In Indonesia in early October, Spanish rookie Fermin Aldeguer snared his maiden MotoGP victory<\/a> for Gresini Ducati, the 20-year-old becoming the second-youngest premier-class winner in the history of the world championship<\/a> to Marc Marquez in 2013, and taking the first victory for a rookie since Jorge Martin in 2021. <\/p>\n Two weeks later, Aldeguer\u2019s compatriot Raul Fernandez was a shock winner of the Australian Grand Prix<\/a> for Trackhouse Aprilia, the 25-year-old successful on his 76th MotoGP start in his fourth season after never having led a lap or finished on a premier-class Grand Prix podium before Phillip Island<\/a>. <\/p>\n Those initial successes of Aldeguer and Fernandez went against the narrative of the Marquez-dominated season, the seven-time MotoGP champ crashing out on lap one in Indonesia<\/a>, and then undergoing right shoulder surgery that sidelined him initially for Australia, and subsequently the rest of the year. <\/p>\n Caveats aside, both results only illuminated Miller\u2019s 2025 campaign for Yamaha, one that started with plenty of justifiable promise and a top-five result as early as round three in Texas, but has largely fizzled out since. <\/p>\n With just two rounds of 2025 left in Portugal (November 7-9) and Valencia (November 14-16), the 30-year-old is on course for his worst season by any number of metrics since he was a rookie for Honda in 2015, moving straight from his Moto3 runner-up season to the top flight as a 20-year-old and bypassing Moto2 altogether.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not all doom and gloom for Miller \u2013 after all, he has a 2026 contract with Pramac Yamaha after the Japanese brand used a performance clause to lever his teammate Miguel Oliveira out of a seat<\/a> for next year to make way for incoming World Superbikes champion Toprak Razgatlioglu \u2013 and he fulfils a very specific job requirement for MotoGP\u2019s slowest manufacturer, Yamaha sitting at the foot of the constructors\u2019 championship after being overtaken by Honda this season. <\/p>\n PIT TALK PODCAST: Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola joins Pit Talk to review a successful yet tumultuous year in MotoGP, look at the growth of Marco Bezzecchi and his hopes for Jorge Martin, and discuss Liberty Media\u2019s arrival while reminiscing about his F1 days working for Australian Paul Stoddart. Listen to Pit Talk below.<\/p>\n For Australia to have a representative on a 22-rider grid where 18 of them \u2013 thanks to Aldeguer and Fernandez \u2013 have now won premier-class Grands Prix is an achievement in itself. <\/p>\n MotoGP has never had a grid with more winners, and even with Marquez reasserting his dominance after six years in an injury-induced wilderness<\/a> this season, race-winners and podium finishers can be at the front one week, and nowhere the next. <\/p>\n It\u2019s a tough, even field where the margins between glory or misery are slim. Which adds context to a suite of statistics for Miller that make for sobering reading.<\/p>\n MORE MOTOGP NEWS<\/p>\n \u2018WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND IT\u2019 <\/a> Riders question communication after Moto3 smash<\/p>\n TALKING POINTS<\/a> Miller\u2019s lament, \u2018hole\u2019 sinks Bagnaia, winner\u2019s last laugh<\/p>\n Miller\u2019s stunning qualifying result in Australia was historic, but an outlier in a so-so season. (Yamaha Motor Racing Srl)Source: Supplied<\/p>\n PODIUM DROUGHT NOW THE GRID\u2019S LONGEST<\/p>\n It was all going so well for Miller in early 2023, when \u2013 in just the fourth round of his new two-year contract with KTM after surviving on one-year hand-to-mouth deals with Ducati for the majority of his tenure there \u2013 he finished third in both the sprint and Grand Prix at the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, leaving him in fourth place in the championship standings. <\/p>\n It remains his most recent Grand Prix podium. <\/p>\n MORE MOTOGP NEWS<\/p>\n RACE REPORT <\/a> Marquez celebrates milestone in style with Sepang victory<\/p>\n \u2018GOING TO BE A MOTOGP RIDER\u2019<\/a> How Agius took legend\u2019s advice to uncork masterclass<\/p>\n There\u2019s been near-misses since that time \u2013 he led the final round of 2023 in Valencia for five laps before crashing out \u2013 but Fernandez\u2019s first MotoGP podium in Australia means Miller has the longest gap between podiums (of those riders who have earned one) of all the full-timers on the 2025 grid.