It’s a really frustrating way to end a GP weekend in Emilia Romagna when I’ve been really fast all along. I was in the top three in every session, ran pretty comfortably in the top three for the first four laps of the race, and next I’ll be on the floor at Turn 15. Classic front-end crash in Misano and unfortunately a repetition of a weekend I’ve had here before. I’ve qualified runner-up here four times now and I’m still waiting to go home with something really good.
Before I go any further – it’s a special day for Fabio (Quartararo) here today, so great respect and congratulations to him on becoming world champion. Fully deserved, he was the class of the field all year round, he was the most consistent of all of us and I’m happy for him. He is a popular winner and you just have to see how the other drivers reacted to him after the race to see what a popular and good guy Fabio is. So, congratulations to him and it’s huge for France to have a first world champion. We wanted to put him off a little later, but he’s a good guy so I’m happy for him.
Jack Miller gets ready to run.
© Ducati Lenovo team
So back to my race and what happened? All weekend when it was wet, when it was dry, when it was halfway and half … speed wasn’t the problem. We went on the hard front / middle rear tires, both me and Pecco (Bagnaia) and we were the only ones who got it off. I went down on lap four and Pecco did the same thing in the same corner four laps to go when he was in the lead. It is difficult to assert yourself from first and second places on the grid.
It would be nice to win a medal this year, a top three, and it would be a fantastic end to a year that has had its ups and downs.
Pecco and I came to the decision to ride the hard front independently of each other, I decided on this route in the late morning, and we drove on the left and it looked like a little masterpiece at first. But in the end it wasn’t really warm enough for this tire when the clouds came up, it was probably borderline. Our plan has always been to go with the hard tire, we got quite a bit of lockup on the brakes with the medium up front, so we tried to avoid that.
We tried to shoot the fences and had great pace at the beginning, but it just wasn’t meant to be. It’s just one of those days that you just want to forget.
Jack Miller walks on the asphalt in Misano.
© Ducati Lenovo team
I fell back to fourth place in the championship because of the fall behind (Johann) Zarco, but (Joan) I fell too, so I’m just as much behind me as I came in third here in the championship – 26 points – and I now have just one race less to try to fill that gap. Pretty silly because I cost myself a few points and I could have scored on myself today – I saw he crashed and I had a chance, but one lap later I was down myself.
It is now important for the team to get both bikes into the top three of the championship, we have a good chance if I pull my finger out. It would be nice to win a medal this year, a top three, and it would be a fantastic end to a year that has had its ups and downs. It was the tough thing putting it together week after week. We’ve had the speed at pretty much every Grand Prix this year, so it’s about getting the most of it.
One thing is for sure, if I didn’t know my way around Misano the last two years, then definitely now. Two races here last year and two races and one test this year with just Texas in between. It seems like we’ve been driving around this place for ages. We’re back in Portimao – again – for the next one in a couple of weeks so I’ll speak to you from there.
Jack spoke to MotoGP writer Matthew Clayton.
This content originally appeared on jackmiller43.com.au and has been reproduced with permission.