Nothing. Zilch. None.
Nada. Nought. Zip.
They’re six different words to describe zero, which is precisely the number of world championship points Jack Miller has scored from his past six MotoGP starts with the Australian mired in his most barren run in three years, and with his fewest points after six rounds of a season since 2016.
Every MotoGP qualifying, practice and race LIVE and ad-break free from lights out to the chequered flag. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >
On a one-year contract to ride a Yamaha for the Pramac Racing team – a deal that saw him secure the 22nd and final seat on this year’s grid after admitting to thinking his MotoGP career “was done in my books” midway through 2024 – it’s a statistical dry spell that’s cause for concern, a run of outs that makes his tenure tenuous not even halfway through 2025.
Or is it?
Part of the reason Miller was signed to reunite with Pramac – who he rode a Ducati for from 2018-20 – was to build the nascent relationship between the Italian-owned team and Yamaha, a partnership formed when Pramac ended a two-decade relationship with Ducati at the end of 2024 with a world title for Spaniard Jorge Martin.
MORE MOTOGP NEWS
WINNING FROM LOSING Marquez’s biggest defeat might spark a decisive victory
CHAMP WANTS OUT Why Martin wants to flee Aprilia, and the loophole that could make it happen
Miller’s vast experience over a decade with Honda, Ducati and KTM – Aprilia is the only other current factory he’s not ridden for – was seen as pivotal for a new partnership as Yamaha expanded its MotoGP presence from two bikes to four as it attempted to climb out of the freefall it found itself in after Fabio Quartararo won the 2021 world title.
Behind the scenes, Miller has made a significant impact. On the scoreboard? Clearly, not so much. But numbers without nuance, championship standings without context, only tell part of the story.
To put Miller’s future into perspective – the 30-year-old is one of four riders out of contract at the end of 2025 – the key questions to ask are if not Miller, then who would Yamaha want, who is available, and would anyone be a better bet in the final year of this current iteration of regulations before MotoGP switches to a brand-new 850cc formula for 2027 than a rider with his experience, continuity and willingness to play a role?
Miller’s signature on a 2026 contract for Yamaha isn’t a done deal; after all, reigning world champion Martin is agitating to get out of a two-year deal with Aprilia after not even completing a single race for the marque he sensationally quit Ducati for last year.
Contracts, it seems, are often little more than a suggestion of a commitment until it’s not convenient for either side.
But Miller is doing what Yamaha wanted him to. That the results haven’t come yet is, while not ideal, a secondary concern, and are easily explained.
NUMBERS DON’T TELL THE FULL STORY
Rewind 12 months, and Miller’s job security at KTM was close to zero after six rounds of 2024, the Australian struggling while star rookie Pedro Acosta had already exceeded the stratospheric expectations placed on him before he’d even competed in a premier-class race by finishing on back-to-back podiums within his first three Grands Prix.
Acosta’s graduation from KTM’s second-string Tech3 squad was inevitable, and confirmed at round seven in Mugello, leaving Miller on the outer after his slowest start to a campaign in years.
Compared to 2025? Last year was actually better.
Jack Miller in MotoGP after six rounds
2025: 19pts, 17th (Yamaha)
2024: 27pts, 15th (KTM)
2023*: 62pts, 7th (KTM)
2022: 42pts, 11th (Ducati)
2021: 74pts, 4th (Ducati)
2020: 64pts, 3rd (Ducati)
2019: 42pts, 6th (Ducati)
2018: 49pts, 9th (Ducati)
2017: 30pts, 12th (Honda)
2016: 2pts, 22nd (Honda)
2015: 6pts, 19th (Honda)
(*2023 was the first year of sprint races, adding extra points on a scale of 12-9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 from first to ninth places)
The points tally shows what Miller hasn’t done, but doesn’t explain why he’s currently on his driest run since MotoGP introduced sprint races at every round three seasons ago.
Since his superb ride to fifth place in the Grand Prix of the Americas in Texas in late March – a result Pramac Racing team director Gino Borsoi declared “at this stage of the new partnership with Yamaha is almost like a victory” – the Australian hasn’t scored a single point through a series of some self-inflicted wounds and occasionally bizarre misfortune.
PIT TALK PODCAST: In the latest episode of Pit Talk, hosts Renita Vermeulen and Matt Clayton review an absolutely crazy French Grand Prix at Le Mans won memorably by Johann Zarco, look at how a potential victory went begging for Jack Miller, and recap a crucial weekend in the title race for Marc Marquez.
One race after Texas in Qatar, Miller endured a crash-strewn run through practice and qualified a season-worst 16th, and was one of eight riders to unsuccessfully roll the dice with Michelin’s soft rear tyre for the sprint race, finishing 19th after all eight gamblers sunk like a stone to finish outside the points.
In the Grand Prix the next night, Miller’s bike suddenly developed a violent vibration when it was leaning on the left-hand side of the tyre in the penultimate corner eight laps in, which conspired to spit him off his Yamaha two corners into the next lap and lead to a non-finish.
In Spain, Miller qualified 14th and crashed out of the sprint at turn six, the same corner that claimed Yamaha stablemate and shock pole-sitter Quartararo earlier in the race.
Marquez wins sprint after Fabio crash | 00:50
On track for points in the Grand Prix the following day, Miller limped into retirement with a bizarre malfunction, a piece of his bike’s fairing coming loose and severing a wiring loom that caused his bike to drop a cylinder and sputter to a halt after 14 laps.
In the most recent race in France, Miller – armed with a new engine and bodywork trialled by Yamaha at the post-race Jerez test – qualified inside the top 10 for the second time this year in eighth, but finished outside the points in 11th in the sprint after being shoved off track by KTM’s Enea Bastianini in the manic early stages, a move that earned the Italian rider a two-place penalty.