<\/p>\n MotoGP starts since most recent Grand Prix podium<\/p>\n (full-time riders only, after Malaysia 2025)<\/p>\n 55: Jack Miller (most recent podium: Spain 2023)<\/p>\n 50: Miguel Oliveira (Thailand 2022)<\/p>\n 41: Alex Rins (Americas 2022)<\/p>\n 38: Brad Binder (Qatar 2024)<\/p>\n 37: Luca Marini (Qatar 2023)<\/p>\n 30: Maverick Vinales (Americas 2024)<\/p>\n 16: Franco Morbidelli (Qatar 2025), Ai Ogura (yet to finish on a Grand Prix podium)<\/p>\n 15: Fabio Quartararo (Spain 2025), Somkiat Chantra (yet to finish on a Grand Prix podium)<\/p>\n 13: Johann Zarco (Great Britain 2025)<\/p>\n 6: Jorge Martin (Barcelona 2024)<\/p>\n 5: Enea Bastianini (Catalunya 2025)<\/p>\n 3: Francesco Bagnaia (Japan 2025)<\/p>\n 2: Fermin Aldeguer (Indonesia 2025)<\/p>\n 1: Raul Fernandez (Australia 2025), Fabio Di Giannantonio (Australia 2025), Marco Bezzecchi (Australia 2025), Marc Marquez (Japan 2025)<\/p>\n 0: Alex Marquez (Malaysia 2025), Pedro Acosta (Malaysia 2025), Joan Mir (Malaysia 2025)<\/p>\n It\u2019s a stat that comes with context; of those closest to the unwanted top spot on this list, Oliveira has also ridden a Yamaha this season, while Rins is in his second year with Yamaha after crossing from Honda at the end of 2023, and been a shadow of himself as he\u2019s battled injuries and surgery recoveries since a career-changing accident at the Italian Grand Prix of 2023. <\/p>\n Rookies Ai Ogura and Somkiat Chantra haven\u2019t yet made the rostrum; Thai rider Chantra, who has scored seven points all season and is out of MotoGP next year, almost certainly won\u2019t. But Fernandez\u2019s belated breakthrough brings Miller\u2019s drought of well over two years into focus. <\/p>\n 2025: GOOD START LEADS TO FLAT FINISH<\/p>\n Much like his KTM tenure, Miller\u2019s move to Yamaha this year to ride for Pramac Racing \u2013 the same Pramac he raced Ducatis for from 2018-20 \u2013 began with a bang. <\/p>\n In round one in Thailand, Miller qualified a stunning fourth with a \u2018where did that come from?\u2019 lap<\/a> that had Yamaha stablemate and 2021 MotoGP world champion Fabio Quartararo in awe. <\/p>\n Two Grands Prix later in Austin, Miller finished fifth at the Circuit of the Americas in a result a jubilant Pramac team director Gino Borsoi described as being \u201clike a victory\u201d<\/a> and lifted the Aussie inside the world championship\u2019s top 10. <\/p>\n Since then? There\u2019s only been intermittent flashes.<\/p>\n Miller looked the part in Texas, but fifth place remains his best Grand Prix result of the year 17 rounds later. (Photo by Mirco Lazzari gp \/ GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA \/ Getty Images via AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n In the 17 rounds from Austin in March to Malaysia last weekend, Miller has scored points in the sprint and Grand Prix in just two events, Great Britain in round seven and Germany four rounds later. <\/p>\n In the past nine sprints, he\u2019s scored points just once, when he finished an out-of-nowhere fourth in Australia<\/a> after qualifying on the front row of his home Grand Prix for the first time, and for the first time for a local rider since Casey Stoner 13 years previously. <\/p>\n In the past nine rounds from the Sachsenring to Sepang, Miller has just one top-10 Grand Prix finish (10th in the Czech Republic in July). <\/p>\n With two rounds remaining, Miller sits in 18th place in the standings with 68 points, ahead only of Yamaha stablemates Rins and Oliveira, 2024 world champion Martin (who has started 13 of the 40 races across sprints and Grands Prix because of myriad injuries) and Chantra.