Jack Miller admitted he felt 'quite embarrassed' after his pace plummeted to Bagger Cup levels in the Austrian Grand Prix at Spielberg. The Pramac Racing rider suffered extreme rear tyre degradation, losing up to eight seconds per lap to the leaders.
In the final five laps, Miller, who had been lapping in the mid-to-high 1m32s, suddenly found himself doing 1m38s. His final lap was a dismal 1m40.225s, a full eight seconds slower than race winner Pedro Acosta's pace. For context, even Moto3 rider Max Quilles was lapping in the 1m39s bracket during the lightweight class race.
Miller finished 20 seconds behind his team-mate Toprak Razgatlioglu and nearly a minute adrift of Acosta. He revealed that his rear tyre had deteriorated so badly that he could no longer use full throttle on Spielberg's long straights. “It's not a day I'm happy, or even want to think about. I'm quite embarrassed,” he said.
“I couldn't do anything from about lap 13-14 onwards. The bike was spinning in a straight line, can't do f**k all with it. I swapped to map 2 on lap 3, I was in the group. I understood around lap 14 that the tyre was really starting to light up in a straight line in third, fourth gear. So I swapped to map 3, which was meant to be like a back-up map. I hung in there until about seven to go on the back of Toprak, and then I was on the base rubber. There was a big old strip of base rubber about that wide in the centre, so I couldn't open the throttle on the straight. I had to be cautious going into corners because you're on the base rubber, so things start to spin around on you. Just circulated to finish the race.”
Despite his struggles, Miller never considered retiring. “I'm not a guy that parks it,” he said. “I was out there to do a job, the race isn't over until it's over. You never know if a red flag can fly or whatever. Better off being in it than not being in it. Yeah, it's embarrassing doing 1m38, it's f****g Bagger times, but at the end of the day, here to do a job and today the job was 21st f****g position.”
The root cause was Michelin's stiffer rear casing, brought back for Spielberg. This special construction, used at only a handful of races each year, affected riders differently, with some reporting issues. For Miller, it was catastrophic. Yamaha's overall struggles in Austria compounded his misery, as all Yamaha riders faltered.
Miller's season with Pramac has been challenging, and this result further damages his championship position. The team is still adapting to the Yamaha, which has yet to prove competitive. Austria was one of the worst races for the Japanese manufacturer. Moving forward, Miller and his crew must find a solution to the degradation problem to salvage their season. The next race will be a test of their resilience. Despite the setback, Miller's determination to finish the race shows his professionalism, and he'll be eager to put this painful weekend behind him.
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