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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: Jack Miller ‘got a little trigger happy, fired it at the wall’ | MotoGP

MotoGP Silverstone: Jack Miller 'got a little trigger happy, fired it at the wall' | MotoGP

The factory Ducati rider lost the front of his machine on entry to Stowe, at the end of the back straight, the scene of several Friday accidents.

“A bit stiff now – from five weeks off, to riding into a wall ain’t great, but the rest is all good!” smiled Miller on Friday evening.

The several scares on the hard rear tire, the Australian had switched back to the medium.

“The medium felt fantastic, but I just got a little trigger happy at the end of the back straight,” Miller explained.

“There was a big cross wind, right as the track sort of goes up and drops off. Where everybody’s crashed. I came in there too fast and was trying to stop it, it wasn’t happening and I fired at the wall. I’m not ideal. I’m feeling pretty tender now!

“But I was able to come back in, swap leathers, get back out on the soft tire and post a decent time so I can’t complain too much. We’re inside the top 10. It’s job one done for the weekend. So now we just got to keep it going into tomorrow.”

Miller confirmed that he will raise the issue of the tire wall during Friday night’s Safety Commission meeting.

“It’s close. I’ll be bringing it up in the Safety Commission,” he said.

“I went into the gravel sliding backwards and I lost all sort of sense of direction of where I was. Then I just sort of went head first into the ground. Sort of bent my wrists back. And then as I flipped over, I hit the wall and then bounced back off the wall.

“So I made it to the wall and the bike was [lying] right next to me.

“I crashed kinda earlyish on the brakes, I saw for example [Darryn] Binder went down and he didn’t quite make it to the wall. But then Zarco did, some of the other guys did.

“So especially if there’s contact or whatever, it’s something that needs to be looked at, I think, in the future. Because yeah, it’s pretty scary.

“I also had a bit of a moment in there this morning and just trying to stop the bike before going in the gravel, even though you’ve got that runoff area, it’s pretty tight.

“Folger had his big moment there and sort of slammed the wall some years ago. I remember that.

“I was lucky…But if the bike’s followed me in it’s going to be a different story. There’s no air bag on it where I hit, so whether or not airbags need to be put around [the tyre wall] a bit further.

“We’ll discuss it this afternoon and try to come up with a solution.

It’s just one of those things. The sport’s getting faster and faster, the tires are getting better and better. That’s how it goes.

“These things can’t be changed immediately. It’s a massive facility and it’s not one of those points that is super dangerous yet. But of course the bikes are going to continue to get faster and the corners are going to continue to get faster.

“So it’s something that we need to look at. A lot of tracks are like that, Barcelona we’ve had discussions. It’s just one of those things.”

Miller finished 0.418s from Friday leader Fabio Quartararo, with Pramac’s Johann Zarco the top Ducati in fourth.

“The bike itself is working pretty decent,” Miller said. “Here you’ve got a lot of hard accelerating points with lean angle and, especially when I threw the soft in, I was having a big issue with the bike sort of pumping and shaking just with the amount of grip you’ve got.

“It cost me quite a bit of time on my best lap. And like I said, I was a bit rough and a bit rusty going back out on the bike, so I didn’t feel that great and then it was bucking and weaving like it was.

“That’s probably the main issue, we were chasing grip this morning and then we were able to find it and now we’ve just gotta understand how we can get it smoother. That’s it.”

Miller: New Ducati seat wings ‘pretty out there’

Asked about the new Ducati seat aero trialled by Jorge Martin and Enea Bastianini on Friday, Miller joked that he’d have to be careful not to kick them off when getting on the bike.

“I had a look at it in the box yesterday. I mean it’s pretty out there, but they’ve got it on my list of things to try,” he said. “I’m flat out [trying] not to kick the camera off the back when I get on the bike, so I reckon I could probably do some damage to those wings! But we’ll see.”

Bastianini revealed the main benefit is in braking: “My first [impression] was good, especially on the brakes. It’s more stable. And also for the [top] speed, it’s not bad. And I think for tomorrow it’s good for the qualifying.”

Miller’s team-mate Francesco Bagnaia, who fell through the Maggots/Becketts section this morning, was eleventh fastest on day one.

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Drink driving incident won’t distract Bagnaia

Drink driving incident won't distract Bagnaia

The Ducati star failed a breathalyser test after crashing a road car while on his way home from a party in Ibiza, early last month.

Thursday at Silverstone was the first time the Italian had been back in the MotoGP paddock since the incident, for which Spanish media predicted he could face a driving ban of between one and four years.

“I already said on my social [media] channels what I think. Three-four weeks have now passed [and so] it’s not something that can compromise my mindset for a race [weekend],” Bagnaia said.

“It was a mistake, an error that I made. Unfortunately, it’s something that can happen. I really made a mistake. I understand [that],” I added.

When Bagnaia was then pressed on whether he would have accepted receiving a penalty from MotoGP or Ducati for the incident, team-mate Jack Miller – also present in the press conference – stepped in to close down the questioning.

“For what?” Miller said. “It’s just bringing up negativity and we don’t need to bring it up.

“He said what he had to say and that’s it.”

Bagnaia’s only previous words on the matter, delivered via social media the morning after the incident, were: “Last night I was in Ibiza with my friends for a party during this break from MotoGP.

“We celebrated and toasted together for my victory at the Dutch GP.

“As I was leaving the disco at 3am I was facing a roundabout when I ended up with the front wheels in a ditch, without involving other vehicles or people.

“However, the alcohol test carried out by the police found that the blood alcohol level was higher than what is allowed by Spanish law.

“I am sorry for what happened; I am practically a non-drinker, and it was a serious carelessness which should not have happened.

“I apologize to everyone, and I can assure you that I have learned my lesson.

“Never get behind the wheel after drinking alcohol. Thank you.”

Bagnaia, who has three wins and three DNFs in the last six races, starts this weekend’s race sitting fourth in the world championship, 66 points behind Fabio Quartararo.

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