JACK Miller slammed the MotoGP rival responsible for the Lap 1 carnage that left him a distant last early in the German Grand Prix.
The Australian was trapped on the outside as Pol Espargaro and Alex Rins crashed at the third corner of the race, Miller laying the blame squarely with the KTM rider.
“The crash was coming from a long way away,” Miller explained.
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“(Espargaro) came around the outside like an idiot already in Turn 1, trying to pass me, ran into me.
“Then he tried to pass three of us around the outside in Turn 2.”
Then, as he colorfully described to media after the race: “(I) then got bitch-slapped into the gravel at Turn 3.”
Miller was the only one of the three lucky enough to be able to continue in the race, although in a distant last place.
“Running into the gravel, touching the wall, having to come back through the gravel and start a 30 lap race already 15 seconds behind isn’t the nicest,” he added.
“I was lucky enough to avoid it, but running into the gravel, touching the wall, having to come back through the gravel and start a 30 lap race already 15 seconds behind isn’t the nicest.”
Espargaro tagged the back of Andrea Iannone’s Suzuki on his way to the scene of the crash, the Italian also critical of the KTM rider’s actions.
“I think Pol Espargarò should have thought a bit more about what he was doing, because there isn’t space at that corner and he was completely on the kerb — there wasn’t a line there,” Iannone said.
“I heard the bike behind me and I started to pick my bike up a bit because I expected there could be contact, that maneuver prevented me from crashing but my bike was damaged and I lost more than 10 places.
“I understand that everyone wants to push hard in the early laps, but it’s more dangerous than ever in MotoGP now and people must be careful.”
For his part, Espargaro held his hands up and accepted the blame for the mess, equally frustrated that he’d thrown away a good opportunity for the KTM team after having been fastest in the race morning warm-up.
“I don’t want to say I was unlucky because I generated everything,” he said.
“I was on the outside of the second corner and I was pushed a little wide, which is normal, but I could not avoid Iannone who was on the inside of the third corner and locking the bike a lot.
“I crashed and I was so, so sorry for Alex (Rins).
“It was the worst moment of the season because I think we could have shown something very interesting here at Sachsenring.”
Stewards looked at the incident after the race but elected to award no penalties to Espargaro.
Jack Miller started the German GP from 14th on the grid. Pic: Pramac DucatiSource: Supplied
MILLER: WE NEED TO FIX QUALIFYING
Iannone recovered to 12th while Miller could only recover to 14th — where he’d started.
“My pace was good enough for a top 10,” Miller said.
“(I was) consistent, saved the tire right to the end. Worked my way through. Nice little last-lap battle right at the end with Tito (Rabat) but just ran out of time.
“Disappointed, for sure, of what could have been today but this is all because of my bad qualifying yesterday.
“When you’re starting that far back on the grid, it’s never an ideal spot to be in because that’s where all the main problems happen, towards the back, at the first corner.
“Qualifying’s something we’re going to have to work on. We had a bit better system … we were able to do qualifying better at the start of the year, so I think we’re going to have to try and find our way to get that back again.”