A discarded setup was the key to securing a Q2 spot for Jack Miller on Friday at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The start of the Malaysian Grand Prix did not go well for Jack Miller. In the opening session of the weekend, he suffered a mechanical issue with his first bike and then crashed on his second bike.

However, after getting no warning before his crash, Miller decided to make drastic changes to his setup and reverted to a setup he had discarded during pre-season testing.

This ended up being a positive move for the Australian as he ended the day in third place in the afternoon Practice session.

"We did not have luck on our side this morning; we had an issue with one of the bikes, then went out on the second one," Miller told MotoGP.com after Friday Practice.

"The positive for me from this morning's session is, I felt the lap before [his crash]. I was too early on the brakes, and I was getting back into my rhythm on the second bike. The hard front tyre is always a little bit critical edge, but there was no warning.

"Going in, everything felt under control; it was stopping the way I like, the deceleration was good. Then, as soon as the slide stopped, it overloaded the front, and there was nothing I could do about it. I was on my elbow before I even knew about it.

"We were able to reset, as it was very similar to a lot of the crashes we have been having as of late. We tried something different, which we went away from early doors during testing. In performance-wise, it is not the ultimate move, but in terms of feedback, it gives me more understanding, and makes it less critical at that point.

"Because, when you lose the front with that kind of lean angle, at that kind of speed, there is not much you can do except hope. So, it was good. This afternoon, I was able to get a little bit more feedback out of the front tyre.

"Especially, at the end, when I really had to push for a lap time at Turn Nine and Turn Four, they are really critical points around here. It was giving me good feedback at that point, so I knew when I had to pick it up a little bit. It was a blessing in disguise, maybe."

'There are some areas we can clean up...'

At the end of the afternoon Practice session, it started raining across the Petronas Sepang International Circuit, and all the riders attempting to access Q2 had to deal with the rain.

However, after the rain had stopped, Miller was able to secure his way into Q2 on Saturday.

He added, "Honestly, I was really nervous towards the end of that session. On my first time attack, I caught Alex Marquez in Sector One, then I had to reset and go for my second lap, went through Turn One and Two, then it was bucketing down.

"Thankfully, I was able to get back on track at the end, and [Fabio] di Giannantonio set a good marker for me, so I was able to chase him down."

When it comes to expectations, Miller has downplayed an exceptional result as he knows there are still major weaknesses to his Yamaha M1.

"We will take it one step at a time," he stated.

"Obviously, today it was very nice to go straight through to Q2. So, now we will try to focus on tomorrow and work on our pace. I feel like our race pace is already pretty good, but there are some areas we can clean up.

"The bike is struggling to accelerate, even compared to Diggia out of Turns Four, Nine, and Fourteen. We will try to get that transfer a little bit better, maybe try to use the rear tyre a little bit more. Then we will see what we can do tomorrow, come Qualifying."