Alex Espargaro – Michmutters

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British MotoGP at Silverstone: What caused Jack Miller to say ‘don’t be an idiot’ on the final lap? | MotoGP

British MotoGP at Silverstone: What caused Jack Miller to say 'don't be an idiot' on the final lap? | MotoGP

Miller, who spent the entire Grand Prix inside the top three positions, was arguably the fastest Ducati rider despite Francesco Bagnaia ultimately winning his fourth MotoGP race in the last seven rounds.

Faster than his team-mate at the beginning and end, it was the middle part of the Grand Prix where Bagnaia took advantage of finding more performance.

Although he lost out to Maverick Vinales with three laps remaining, Miller closed in on the top two during the final lap as he began lining up a move on the Aprilia rider. But after seeing Vinales protect the inside heading into ‘Brooklands’ [turn 16]Miller instead settled for third.

Speaking to BT Sport post-race, Miller said: “I ran out of steam towards the end. I started suffering a little bit with the front end. When Pecco came past I thought: ‘Alright, I’ll settle in here for a bit’. I felt stronger than him for the majority of the race but I wasn’t going to put anything silly on. We were 1-2 [at the time] so there was no need.

“Six laps from the end, I started losing the front massively. Then I used the rear to finish the corner off. Then I started losing the rear everywhere. Honestly, I was panicking with three to go!

“On the second-last lap, I calmed down and understood how I could ride around the issues that I was having. I had a big kick on the chicane on the back straight, lost all my drive, and waited for three bikes to come past!

“Every time I checked the TV in the second-last corner, there were 15 bikes on the screen, all on the same corner that I was in! I found a bit more speed on the last lap so I was annoyed.

“I thought about having a look-in at Maverick [Vinales]on the last chicane where I looked at Aleix [Espargaro] last year, but he was so protective. I thought ‘don’t be an idiot, just bring it home!’

“I was panicking because, at Turn 1 and Turn 12, you hear bikes! It’s like a guy is on the inside of you! I don’t know what it is, with the walls and echoes!”

Silverstone ‘one of the best’ MotoGP circuits in the world, says Miller

Silverstone played host to the second closest top ten finish in MotoGP history on Sunday, proving once again that this year’s field is closer than ever.

However, it’s not just the performance throughout the grid that’s making the racing close in 2022, as Miller also believes the right track can play a big part in how well you can race one-another.

“I can’t speak highly enough about it [Silverstone]. It’s one of the best in the world,” said Miller when asked how highly he rates the British venue.

“It’s a proper old school Grand Prix track, long lap and has a lot of different elements. That’s why you see the top ten so close together.

“It shows the depth of the field but it also shows the race track because even riding with some of the Suzukis in the race or even the Aprilia at the back end, you can see the different lines. It makes for great racing so for sure , it’s a great circuit.”

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MotoGP Silverstone: Jack Miller ‘can’t feel anything’ with new aero, grateful not to be ‘locked out’… | MotoGP

MotoGP Silverstone: Jack Miller 'can't feel anything' with new aero, grateful not to be 'locked out'... | MotoGP

Making headlines throughout the British MotoGP at Silverstone has been Ducati’s new ‘Stegosaurus-like’ aero package on the rear of its bikes.

Whether it’s the factory team, Pramac, Gresini or the Mooney VR46 outfit, Ducati has given all of their riders the chance to test the new aero package.

And while Enea Bastianini claimed it was helping him under braking following Friday practice, Miller is unconvinced after stating he feels ‘no benefit’.

Miller said: “I don’t know about benefit. It’s definitely not the easiest thing on the eye but they seem to be happy with it. I mean, I’m the donkey that sits on the bike.

“In my honest opinion I can’t feel anything. Except I just have to watch it with my leg when I put my leg over the bike. I can’t feel anything while riding. We need to analyze it more obviously, but for the moment nothing.”

When asked if he wanted to test the new wings after they first appeared on Bastianini’s Gresini Ducati and Jorge Martin’s Pramac machine, Miller stated: “They [just] gave it to me.”

While it might not be making a difference to the feeling he has aboard his GP-22 machine, Miller is just glad to be receiving parts and not being ‘locked out’ of data, something that has happened before when riders have agreed to join another team following the current season.

“At the end of the day they were straight up with me,” said Miller when talking about Ducati providing him with the same treatment as all its other riders. “Once I told them [I was leaving] we had this discussion and as you say, it’s very unusual for a factory to give a rider updates especially when the rider is leaving.

“But they’ve been 100% honest with me throughout the whole lot and also you see what they do with all the bikes they have on the grid.

“They give them the maximum that they can. It’s in Ducati’s DNA and it’s a massive thing from Gigi [Dall’Igna] and they are really pushing for that.

“On that side of things I greatly appreciate it because there is nothing worse than not getting updates or being locked out of data etc. It’s nice to have that, for sure.”

Zarco ready for Silverstone ‘present’ – can he take his first MotoGP win?

