Marco Bezzecchi
Pramac Yamaha rider Jack Miller finished the final Sprint Race of 2025 at the Valencia Grand Prix in P12 after receiving a penalty for a crash with Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer.
The penalty helped to guarantee that Miller will finish the 2025 MotoGP season having only scored points during two of the 22 Sprints held this term. Miller achieved P9 in the Sprint in Great Britain and P4 in the Sprint in Australia, but otherwise finished in 10th place or worse.
Pramac pilot Miller started the Sprint at the Valencia GP in P8, having been the second-best Yamaha rider during qualifying earlier this Saturday. Only Fabio Quartararo in P6 hauled the M1 around the Circuit Ricardo Tormo faster than Miller managed among the Yamaha stable.
Factory Yamaha rider Quartararo also put up a firm defence to finish P7, as Gresini pilot Alex Marquez won the Valencia Sprint from second on the grid. Miller was running in P9 when he tried to overtake Aldeguer on Lap 3 of 13, but the pair made contact that ruined their races.
MotoGP fans question the consistency of penalties after Jack Miller is punished in the Valencia Sprint
Miller had got a run on Aldeguer exiting Turn 1, so he moved to the inside before the heavy-braking point at T2 as he could see the top seven riders in the Valencia Sprint were starting to pull away. But the 30-year-old could not get his M1 stopped and ran them both out wide.
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The front-left winglet on Gresini rookie Aldeguer’s Ducati GP24 flew off due to his crash with Miller at T2. Aldeguer’s left hand also came off the handlebar after his bike appeared to lock with Miller’s Yamaha. Additionally, the collision with Miller dropped Aldeguer to 13th place.
Miller was initially ordered to drop three places as his penalty for causing the collision with Aldeguer during the Valencia Sprint. As the Australian did not serve the penalty, it was later converted to a long lap penalty, which, coincidentally, left him in P12 and behind Aldeguer.
But a lot of MotoGP fans were left questioning why Miller received a penalty in the Valencia Sprint, as Aldeguer caused a collision with Brad Binder in the Portuguese Grand Prix without receiving a penalty. Aldeguer even barged into Binder twice and also broke his front winglet.
One MotoGP fan claimed on X after Miller received his penalty during the Sprint in Valencia: “How is it fair that Jack Miller gets a penalty for that against Fermin Aldeguer, yet Fermin got nothing for hitting Brad Binder twice (and taking his wings off) in Portugal?”
Another fan also claimed: “Fermin took Binder’s winglet… No penalty… Miller took Fermin’s winglet… Drop three positions, which turns into a long lap penalty. What a fair winglet saga!”
The penalty also saw one fan ask: “What did Miller do worse than Aldeguer last week that warrants a penalty?” Another fan also said: “Why is there a penalty for this? It was a classic Alex Marquez move that was never penalised.”
Another fan also noted: “Miller’s penalty is a joke! I’ve already seen more dangerous moves from Aldeguer this year and other riders going unpunished.”
Additionally, a fan said: “Aldeguer is also quite aggressive on other occasions too and suffers no penalties!! Like the case in Portimao against Binder!!! Miller gets penalised because??”
Fermin Aldeguer’s incident with Jack Miller draws comparison to his collision with Brad Binder in Portugal
Aldeguer did not receive a penalty after either of his aggressive moves on Binder during the Portuguese GP last weekend. The initial contact did not disadvantage either rider, while the second incident saw Binder lose most of his rear aero after being hit from behind at Turn 5.
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While Aldeguer gained what was P6 at the time by forcing his way past Binder, the KTM star still finished the Portuguese GP directly behind the Gresini rookie in P4 and P5, albeit 3.467 seconds apart. But Aldeguer was disadvantaged from Miller’s collision in the Valencia Sprint.
Aldeguer did not recover any of the positions he lost from Miller hitting him in the Valencia Sprint, except for moving back ahead of the Pramac ace once he served his long lap penalty. The stewards also likely considered that Aldeguer’s hand came off his bike in their verdict.
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