In the Grand Prix, Miller was left kicking himself after being on the appropriate wet-weather tyres for the conditions as the rain worsened at Le Mans, crashing out at the final corner on lap six while 11 seconds ahead of Honda’s Johann Zarco, who employed the same tyre strategy to eventually splash to a memorable victory, the first for a French rider at their home Grand Prix since 1954.
Miller has been wasteful at times and unlucky in others, but he hasn’t been slow, trailing only Yamaha’s kingpin Quartararo for speed of the four YZR-M1’s on the grid and sporting a perfect 6-0 qualifying head-to-head record against his teammates.
His rapid adaptation to the only inline-four configuration bike on the grid has been in keeping with his fast starts at previous addresses, and has helped ease his frustrations with the results not matching his mood.
“I’m enjoying my time with Pramac and the environment, I’ve hit the ground running and I feel very comfortable on the bike, which is a massive benefit for me,” he said in Qatar.
“I’m just trying to do the best job I can do and help all of us improve. When Yamaha improves, we all improve. I’m focused on what the bike does well and controlling the things I can control myself.”
IF NOT MILLER, THEN WHO?
Context to Miller’s results so far add clarity, but the numbers are the numbers. If they were better, his job security would be guaranteed.
But with so few seats available this season after last year’s mid-year rider market madness triggered by Marc Marquez refusing a Pramac Ducati ride – which is partly why Pramac is in its new relationship with Yamaha – Miller’s name is front of mind.
Of the 2025 grid, it’s only Miller, VR46 Ducati rider Franco Morbidelli, Zarco (LCR Honda) and Honda factory rider Luca Marini who have deals that expire at the end of this year, the rest of the riders locked in to contracts that align them to their current employers before MotoGP’s change to 850cc machinery for 2027.
MORE MOTOGP NEWS
‘DUMBFOUNDED AND DEVASTATED’ How Aussie’s big chance was washed away
FRANCE TALKING POINTS Victor backs his instincts, Spaniard’s steady hand, home hero’s road rage
Last week’s bombshell that reigning world champion Martin is seeking to use a contractual loophole to extract himself from his Aprilia contract a year early is unlikely to affect Miller; should the Spaniard get his way, it’s almost certain that a Honda factory seat – Marini’s – will be his preferred destination as the Japanese brand eyes 2027 as its big chance to get back to the front after its wilderness years from Marquez’s first major arm injury in 2020.
With Zarco using his French Grand Prix victory to publicly campaign for a seat at Honda’s A-team despite being the grid’s oldest rider at 34 years of age, there’s a prevailing feeling that three riders – Zarco, Martin and Marini – are in contention for the two Honda slots, with Aprilia a possible consolation prize for whoever misses out.
Morbidelli, riding for mentor Valentino Rossi’s eponymous team, will almost certainly stay with Ducati if he’s on the MotoGP grid; Acosta, restless after a tumultuous off-season for KTM and scant results on track in his sophomore season in Miller’s old seat, has been linked to Morbidelli’s ride, but is contracted for this year and next with the Austrian manufacturer.
They’re conversations and set of names that don’t involve Miller; two that do are reports from Sky Italia that Bastianini, mired in a miserable first season with KTM after winning two Grands Prix with Ducati last year, is being considered by Pramac, while World Superbikes star Toprak Razgatlioglu’s name continues to be linked with both Honda and Yamaha, the Turkish rider’s never-ending flirtation with MotoGP continuing as he approaches his 30s.
Pramac campaigns a team in the Moto2 feeder series for this season, but its two riders – 24-year-old Italian Tony Arbolino (who was the Moto2 runner-up in 2023) and 20-year-old Spaniard Izan Guevara (the 2022 Moto3 champion) – are just 13th and 16th respectively in the intermediate-class standings after six rounds; while both may have MotoGP in their futures, 2026 looks to be too much, too soon in the final year of a regulation set they’d be unfamiliar with.
Miller’s teammate Miguel Oliveira, also 30, is also new to Yamaha this season, but the Portuguese rider has had a stop-start campaign interrupted by a crash in Argentina that caused him to miss the following three rounds with left shoulder ligament damage. Unlike Miller, Oliveira has a Yamaha contract for 2026 after coming across from Aprilia last year.
With alternative options either unavailable or unattractive, Miller’s incumbency, the looming end of a set of regulations he’s familiar with and his impact behind the scenes would make it a surprise if he’s not retained for 2026 at least, middling results so far this season notwithstanding.
Miller rolled his eyes at the persistent Razgatlioglu rumours when quizzed about them in France – “good luck to him, I don’t know … you’re asking the wrong person …”– while in an interview with German publication Speedweek, Yamaha’s managing director Paolo Pavesio said “we will draw conclusions about what we have and what we want by the summer break [after Czech GP on July 20].”
Pramac team boss Borsoi, speaking to Italian website Motosprint, made it clear that his preference is to maintain the status quo.
“There is no interest in opening the market, because we are doing a great job with the riders present today,” he said.
“Jack Miller is doing well, Miguel Oliveira has not had the opportunity to express performance, he will do it.
“It would be incorrect to talk about the market and changes. Jack and Miguel can continue with us next year. We are not here to see the terms of a podium result, we are helping Yamaha. I hope that in a couple of years we will have the chance to fight for the top positions.”
Miller knows that, for now, breaking his six-start run of outs has to be the priority for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone this weekend, a track where he has a podium (third in 2022) and three front-row starts on his CV.
“The speed and pace were good, and the bike is working well [so I’m] happy with where we’re at,” he said after his non-finish at Le Mans.
“We just need to put some points in the bag …”.