Marco Bezzecchi
Jack Miller has gone from nearly losing his seat on the MotoGP grid to one of Yamaha’s most important riders in a matter of months, and journalist Peter Bom has revealed what the Australian is doing behind the scenes that is “golden” for the Japanese constructor.
The main catalyst for Miller’s Yamaha contract extension was down to the fact that he is currently the only rider in the Japanese constructor’s stable who has previous experience riding atop a V4-powered bike.
Yamaha has struggled significantly with recording respectable results in the current campaign, as they languish in the bottom spot of the constructors’ championship with just 180 points to their name.
Miller has also had a season to forget in his debut with the Yamaha satellite team, Pramac Racing. The Australian has registered just one top-five finish with the Italian team, which came at the third race of the season in Texas.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Yamaha from the MotoGP team’s riders to hierarchy
Peter Bom thinks Jack Miller’s ‘golden’ feedback to Yamaha is crucial to their V4 development
Speaking as a guest on the MotoGP Pit Talk podcast, journalist Peter Bom highlighted how crucial Miller’s experience is, as well as the “golden” feedback he is able to provide to his engineers in order for them to tune the bike to the best possible set-up.
“Yamaha should keep a hold of Jack because his feedback is golden,” the Dutchman stated.” He’s an old-school rider who knows way too much about motorbikes, which is usually a problem.
“When riders know too much, it’s usually a problem because once you understand a couple of things, you conclude other things, and then suddenly you become an engineer.
“Jack knows a lot, but at the same time, he says, ‘I’ll leave it to the engineers to do something to it. I just tell them how it feels to me and what I would have done to other bikes or what I’ve done in the past with other bikes that help me a lot and then I leave it to you guys.’ He’s very, very sensitive.
“So at the moment he’s very important for the Yamaha project, in my eyes. I don’t even understand why it took them so long to decide, and that’s probably proof that everything takes too long at Yamaha.”
Yamaha debuted their new machinery at Misano, where wildcard rider Auguston Fernandez was entered into the race weekend in order to collect crucial data for engineers to sift through.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Jack Miller from net worth to wife
Yamaha are currently working to get their V4-powered bike ready for the 2026 MotoGP season
Fernandez was lapping around a second off the pace of the pack, which looked fairly optimistic considering the short turnaround that Yamaha engineers had for them to get a working prototype ready for the race.
However, their lead rider has a much more pessimistic view on the new challenger. Fabio Quartararo believes Yamaha are a lot further behind schedule than what was first believed when they unveiled the new bike at the San Marino GP.
Quartararo has been the most vocal member of the Yamaha stable when it comes to the performance of their bikes. After winning his first premier class title in 2021, the Frenchman is keen on adding another to his tally.
Many members of the MotoGP believe Quartararo is the man to dethrone Marc Marquez after his dominant display in the current campaign.
Despite that, the 26-year-old crucially needs the right machinery under him in order to pose a threat to the Italian team’s dominance.
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