Miller: ‘I was preparing for all-out war before the red flag’, claims P3
After a race-long battle with Alex Marquez, Ducati rider Jack Miller managed to pip the Spaniard to a first MotoGP podium since Catalunya.
The Australian, who started second behind team-mate Francesco Bagnaia, made the perfect start after leading into turn one, however, quick moves by Bagnaia and Joan Mir pushed Miller back to third before lap two began.
Miller then got embroiled in a battle with former Moto3 rival Marquez which saw the pair swap positions on five occasions.
The last of those was an overtake by Miller on the exit of turn five, and while he initially created a gap to Marquez, back-to-back mistakes at turns five and seven allowed the LCR Honda man to get back in touch.
Marquez, who was incredibly strong heading down to turn one, looked ready to produce a move he already completed twice with two laps to go, but a collision between KTM riders Iker Lecuona and Miguel Oliveira resulted in a red flag, meaning Miller held on for third.
"From the get-go I got the better start, but Pecco [Bagnaia] got underneath me at turn one and was like ‘alright, he clearly wants to push’, and he definitely pushed," said Miller.
"I was doing consistent 39s - I think my best was 39.6s and he was still just chipping away at us.
"Then I made a small mistake at five, but Joan [Mir] and I were just doing that throughout the race, but Pecco was just like a rock at the front. Then I just tried to manage the tyre and I was hoping that I would have a little more towards the end.
"As soon as I needed to push around the eight laps to go mark, I got past Alex [Marquez] but had a massive moment off gas at turn seven; just losing the rear, so I went to engine brake B, but the next lap he was right on me again.
"Then I got another bit of a gap before doing the exact same thing at turn five, so I was like ‘C is what it is’. I was preparing for a fight towards the end but then the red flag came out.
"It’s a weird feeling when that happens because you sort of build yourself up for this, let’s say, an all-out war - especially between me and Alex as we have a bit of history [laughs], so I felt like it was 2014 all over again."
With Bagnaia winning the race and Miller taking P3, it’s a double podium that handed the Italian team their second consecutive manufacturers’ title.
A large part of Ducati’s success in recent seasons has not only been due the quantity of bikes on the grid (6) - set to be eight with Valentino Rossi’s Aramco VR46 team next year, but the level of bike development that’s gone into the Ducati project - something Miller has seen first hand as the current longest serving Ducati rider.
Speaking about their success as a team, Miller added: "I think we are really fortunate. Not just myself and Pecco, but we have a great test rider in Michele [Pirro] who has been here a long time now and he has been doing a lot of amazing things behind the scenes.
"The stuff we get to test has already been through him and has been through a filter, let's say.
"Down to the rider... we have some amazing young talents like Jorge [Martin] and Enea [Bastianini] and even Luca [Marini].
"I've been on the Ducati since 2017, so to see the development, the changes; okay I never rode the GP18 I think it was or the GP19, I missed one.
"But the development and bikes made compared to what I rode before is night and day. I think that shows the process that Ducati has put into this project."