<\/p>\n Miller sits just four points behind KTM\u2019s Vinales (who is out injured) and 11 behind Aprilia rookie Ogura with two rounds to go, which are achievable deficits. Regardless, it\u2019s not where a rider in their 30s and in their 11th season wants to be. <\/p>\n Miller seasons by championship position (worst to best)<\/p>\n 2015 (Honda): 19th<\/p>\n 2025 (Yamaha)*: 18th<\/p>\n 2016 (Honda): 18th<\/p>\n 2024 (KTM)*: 14th<\/p>\n 2018 (Ducati): 13th<\/p>\n 2023 (KTM)*: 11th<\/p>\n 2017 (Honda): 11th<\/p>\n 2019 (Ducati): 8th<\/p>\n 2020 (Ducati): 7th<\/p>\n 2022 (Ducati): 5th<\/p>\n 2021 (Ducati): 4th<\/p>\n Miller seasons by points scored (worst to best)<\/p>\n 2015: 17<\/p>\n 2016: 57<\/p>\n 2025*: 68<\/p>\n 2017: 82<\/p>\n 2024*: 87<\/p>\n 2018: 91<\/p>\n 2020: 132<\/p>\n 2023*: 163<\/p>\n 2019: 165<\/p>\n 2021: 181<\/p>\n 2022: 189<\/p>\n * Seasons with sprint races (maximum of an additional 12 points per round)<\/p>\n Miller spent four laps in second place behind Quartararo early in the British Grand Prix in May; they\u2019re the only laps of the 392 he\u2019s raced in Grands Prix this year in the podium places, his lowest for a single season since his pre-Ducati days. <\/p>\n Miller seasons by Grand Prix laps in top three (worst to best)<\/p>\n 2015: 0<\/p>\n 2025: 4<\/p>\n 2017: 7<\/p>\n 2016: 15<\/p>\n 2024: 16<\/p>\n 2018: 26<\/p>\n 2023: 69<\/p>\n 2019: 99<\/p>\n 2021: 133<\/p>\n 2020: 137<\/p>\n 2022: 209<\/p>\n Miller led factory Ducati heavy-hitters Bagnaia and Marquez in the early stages at Silverstone in May. (Yamaha Motor Racing Srl)Source: Supplied<\/p>\n CRASH STATS SHOW RISK VERSUS REWARD<\/p>\n Miller is towards the top of one table in 2025, but not one that you\u2019d want to be near the summit of. <\/p>\n MotoGP\u2019s annual \u2013 and sometimes morbid \u2013 fascination with crash stats paints a picture of the 2025 season, but doesn\u2019t explain context. <\/p>\n The numbers, though, don\u2019t lie. <\/p>\n Crashes in 2025<\/p>\n (full-time riders only, after Malaysia 2025)<\/p>\n 28: Zarco<\/p>\n 24: Miller<\/p>\n 22: A. Marquez <\/p>\n 21: Mir<\/p>\n 20: Morbidelli, Acosta<\/p>\n 18: Bezzecchi<\/p>\n 16: Aldeguer, Binder<\/p>\n 15: Bastianini<\/p>\n 14: M. Marquez, Ogura<\/p>\n 12: Quartararo<\/p>\n 11: Fernandez<\/p>\n 9: Bagnaia, Rins, Oliveira<\/p>\n 8: Martin, Chantra<\/p>\n 5: Di Giannantonio, Vinales<\/p>\n 1: Marini<\/p>\n Miller\u2019s 24 crashes in 2025 \u2013 compared to the 30 combined for fellow Yamaha riders Quartararo, Rins and Oliveira \u2013 show that the Australian is prepared to test the limits of his machinery and live with the consequences more than his stablemates, which could help Yamaha as much as hinder it. <\/p>\n Honda\u2019s climb up the standings this season to improved competitiveness \u2013 Zarco has won a Grand Prix, Mir has taken podiums in two of the past four \u2013 comes against a backdrop of the Frenchman and Spaniard sitting inside the top four for most crashes; Mir, sometimes through no fault of his own<\/a>, has 16 non-finishes to his name this year in 38 starts. HRC factory teammate Marini, on the flip side, crashed for the first time all season in last Saturday\u2019s sprint race in Malaysia.<\/p>\n Miller\u2019s numbers aren\u2019t demonstrably worse this year than last \u2013 in 2024, his second KTM campaign, he crashed 20 times to sit fourth overall \u2013 and while it\u2019s not the sole reason for his dwindling points tally, it is a factor. You only need to consider his response to falling at Phillip Island while on course for a top-six result to see the toll it has taken. <\/p>\n Miller’s heartbreaking reaction to crash | 00:31<\/p>\n THE SILVER LINING<\/p>\n That aforementioned very specific job requirement that Miller will fill for Yamaha in 2026? <\/p>\n His combination of experience, technical know-how, willingness to push the boundaries until they snap and his reputation as a team player for a powerhouse factory that has fallen on hard times earned him a reprieve for next season that his stats \u2013 on face value \u2013 arguably shouldn\u2019t have.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761200708_112_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
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