Starting alongside Miller on the front row for Sunday’s Grand Prix will be Johann Zarco after the French rider secured pole with a new lap record.

Nearly a tenth clear of Maverick Vinales, Zarco’s main challengers for victory are potentially all on the second row as Fabio Quartararo will start directly ahead of Francesco Bagnaia and Aleix Espargaro.

Still bidding for his first win in MotoGP, Zarco said ‘why not’ at the prospect of taking home the spoils at Silverstone.

“From Friday I’ve been quite fast and I was able to build a good step from Friday to Saturday. It means that I have more chances than usual to think about the victory.” added the two-time Moto2 champion.

“The pole position was a good confirmation and also the pace in FP4 was quite good. Why not hope for this victory.

“I will not fully focus on it [to avoid] making any mistakes. Let’s see how the others will be in the race. I hope I will get this advantage with the hard rear and get this nice present at the end.”

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MotoGP Silverstone: Aleix: 0.8s Long Lap ‘a joke’, ‘we have to be more professional’ | MotoGP

MotoGP Silverstone: Aleix: 0.8s Long Lap 'a joke', 'we have to be more professional' | MotoGP

While there has been plenty of debate over whether MotoGP champion Fabio Quartararo should even have received a Long Lap for the Assen incident with Aleix Espargaro, it is the Silverstone Long Lap layout itself that has now come under fire.

Usually, riders lose around 2.5-3 seconds when they run ‘wide’ to serve the Long Lap. But Quartararo looked to lose far less during his many practice runs through the Silverstone penalty area on Friday.

This weekend’s Long Lap lane is located on the outside of Turn 14, a tight hairpin corner.

Quartararo wouldn’t put a number on exactly how much time he was losing, but the slow nature of the turn, combined with the relatively short length of the loop, meant Espargaro estimated it is only 0.8s.

While the Aprilia star has made clear he does not agree with Quartararo receiving the penalty, given other incidents have gone unpunished this year, he felt it was also inexcusable for MotoGP not to be able to create a consistent Long Lap zone of 2.5-3s at each racetrack.

“It’s a joke. It is not for me to complain about the Long Lap because it looks like I am saying it because my rival has to do the penalty, but it’s a joke. You lose eight tenths! He was trying it today and it was eight tenths,” Espargaro said. “We have to be more professional about this.

“If it’s 3 seconds then it should be 3 seconds everywhere. 2.5s is OK, but eight tenths?! It’s ridiculous.

“But anyway it doesn’t matter. Even if it was 2 seconds Jack [Miller] proved this year you can do the Long Lap penalty and fight for the podium, so imagine Fabio.”

Espargaro added that he fully supports the Long Lap as a way of penalizing riders.

“In the past, if you did a jump start then you had to do a ride-through [the pits] and this was a disaster. Now if you do a Long Lap penalty it is better for the show. It is a good invention, but now we have to be serious with it.

“I don’t think it is that difficult [to get the same time Long Lap time at each track]. Someone can come with a Superbike and try it, if it’s too fast then you tighten it. You can have half a second up or down, but not from 3.1-3.2 like it was in Barcelona to 0.8 here. That’s a huge difference.

“You can see here that it is one meter out of the track and with the same layout. It’s easy!”

For Espargaro, it comes down to consistency once again.

“I have nothing against Fabio. It looks like I’m saying all this because he has to do the Long Lap, but again, what we want is that things are the same: the Long Lap penalty, the penalties in general and how we treat everything.

“Once again, we get to another track and it is different; this is what we need to improve.”

Joan Mir jokes: Maybe you gain time on this Long Lap!

Espargaro wasn’t the only one to highlight the lack of time lost on the Long Lap at Silverstone.

“This Long Lap penalty, maybe you gain a bit of time rather than lose!” joked Suzuki’s Joan Mir. “Okay, for sure you don’t gain time. But it’s not 3 seconds, not at all. Maybe just 1 second.

“It’s a really tight corner, and also it’s really close [to the racing] line. In a slow corner you always lose less time than in a fast corner.

“I think that this can be improved a little bit more, to have more or less than 3 seconds average [at every track].”

A ‘delayed’ Long Lap would also help Quartararo

Aside from the time lost in the Long Lap, the timing of when Quartararo serves the penalty will also determine how many places he loses.

The earlier in the race the ‘Long Lap’ board is shown, after which Quartararo will have two further laps in which serve the penalty, the more positions the Frenchman is likely to concede.

“I will not say a number, but we lose quite a lot [of time],” Quartararo said of his Long Lap practice.

“I also need to make it in the beginning of the race, but I hope I will not make it so much in the beginning because I think it’s quite a dangerous place to get back on the track.

“Of course, it’s also a small advantage for me [to take later]but for the safety, I hope they will not put it straight away from the first lap, but maybe from the second or third lap.”

Other riders serving Long Laps in the early stages of a race have lost around 3-4 positions this year.

Quartararo, last year’s Silverstone winner, was fastest during Friday practice with Espargaro, currently 21 points behind the Yamaha rider, in a close fifth (+0.207s).

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