Miller 'stands up, lets the thing go nuts underneath me'

The bumpy low-grip Brno track was one of the main talking points during the opening day of the Czech Republic MotoGP.

While most MotoGP circuits are resurfaced every 7-8 years, Brno hasn't been changed since 2008.

"I don't know if it's from not being used for a long time or what, but the grip level was extremely low. It's getting a little better, but also the track is very very bumpy," said Pramac Ducati's Jack Miller.

"It's easier to explain where the bumps aren't," he added. "I mean we've been complaining about the bumps since I came here in MotoGP and they're just getting worse and worse year-by-year.

"You know the classic ones, into Turn 13 are the worst of course. There's some into Turn 5 as well. Quite bad. Turn 3 is quite bad. Turn 1 pretty much all the way around is very bad. And again, at Turn 10, the other long hairpin, is really bad as well.

"I know it's a massive track and it's a big undertaking to resurface a track like this, but it's such a magical track. I mean, it's one of the favourites of everybody so it's a shame to see it like this."

To make matters worse for Miller, he was also struggling with the rear shock setting: "Everything was sort of working together to create a perfect storm of major 'pumping' really," he said, referring to the back of his bike kicking up and down violently on corner exit.

"I'm coming out Turn 12, before Horsepower Hill, and I'm honestly having to stand up like I'm on a motocross bike to let the thing just go nuts underneath me.

"So we need to make some big steps in terms of acceleration and the way to put the grip to the ground.

"I was able to do the [10th fastest] lap time, but simply by closing my eyes, turning the bike in very early, then getting the bike out as straight as possible.

"We aren't too far away, but we need to keep working. You know, I don't have a bike that I'm 100% comfortable with yet. So we're going to work hard with the boys this afternoon and tonight to try and make it right for tomorrow."

While the rear suspension was struggling on corner exit, some damaged front suspension - a legacy of the Jerez race accident - gave Miller some scary moments at the start of FP1.

"We had a small issue this morning with the forks. I don't know if you guys saw the moment into the last corner, but I had that and then again on the exact same lap at Corner 8 as well. The suspension from the crash in Jerez had a little bit of damage," said the Australian.

"When Ohlins stripped it back again, they couldn't really see much, but then we were seeing some strange things on the data. It was just sort of getting stuck, halfway in-between the stroke and the middle of the stroke. They disassembled and reassembled, so we didn't get to try it again this afternoon. I'm half scared to get back on it! But we'll give it a go tomorrow and see where it goes.

"So we started behind the eight ball a little bit with the first two runs today basically being useless because the bike wasn't working correctly. Now we're just going through the motions to get the right set up.

"I don't think we're struggling so much. It's just normal things, coming back here with a new bike, to make the set-up right."

Miller also said he wasn't surprised to see another Yamaha one-two at the top of the Friday timesheets, with Fabio Quartararo quickest from team-mate Franco Morbidelli.

"The Yamahas have always been very fast here. I think these big long corners especially, when they're on their own they are able to really let the bike use the lines that they need to use to go fast," Miller explained. "And I mean the Yamahas are going well this year. So no, I don’t think it was any surprise.

"Fabio's leading the championship, he's doing a good job and he's bought it for the third race weekend in a row. So we've got to try and do our best to be as close if not in front of him for qualifying and I believe at this track during the course of a race the Ducati is maybe a little bit easier to try and make the overtakes and stuff like that…"

Miller will be the only Pramac Ducati in Sunday's race with team-mate Francesco Bagnaia suffering a knee injury at the end of Friday morning practice.