Jack Miller arrives at the MotoGP Spanish GP after a season start marked by ups and downs – with the previous round in Qatar being quite the opposite of his fifth place in Austin.
The Australian rider for Prima Pramac Yamaha is looking forward to this fifth round of the season, where he believes high temperatures could play a significant role: ‘After what was not our finnest round in Qatar, I’m looking forward to hopefully boucing back here in Jerez – a track that I like a lot more than Qatar. And I’m looking forward to see what we can do in the M1 around here. It looks warm for the weekend – not crazy warm like we’ve seen here in the past, but still warm enough. So, that will be a factor playing a part. But I’m looking forward to get it under way’.
When asked if the YZR-M1’s performance is heavily dependent on the track and conditions, Miller confirmed: ‘A little bit. For example, Argentina was very tough for us with low grip. You try and manage what you can, because the front-end is solid, so you try and manage with roll speed. But for example, I felt very fortunate in Texas with the grip conditions, the weather. In Thailand a little bit, and in Qatar I rode like sh*t. So, that was on me. But I feel like the more experience I have with this bike, the more I understand that you are relying on the track conditions, because we’re kind of held by that. If there’s grip, we’re able to use it; if there’s no grip, it kind of takes away what is our stronger point. You end up with less tools in your toolbox to try and recover – whereas if you kind of have other areas you can work on to try and make that better where you’re not extracting that all out on a good day, and then when something kind of gets taken away from you, then you’re kind of stuck there with your hands tied a little bit. Definitely I think it is relying a little bit on that, and it’s something that we’re definitely working on’.
That said, the #43 believes improvements have already been made and more are on the way, making it essential to take full advantage of development concessions: ‘I think it’s something that we’ve definitely improved already with the chassis updates and so on. And I think it’s something that we will continue to try and improve, and I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility to try and improve that scenario before the end of the season with the concessions, with the tests, and so on. I think we’re very fortunate in that area, and the biggest part now is just trying to, first and foremost, put the work in with the tests. But also to be as clear and precise with the comments as possible – which I feel in the past they weren’t getting the clearest of informations, because generally track conditions on a Monday test are fenomenal and the bike’s working fantastic and whatevert you kind of put at the bike it works to a certain degree’.
The work Yamaha is currently doing in testing and development gives Miller more confidence, as he sees a clearer, more comprehensive and modern approach. And regarding the issue of track sensitivity, he is optimistic: ‘I think that’s something that we can work on and we’ll get better throughout the year. It’s not something that we can’t fix in the coming months’.