MotoGP: Jack Miller spoke to Fox Sports News to discuss the upcoming MotoGP home event at Phillip Island.
This weekend’s United States Grand Prix will be the first run at the Circuit of the America s without Daniel Ricciardo on the grid.
The first is whether it can deliver a car Max Verstappen can wield to make himself a four-time world champion. He’s been closing at 6.5 points per round. Continuing at that strike rate over the next five grands prix will see the pair split by 19 points heading into the final round. McLaren likewise has been fast enough to have swept to victory in all four of the races since the break — arguably it’s had the race package to have won six of the last seven.
But there’s no question Norris has the car to at least give himself a fighting chance based on the last five qualifying sessions.He’s also finished the last four races an average of 1.5 places ahead of Verstappen, that extra half a place theoretically leaving an opening for an interfering driver to pry open the space between them and influence the scoring rate.The Australian has equalled Norris’s score over the last 12 rounds.
There’s still a quarter of this record-breaking 24-round season to run. That’s a lot of points still on offer. If Norris is to have any hope of claiming the title, he needs Red Bull Racing’s upgrade this weekend to flop. Mercedes has described a “substantial set” of upgrades for this weekend that it hopes will return it to the race-winning form it exhibited before the mid-season break.
The Italian team has been talking a good game about having solved the bouncing problem that’s rendered the SF-24 so uncompetitive for most of the season. A reminder: this year’s sprint format starts on Friday with an hour of practice followed by sprint qualifying in the afternoon. Saturday opens with the sprint race followed by qualifying for the grand prix. The main event is on Sunday as usual.It’s worth remembering only one of his three sprint wins this season came when his car was indisputably fastest — at the Chinese Grand Prix — and even then he had to win from fourth.
That was unquestionably Red Bull Racing early in the year, but it’s unquestionably not the reigning constructors champion now.With set-ups able to be modified on Saturday between the sprint and qualifying, rolling the dice on Friday is no longer as risky as it one was — as it was last year, for example, when both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified for excessive plank wear denoting a too-low ride height.
The Japanese ace has scored 22 of his team’s 34 points this season and is only two points behind Lance Stroll and Nico Hülkenberg on the drivers title table — though that says just as much about Stroll as it does about him and similarly strong Hülkenberg.
Jack Miller Undisputed Master Sprint Format Starts Scoring Rate Five-Time Winner Austin North America Drivers Title Austria Burning Questions George Russell Testing Program Western Asia Strategy Masterstroke Fox Sports News Chronic Balance Problem Sprint Format Lando Norris Development Rate Grand Prix Constructors Championship Europe Five-Race Cameo Substituting Race Pace Crosses Line Too-Low Ride Height Florida Brodier Kostecki Western Europe New Zealand Final Races Northern America Frontrunning Point Scorer Toyota Sergio Pérez Texas Football League Championship South-Eastern Asia Southern Europe Italy Sprint Rules Engine Penalty Time Offer Impressive Five-Race Cameo Pair Split Grands Prix Power Unit Allocation Singapore Race Package Mid-Season Break Sprint Racing Frontrunning Teams United States Of America Silver Lining Sprint Points Title Fight Upgrade Push Final Round Title Battles Points Heading Oceania Max Verstappen Netherlands Pure Pace Relative America Lowest Frontrunning Point Estimated Development Pace Charles Leclerc Carlos Sainz Championship Battle Sister Car Australia And New Zealand Points Scored Sprint Master Strike Rate Set-Ups Able Inferior Car Sprint Qualifying Excessive Plank Wear Miami In-Form Driver Azerbaijan Championship Standings Asia Title Lead PIT TALK Sprint Races Residual Problems
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