- Jack Miller dived into the Sepang pit lane in Saturday’s sprint for his wet-weather Yamaha, found it not ready and shouted at his Pramac crew on television (per Motorsport.com).
- The 31-year-old says the call was his own, that he and crew chief Giacomo Guidotti meant different things by “ready”, and that he has apologized.
- The rain arrived only after the flag, and the miscommunication adds another rough scene to the final MotoGP season of the Australian, who moves to World Superbike next year.
Five Raindrops, One Spare Yamaha and a Tire Nobody Had Changed
“It was on me.”
Jack Miller said it on Saturday at Sepang, after television had caught the Pramac Yamaha rider gesticulating and shouting at his team, crew chief Giacomo Guidotti among them. Miller had come into the pits early in the Malaysian Grand Prix sprint, convinced the next lap would be wet. His second bike, the one set up for rain, was not ready for him.
He did not rejoin the race, and the rain he had been chasing did not arrive until after the flag.
Miller counted “five, six drops” on his visor at Turns 7 and 8, with more at Turns 9 and 10. He pointed to the usual pattern at Sepang. “I saw raindrops at Turns 5 and 6, then again at Turns 7 and 8 and Turns 9 and 10,” he said. “Those are usually the first areas to get wet when the rain comes from that direction, and the drops here are pretty big.”
He had a radar reading, too, and it said something different. “I checked the radar, which was showing rain arriving later, but when I saw those drops, I thought it was coming earlier than expected,” Miller said. “I believed the next lap would be wet, so I decided to come in.”
The Australian was running 17th or 18th. Points looked out of reach, so he took a chance on the wet bike. “It was worth a shot,” he said.
What “Ready” Meant to Each Side
The trouble sat in a conversation before the race. Miller asked Guidotti to have the second bike ready. The two men took the words to mean different things.
“I had a chat with Giacomo before the race, and I said, you know, ‘Have the bike ready’,” Miller said. “In my mind, that was like, have the bike ready immediately. In his mind, it was like, you know, four or five laps.”
In another interview he put it this way. “I thought it would be ready immediately, while the team understood that they had another four or five laps,” Miller said. “It was a miscommunication, and by the time I realised the tyres hadn’t even been changed, I knew the race was over.”
He worked it out at the box. “I just thought we had to pull the tyre warmers off,” he said. “But then, yeah, once I saw the rattle gun on the caliper going the wrong direction, I understood that the tyre hadn’t even been changed yet.”
His afternoon ended there. “So I knew the game was over then.”
Miller says he calmed down quickly and cleared the air with Guidotti, and he repeated the apology in public. “I apologised for my reaction, but I mean, at that moment when you arrive, you’re still in the race,” he said. “And in my mind, I mean, I wouldn’t make that decision unless I thought it was valid.”
Pramac team director Gino Borsoi shared the blame between rider and team. The team had been preparing the second bike for wet conditions, he said, and “it would have been ready one lap later.” He also saw “a little too much eagerness to take a risk” on his rider’s side, and he allowed that the crew could have been slightly quicker. The two accounts do not line up on the size of the gap: Miller says the team expected four or five laps, while Borsoi puts it at one.
The Rain That Came After the Flag
Miller was not alone in the pit lane. Joan Mir, Iker Lecuona, Franco Morbidelli and Maverick Viñales also came in. Several riders with little to lose tried the same move. The rain never became heavy enough to warrant wet-weather tires, and the deluge that would have rewarded the gamble arrived only after the checkered flag.
Miller said as much himself: “the rain wasn’t coming until after the flag.”
Pramac’s other bike produced a quieter story. Augusto Fernandez, standing in for the injured Toprak Razgatlioglu, finished 14th. Razgatlioglu’s absence is its own chapter of the team’s year, covered in the story of Toprak Razgatlioglu’s rookie season.
A Farewell Season That Keeps Going Sideways
The Sepang scene arrives six days after a heavier blow, and it helps explain the mood around the rider. Saturday’s sprint was part of the 19th round of the season, with the Malaysian Grand Prix running from Friday to Sunday. Miller’s last home MotoGP race at Phillip Island never happened. Low visibility grounded the medical helicopter, and race control scrapped all of Sunday’s track action, the premier class race included. The 4.4 kilometer circuit leaves the MotoGP calendar, with a new urban track in Adelaide set to replace it next year, a loss that Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner mourned.
For Miller the timing could hardly have been worse. He had hoped to make one final home appearance as a MotoGP rider before his switch to World Superbike. He was set to start fourth, as the fastest Yamaha rider all weekend, in a special yellow-and-green livery he designed himself.
On the grid, before the parade laps, he spoke to the crowd. “You fans have been amazing throughout all the years,” he said. “My little decade here, you guys have been the best.” The venue has a long place in the sport’s history: Phillip Island staged its first MotoGP race nearly four decades ago, and Miller said on the grid that the day was “a little different to how things began for WG [Wayne Gardner] back in ’89.” He added: “It’s been an absolute pleasure racing in front of you guys, you’re the best fans in the world and sorry we had to skip another one,” and he said how much the cancellation angered him.
Then he gave them a show anyway. The whole grid took two parade laps, and Miller pulled a long wheelie down the start and finish straight, parked his Yamaha at the side of the track and threw his gloves in the air.
His social media post carried the same mix of anger and gratitude. “Bloody hell, Phillip Island. You really know how to break a bloke’s heart,” he wrote. “Pretty gutted to be honest. My last home MotoGP race and we didn’t even get to race.” He thanked the fans who braved the traffic and the rain. “You guys have been absolutely unreal, not just this weekend but throughout my whole MotoGP career,” he wrote, and he signed off with “thanks for all the memories, Phillip Island. I’ll cherish them forever.” He thanked his team as well. “Shame we didn’t get to put those colours to work but at least we won best dressed today.”
Six days after the team won best dressed in Australia, television showed the same rider shouting in its pit box.
What Is Left of a Decade in MotoGP
Miller calls it “my little decade” in MotoGP, and he has been clear that he refuses to call his career a disappointment. The high point is easy to name. On Sunday, June 26, 2016, riding for Marc VDS Racing in a rain-affected Dutch TT at Assen, he took his maiden MotoGP victory. Marc Marquez finished second. The last satellite bike to win a MotoGP race before him had done it at Portugal 2006.
Rain gave Miller that win. Saturday at Sepang went the other way: he read the sky, the rain came after the flag, and the bike he wanted was not ready. The two days sit ten years apart.
Miller put the decision on himself at Sepang. In his words, he would not have made it unless he thought it was valid.
The Malaysian Grand Prix itself is still to run. The race starts on Sunday at 15:00 local time, 07:00 GMT, and the Pramac Yamaha rider heads into it with the sprint behind him and the apology made. World Superbike waits next year, and Phillip Island waits again in February, when WSBK makes its own final visit to the circuit. The 31-year-old will get to contest a world championship race there, and Australian fans who missed him in October get another chance to see him.
