Jack Miller says he is not worried about “bullshit” questions about his MotoGP future as three riders face off for one factory Ducati seat for 2023.
Francesco Bagnaia has already been re-signed until the end of 2024, but the real intrigue continues to be who he will share the Ducati Lenovo Team garage with next year.
Miller is the incumbent, but is under pressure from Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martin and new Gresini Racing rider Enea Bastianini.
The latter two impressed as rookies last year, with Martin being talked of by Ducati Corse general manager Gigi Dall’Igna as a future factory rider after his win at the Red Bull Ring, and both have made their ambitions clear.
Miller, however, says he is yet again being written off too early.
“I see my situation the same as it is every year,” said the Queenslander ahead of this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix.
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“Every year around this time, every journalist in the world starts to write shit about me, how I’m going to lose my job, how I’m done, writing me off, so it’s just the same as it ever was.
“There’s nothing I can do, no control I have over that.
“So, all I can do is the best job I can on track and if I keep my job, I keep my job; if I don’t, I don’t.
“It’s just the same bullshit that I have to deal with every year.
“I don’t understand why I have to deal with it and others don’t, but it’s okay. I’ll accept that, continue on.”
Miller won two races last year, but was infamously inconsistent.
He ended up fourth in the championship but was a full 71 points behind Bagnaia, who finished runner-up to Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo.
Before those results were sealed, factory team manager Davide Tardozzi said during the Aragon Grand Prix weekend last September that Miller “must” contend for the title in future after an “up and down” campaign.
Asked by Speedcafe.com what Miller needed in order to be more consistent, Ducati sporting director Paolo Ciabatti said late last year that it was looking to help him with tyre management.
However, Ciabatti also moved to state that “nobody has doubts about Jack’s talent.”
Speaking on Italian television after his contract announcement, Bagnaia expressed support for his current team-mate, saying #43 “deserves” to be renewed.
Practice for Round 1 of at the Lusail International Circuit starts tonight (AEDT).
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