MotoGP is living through its most competitive era ever, with all six manufacturers on the grid now race winner and all six scoring podiums in the first five races of 2022.
From the first five races, four riders on four different bikes have won, while 10 different riders taking to the other steps of the podium.
Such is the spectacular nature of modern-day MotoGP, Red Bull Formula 1 boss Christian Horner said earlier this month that he felt the Australian GP would produce action akin to that of the two-wheeled series.
Coming into this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, six riders are within 23 points of championship leader Fabio Quartararo – who in turn is equal on points with Alex Rins.
Miller, who is 38 points adrift in ninth after colliding with Joan Mir last week in Portugal, says this inconsistent form is to be expected for the rest of the season – but agreed when asked if this is adding more pressure on riders in the championship battle.
“Definitely. The fact that [Enea] Bastianini fell last weekend just shook things up again,” he began.
“I thought he was leaping out to be the favourite because he’s generally really, really consistent.
“But having that fall last weekend has just shaken things up more and put a lot more guys in really close area.
“The points are all very, very close still considering how many winners we’ve had.
“So, it’s just more of that to expect from the rest of the season I feel. For sure, it’s always easy to make mistakes when you’re running around like for example at Portimao in 1m39s when you’ve had 10 minutes of track time in the dry.
“You’re always going to be under pressure at the times and the speed MotoGP is at, at the moment.
“You’re essentially on a qualifying lap every single lap of the race and you can’t make a mistake.
“So, you’re feeling pressure, and everyone is under the same sort of scrutiny and the bikes are that competitive.
“It’s so hard to pass now, and also at Portimao it’s such a hard track to pass on. It's the same in Argentina, same in Texas – it’s not easy to make passes at the moment.
“So, making a mistake or costing yourself a couple of positions can really have a big input on the outcome of the race because making those positions back is not how it used to be.”
The 2020 world champion Mir also noted that over the past few years the margin for error has narrowed for riders, with mistakes now being punished harder.
“It’s true that in the last years, every time you can do less mistakes,” the Suzuki rider stated.
“Everything is tighter and it’s not great to make mistakes, because at the end of the season you can lose a lot of points.
“We have to find that consistency [to be] on the podium, which I think is the next step we have to do.
“In Portimao we had the opportunity, so let’s see here if we can confirm that.”
