Jack Miller finished a bleak 18th at the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday. It was his worst result in any full-distance race this season.

With Maverick Vinales and Somkiat Chantra out injured, Miller was the slowest of the reduced 20-rider field in qualifying. Pramac teammate Miguel Oliveira outpaced him for the first time.

But this won’t be a weekend where Yamaha draw conclusions about the level of their riders. The Japanese manufacturer produced their poorest showing of 2025 by a distance.

Even franchise rider Fabio Quartararo failed to reach Q2 for the first time this season. He salvaged 15th place and a single point on Sunday, with Yamaha bikes occupying the bottom four positions.

Jack Miller called the Austrian Grand Prix ‘the most embarrassing race’ of his MotoGP career

According to The Race’s Simon Patterson, Miller privately acknowledged that the Grand Prix of Austria was ‘the most embarrassing race’ of his career to date. That’s quite a statement given that the 30-year-old is approaching 200 starts.

Miller finished over 37 seconds off the race winner Marc Marquez, equating to a loss of around 1.3 seconds per lap. Ai Ogura, the lowest-ranking rider outside Yamaha, was nearly 20 up the road.

The riders have attributed the dismal showing, above all, to a compatibility problem with the Michelin tyres. The stop-and-go nature of the Red Bull Ring is also ill-suited to the characteristics of the M1.

Patterson said: “I had a bit of a chat with Jack Miller before he started his media debrief. He said, ‘Honestly Simon, that was the most embarrassing race of my career, and this is me – I’ve had really embarrassing races before!’.

“None of them should be embarrassed by it, because it was clearly a manufacturer problem. It was either a manufacturer problem, or the four riders conspired to do it, and they didn’t.

“As the riders would tell you, it wasn’t a manufacturer problem – it was a tyre problem.”

The real reason why Yamaha aren’t confirming whether Jack Miller will stay at Pramac

At the start of the weekend, Miller expressed his frustration with Yamaha amid ongoing delays in confirming their rider line-up. They were originally expected to make a decision before the end of the summer break.

Given the scarcity of available seats, it’s unlikely that Miller joins another MotoGP team if his contract isn’t renewed. But he still wants clarity as the autumn approaches.

Yamaha are waiting for Diogo Moreira, their top target, to decide between their offer and Honda’s proposal. That explains the delay.

If he accepts, then he will likely partner Toprak Razgatlioglu at Pramac, with both incumbents replaced. Miller could join Ducati’s World Superbikes team for 2026 as his fallback.