Jack Miller explains how Japanese Grand Prix retirement wasted Yamaha’s ‘potential’ at home race

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Once again, Fabio Quartararo has just been the lone Yamaha rider finishing a Grand Prix in the top 10 during the 2025 MotoGP season.

While the Japanese Grand Prix wasn’t a classic to behold in terms of on-track action, there was plenty going on with the storylines away from it. Honda scored their first podium in two years, and Marc Marquez completed his MotoGP comeback by sealing a seventh title.

Some manufacturers had very little to cheer, including Yamaha, who had little pace all weekend and were forced to watch on as Jack Miller retired during the closing stages of both the sprint and the Grand Prix at their home race.

Miller said exactly what Yamaha want to hear going into the weekend, after admitting that he’s ready to be patient with their new V4 engine. Yamaha’s ‘missing’ trait forced a V4 decision to introduce the unit earlier than planned, as results on track failed to impress with the M1 bike.

READ MORE: Jack Miller shares what he finds ‘impressive’ about Marc Marquez’s comeback to MotoGP after injury woes

Jack Miller says Yamaha wasted their ‘potential’ after double Japanese Grand Prix retirement

Miller’s honest verdict on the V4 engine was encouraging, but it’s unlikely to have any influence over the team’s results between now and the end of the year. Over the last five races of the campaign, he and Yamaha could be in for some pain.

For now, he’s stuck with an underpowered, underdeveloped and poor M1 package, which has done little of note in the second half of the season. At Motegi, Miller suffered a double retirement, with Sunday’s snapped chain with a handful of laps to go not being within his control.

Speaking to Fox Sports Australia after the race, he shared how frustrating it had been to have ‘potential’ in Japan, without having anything to show for it.

“Three laps left … the f—— chain snapped and that was all she wrote,” he said. “When you’re in second [gear] going to third, there’s a fair bit of torque going through it, and when she unravelled, it did a fair bit of damage [to the chassis] on the way out.

“It was a weekend where I felt we had good potential, but we weren’t able to unlock it. I felt decent, competitive, but it’s very f—— difficult to make any sort of overtakes at all, you’re just waiting for the boys to make mistakes and capitalise on that.”

READ MORE: Neil Hodgson says Jack Miller’s ‘off-road’ skills saved him from a ‘hospital’ trip at Misano

How Jack Miller could surpass an unwanted MotoGP feat before the end of 2025

With the exception of his rookie season, the most Grands Prix that Miller has ever gone scoreless at during a season is eight, set last year with KTM.

This year, with five races to go, he is already up to seven, meaning that he will have gone point-less at the most races in a decade if he fails to score in at least two of the next five Grands Prix.

All eyes may already be on the development of next year’s bike, but for someone who has saved their career twice in the last 12 months, it feels like Miller is on thin ice.

Not long into 2026, and he will be under pressure to start delivering results, otherwise, there could be some other riders taking a look at his already vulnerable position. The Aussie needs to find some luck.