Miller reaches the base rubber as Yamaha exposes its problem with the reinforced casing

Jack Miller’s closing laps sum up Yamaha’s problems in Austria. His rear tyre degraded so severely that he reached the base rubber in the centre, despite switching to progressively weaker engine maps to limit wheelspin. His final two laps, 1:38.929 and 1:40.225, were even slower than the Bagger race lap record at the same circuit.

Miller directly links the degradation to Michelin’s reinforced rear casing used at Spielberg, which had already caused Yamaha trouble in Thailand. The issue went beyond his bike: Quartararo, Rins, Razgatlioglu and Miller occupied four of the last five positions at the finish. Motegi uses a different construction, but Mandalika will bring this casing back into play.