Yamaha Struggles at Austrian GP as Grip, Tire Wear Sink Weekend
NXTbets Pro | Published On: September 22, 2026
Yamaha’s weekend
Yamaha had one of its worst MotoGP weekends of the season at the Austrian Grand Prix, and the result left all four riders shocked and embarrassed. Neither the factory team nor Pramac scored points, and the problems ran through the entire Yamaha lineup. The M1 bikes struggled at the Red Bull Ring from the start because of poor grip, heavy wheelspin on acceleration, electronics issues and severe rear tire wear on Michelin’s reinforced casing. That combination turned every lap into a fight for control rather than a push for position. Yamaha could not find traction in the places that mattered most, and the race exposed how quickly the package fell off under pressure. The team left Austria with little to show for the weekend and a long list of issues that showed up in the same race. The lack of points from both the factory effort and Pramac underscored how widespread the trouble was. It was not one rider having a bad day or one bike going off the pace. The whole group missed the mark at the same time, and the final results reflected that collapse.
Miller’s run
Miller’s race turned into a long slide after a promising opening phase gave way to severe tire drop-off in the closing laps. He said his rear Michelin tire degraded heavily late in the race and that he could not use full throttle on Spielberg’s straights. His pace dropped from the mid-to-high 1m32s to 1:40.225 on the final lap, a steep fall that showed how badly the bike and tire had given way. By about lap 13 or 14, Miller said he was struggling just to keep the bike from spinning in a straight line. That kind of movement took away any chance of mounting a late charge or protecting position. He said he never considered retiring from the race, even as the problems piled up. The frustration came through in his assessment of the performance, which he called “embarrassing.” The word fit the day Yamaha had at the Red Bull Ring. Miller was forced to manage the bike rather than race it, and the closing laps made the scale of the problem clear. He finished 21st and last, which matched the way the race had unraveled once the rear tire faded and the grip disappeared. There was no late recovery and no hidden speed to unlock. The only thing left was to bring the bike home and absorb the damage from a race that kept getting worse.
Quartararo leads Yamaha
Fabio Quartararo was Yamaha’s best finisher in 17th, but the result still showed how far the team had fallen over the course of the Austrian Grand Prix. Quartararo had started from ninth in qualifying, which made his drop through the field a clear sign that Yamaha’s race pace did not match its one-lap speed. Franco Morbidelli finished 18th, Alex Rins finished 19th and Toprak Razgatlioglu finished 20th, leaving Yamaha riders scattered across the bottom of the order. With Miller in 21st and last, Yamaha riders occupied four of the last five finishing places. That was the clearest summary of the team’s day. The positions showed how little margin the riders had once the race settled into long runs and the tire wear took hold. Quartararo’s result stood out only because it was the best among the group, not because it was competitive with the leaders. Morbidelli, Rins and Razgatlioglu all finished behind him, and none of them could move far enough up the order to change the picture. The numbers told the story plainly. Yamaha arrived with four riders and left with four low finishes, no points and a weekend defined by grip problems, wheelspin and tire wear.
