Miller is finally on the current spec GP19 bike, and as
@Scotty675 says is finally maturing so has potential for a good few podiums this season.
Biggest surprise for me has been the lackluster performance of Petrucci. For the amount of competitive Ducati riders on the grid, he's not looking very impressive as the factory number two rider. People have been shit-canning Lorenzo (not without reason), but at least his poor performance is due to changing to a totally different bike and missing most of off-season testing. Petrucci's on a very familiar bike so I expected more - I am biased though as I hoped that ride would go to Miller but his consistency was shithouse last year.
Seems Marquez is back in another league now the Hondas are matching Ducati's straight-line power. He was at fault but also a little unlucky at COTA. It was interesting how chattery the engine note is during 1st gear deceleration on the Hondas though. It sounds like it has a very tall 1st gear, to help provide tight gear spacing and strong acceleration in the rest of the gears, but might be a bit of jumpy bugger at low RPM in first.
On another note - I've been impressed by the Petronas Yamaha rookies. They've got a bit of youthful exuberance going for them but seem to have the talent to back it up, so it will interesting to see how they develop over the next couple of years. Hard to believe Vinales still has a contract when he's getting out-performed by a 40yo and two rookies.
Was also pleased Rossi had the mental strength to back off on the final lap, I thought he was going into the gravel for sure after the prior lap.
Happy to see Rins take the victory too - he does amazingly well on a bike that's a bit down on power and hopefully this will give him the confidence to battling for more podiums and wins in future.