30 / 04- 02 / 05
Round up of the events for this week ’ s Round 4 of MotoGP TM
Miller ‘ in the trenches ’
“ We ’ re in the trenches ,” was Miller ’ s assessment of his situation after another disappointing result . The weekend had become a challenge after he went under the knife in Barcelona ten days before Portimao – to correct the arm pump issues he suffered in his right arm . He had also given social media a break . “ Reading 1000 negative comments isn ’ t going to do my mental well-being any good ,” he said on Thursday . “ It ’ s better to turn that crap off .”
Yet he showed few signs of the physical toll on Saturday when he qualified fourth . A crash at turn three blew any chance of a solid result . “ Aleix braked semi-early . I just misread the thing and I had to use a little extra pressure and tucked it . Completely my fault , a really silly mistake .”
From three rounds he had realistic ambitions of winning before the season , a crash means the 26-year old has amassed just 14 points from a possible 75 . “ We ’ re in the trenches at the minute . I ’ m trying to dig my way out . We ’ ve got the pace . We ’ ve got the speed . I ’ ve just got to put it all together ,” he said .
Quartararo 2.0
Fabio Quartararo was irresistible on the Algarve , one of the scenes of his late season meltdown five months before . He showed blinding speed throughout free practice and was flawless on Sunday . What ’ s more , there was a swagger here . On Saturday evening , just hours after a controversial pole , he was utterly convinced the result was only going one way . Alex Rins went above and beyond to stick with him . Yet not once did the Frenchman flinch . He simply lowered his pace until his assailant cracked .
The secret to the Frenchman ’ s early speed ? Clear improvements to Yamaha ’ s 2021 M1 . “ I feel better with the new chassis . I have a little bit more feedback that actually is one thing that is making me going faster . If I don ’ t feel the front , I ’ m lost . Now I have a really great feeling on the front . Also to make overtakes was good .”
At 21-years of age , he was also prone to outbursts of emotion last year . He enlisted the help of a sports psychologist over the off-season to maintain calm . “ Mentally I feel stronger ,” he said . “ Last year after Aragon that we lose more or less the opportunity to fight until the end with Joan for the championship , I was even not frustrated . When the bike was going not so great I was feeling always negative and I totally changed . Mentally during the pre-season I worked pretty well with my psychologist . I feel like all the exercise he gave to me was good and keeping me calm .”
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