Marco Bezzecchi
Jack Miller is renowned for being one of the most experienced riders on the grid, but MotoGP technical expert Peter Bom believes his tyre management is what often lets him down.
The 2026 season-opener in Thailand was one to forget for MotoGP fan favourite Jack Miller. Atop a poor Yamaha prototype, it was expected that he would be somewhere at the back of the pack, but behind MotoGP new boy Toprak Razgatlioglu wasn’t on anybody’s bingo cards.
Ahead of his Pramac teammate’s debut season in the premier class, Miller has used his years of experience in an attempt to aid Razgatlioglu’s transition into MotoGP, which has been fairly difficult for the Turkish rider.
Yamaha are also benefiting from Miller’s wisdom atop a range of different manufacturers’ prototypes, in a quest to turn their currently weak V4-powered M1 into a potentially podium-worthy bike by the end of the year.
While he excels in the engineering meetings, the Australian doesn’t have every single aspect of racing in the premier class down to a tee.
- READ MORE: Francesco Bagnaia says Jack Miller is a ‘fantastic’ teammate after their Ducati partnership
Is this the best or the worst we’ll see from Jack Miller in 2026?
Peter Bom identifies Jack Miller’s weakness in tyre management
In a recent episode of the Oxley Bom MotoGP podcast, journalist and technical expert Peter Bom touched upon Miller’s weakness while theorising on why the 2026 edition of the Thailand Grand Prix was actually slower than the 2019 iteration.
He said, “Listening to the riders, there were more than a few explaining how difficult it was to survive the race just because of the spinning of the rear tyre on the straights, in fifth and sixth gear as well. So they finally never got to full throttle at all.
“There are riders like Jack Miller, who are… Jack is good at a lot of things, but he’s not very good at keeping a tyre for a long time or going fast with a worn tyre.
“So he was the last of all the Yamahas this time, just for that. He’s in more trouble in situations like this. So, for me, it’s a combination of super high track temperatures and this rear tyre that never really got updated.”
Miller ended up languishing in the penultimate spot of the riders who saw the chequered flag in Buriram, just ahead of Gresini substitute Michele Pirro and behind Razgatlioglu.
As usual, Fabio Quartararo was the lead rider for the Yamaha stable in Buriram, securing a P14 ahead of factory teammate Alex Rins.
Has Jack Miller’s MotoGP career been better or worse than you expected?
Jack Miller looks to have already secured his seat on the MotoGP grid for 2027
With the 2027 MotoGP rider market in full swing as the new season gets underway, Jack Miller looks like he has ‘guaranteed’ his seat at Pramac for the premier class’s new era of regulations.
It’s in stark contrast to the way Miller secured his seat for the current campaign, with confirmation only coming in the dying stages of 2025 when he looked to have been on his way out.
The Australian has welcomed life as a member of the Yamaha stable with open arms, raising the suspicions of former MotoGP rider Neil Hodgson.
Hodgson thinks that Miller may be towing Yamaha’s ‘corporate line’ to keep his seat at Pramac into the future.
It certainly seems to have worked, but there’s also a big case for the fact that the 31-year-old is one of the best bike developers on the grid, which has been crucial as the Japanese constructor attempts to bring the new M1 into a competitive zone.
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