Yamaha MotoGP bike shouldn’t suit my riding style, but I’ve made it work

Jack Miller feels the Yamaha M1 isn’t a natural fit for his riding style in MotoGP, but has learned how to get the best from the bike during his first season with Pramac in 2025.

Miller found refuge at Yamaha’s satellite squad after being dropped by KTM at the end of 2024, signing a contract directly with the factory to race alongside Miguel Oliveira.

The M1 became the fourth different bike the Australian has raced in his MotoGP career, having started his journey on Honda in 2016, reached his peak years at Ducati between 2018-22 and then endured two tough seasons on the KTM RC16 between 2023-24.

Asked to compare the M1 with his previous machinery, Miller said: “It’s a good motorcycle. There are different eras and different times. The [lap] times that we’re doing now on this bike [would have made anything from] three years ago null and void. So, it’s hard to say. Every year we go faster and faster.

“It’s cool to be on this bike. Obviously, you know the strengths and weaknesses of it. There are some areas that I would like to improve. But I think it rates pretty high up there. 

“The M1 is a pretty special motorcycle and I’m very fortunate to be able to ride it and I’m happy that my transition over to the Yamaha was what it was and that I’m able to make it work because, on paper, it’s not a bike for my riding style, but we’ve made it work throughout this season. There have been some really strong results.”

With factory rider Alex Rins struggling for most of the season and Oliveira injured early in the year, Miller was the second-best rider within the Yamaha contingent – although he scored fewer than half the points of its star performer, Fabio Quartararo.

Miller claimed five top-10 finishes over the course of the season, including a best result of fifth in the Americas GP, to end the year 17th in the championship.

This put him two spots ahead of Rins in the standings, with Oliveira ending up further back in 20th position.

Miller’s performances relative to Oliveira earned him a second season at Pramac next year, with the Portuguese rider being axed to make way for World Superbike star Toprak Razgatlioglu.

Yamaha will have an all new V4-powered bike in 2026 after abandoning the inline-four concept that it has used throughout the MotoGP era.

Miller said switching to the V4 will be no bigger challenge than adapting to the Yamaha in the first place, as he explained the progress he made in the latter part of the 2025 season.

“[The V4 is] no more of a step than I’ve had in the last year, going from what I’ve known to this inline-four,” he said.

Jack Miller, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

“Throughout the year, we’ve been up and down, as we’ve all seen. Some good highlights, some decent lowlights as well, but especially in the last couple of races since Australia, we’ve been able to understand the front end a little bit more. Maybe [we] lose a little bit of performance, but gain feedback and stability and understanding of where I’m at on the tyre, where the bike was giving me the feedback.

“So that was a learning process, and I understand this bike now more and more. OK, next year’s bike’s different, but the DNA’s there, and that’s learning as a rider, so we’ll keep going.”

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