Going into qualifying for MotoGP’s Grand Prix of the Americas at Austin on Saturday there was one clear favourite for pole position: Ducati rider Jack Miller.
His time attack earlier in the day in third practice had been nothing short of sensational.
Yet, when it came down to Q2 the best the Australian could manage was a distant 10th place, leaving many wondering what exactly had gone so wrong for him.
Miller didn’t leave much doubt when it came to explaining it to the media after qualifying, even if he’s prevented by his contract from detailing the problem in exact detail.
He laid the blame for his performance firmly at the feet of MotoGP tyre supplier Michelin.
“I had a hard tyre on in FP4, and I could do within two tenths of the lap time I put down in qualifying [on softs], and I could do a 2m02.9s in FP3,” said Miller, whose Q2 lap time was only 2m03.7s.
“It wasn’t through lack of trying, I can tell you that.
“It’s happened a few times, and I can tell you one thing: I’m getting f***ing sick of it, but anyway. It is what it is, we’ll go forward, and hopefully it won’t happen tomorrow.
“I’m trying my best, keeping calm, working for the race. I’m trying to do the best I can with what’s in my control.”
He’s not the first rider to complain about bad tyres from Michelin this year and it’s far from the first time that Miller in particular seems to have been struck down by the curse of inconsistencies in the rubber.
But that might offer a hint to where the problem may in fact be coming from.
“Even though I want to, it’s not something we’ll comment on at this point,” he said when asked to explain exactly how the tyre felt different.
“I just wasn’t able to do what I know I was able to do, and that’s about it.
“I don’t want to give anyone else more reason to do anything else, I just want to do my own thing to the best that I can, and whatever is in my control I’ll try and do – but the shame is that we can’t control everything.
“I treated both runs equally. I gave my maximum in the first one, and I gave my maximum on the second one. I ran out of time there and would have liked to get one more lap and tidy some things up, but we ran out of time.
“Apart from that, honestly as soon as we went out I tried to push at my maximum. It didn’t work and I was alone on the first tyre.”
Asked if the rear tyres hadn’t performed as expected, Miller replied: “You said it, not me”.
Yet when you take a look at what exactly happened on Miller’s two runs, it doesn’t take long to realise that there might be more at play for the Australian than simply a bad tyre.
Miller’s first flying lap (which was eventually his fastest lap of the session) in Q2 was completed in a time of 2m03.720s – a respectable time that was only 0.022s slower than team-mate and eventual poleman Pecco Bagnaia at that point. His second lap, marginally faster, was cancelled for exceeding track limits.
At that point Miller pitted for a fresh rear tyre and rejoined in a small pack that also contained the Honda trio of Marc Marquez, Taka Nakagami and Pol Espargaro, all of whom eventually qualified in front of Miller.
Unable to improve, Miller’s best time of the second run was 2m04.725s, almost a second slower than his previous outing and on paper a clear sign that something had gone wrong.
Or at least it was, until Marquez explained how qualifying had gone for him.
“We went out from the box and the time to make two laps was really short,” said the Honda rider.
“I was in front in the standings, so there was no meaning for me to push in front.
“Jack was behind me, he tried to push, but he made a mistake.”
And, as the Repsol Honda rider says, with one of the longest laps of the year and 20 corners to navigate, he, along with Miller, was only able to complete a single flying lap in their second outing.
So while Marquez will start from third, Miller was unable to recover from the mistake Marquez saw him make and go faster.
Whether the mistake Marquez cited but Miller didn’t mention was a pure rider error or the consequence of a tyre issue is a moot point.
And whether Miller is using Michelin as something of a crutch for his performance on Saturday afternoon, the reality is that it’s not quite game over just yet for his race aspirations.
He showed earlier on Saturday that he’s got impressive race pace to go with his time attack speed, and he agrees it’s still possible to get stuck in over the race distance.
“It’s not going to be the easiest race, but if you look to what [Andrea] Dovi[zioso] did a few years back here, when we last raced here – he was out of Q2 and was able to come through to fourth,” said Miller.
“There were a few crashes and that, that day, but I feel like I’ve got good speed, good potential and I feel good on the bike.
“We just need to get away cleanly, which I feel is the most difficult thing back there, and then just try the maximum to get in with the guys at the front and stay there.
“[Sunday] is when they hand out the points and it’s not over until the fat lady sings, so we’ll push at the maximum and work hard.
“My championship rivals, [Johann] Zarco and [Joan] Mir, are in front of me, so they’re definitely the ones I need to get in front of.
“And with the rest we need to do what we need to do.”
