behaving the same because it's also through the roof.”

Already running at the back, but still in the hot air of the Yamahas ahead, Miller was eventually caught out and crashed on lap 19 of 24.

Rejoining in clear air only strengthened his belief about excessive tyre pressure.

“Yesterday I had a massive hole in my knee from saving it, and then today again, moment after moment after moment, and finally, sure enough, I land up on my side. And then I pick it up and try to get going,” he said.

“I was still pushing after that, and honestly, it was the best the rear tyre behaved all race because it had a chance to cool down and level out at a lower pressure for the last five laps.”

Miler took the chequered flag in 19th, 1m 11.127s behind winner Marc Marquez.

"Where's that been all weekend?"

Like the rest of the grid, Miller raced on Michelin’s special reinforced hard rear tyre, recommended after blistering affected both the soft and medium options in Saturday’s Sprint.

Nobody had tried the hard before Sunday, but its unexpectedly strong performance left Miller agreeing with Pecco Bagnaia and Fabio Quartararo that it shouldn't have been dismissed earlier.

“I thought [the hard] would be mandatory, honestly," said Miller, who experienced severe blistering on the medium in the Sprint. 

"It wasn't mandatory, but also, after trying the hard this morning, I was like, f**k, where's that been all weekend, you know?” he said.

“We all shied away from it because historically it’s not the best tyre, and here it was working amazing, mega.

"Hopefully it's the same in Mandalika."

MotoGP now heads directly to Indonesia, where Michelin’s reinforced construction will be used throughout the rear tyre allocation.

“Fabio [Quartararo] rode fantastic here. The last couple of tracks have been [tricky] for us, we're missing a lot of power but we need to radically improve the way that we're able to put the load into the rear tyre and stuff like that," Miller said.

Quartararo was the leading Yamaha in 12th, while the other M1 riders finished outside the points.