MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

Being the official tire supplier to MotoGP has a lot of benefits. The data gathered from 300 bhp bikes which can reach over 60° of lean angle and brake at well over 1.5G is an invaluable resource for Michelin's R&D department, and technologies developed in MotoGP go directly into the French manufacturer's consumer tires.

But it also means being the first port of call when riders feel the need to point the finger of blame. With factories imposing harsh penalties on riders for criticizing their bikes, it is often cheaper and much easier to blame the tires. Whether justly or not.

That was also the case at the Sepang test, where riders were complaining about the limited number of tires they had at their disposal. "We had to test many things and we didn’t have many tires for this test so basically today we had to use the tires that we didn’t really want and it was not easy," said Fabio Quartararo on the first day of the test, his complaints typical of the riders.

Enough tires?

During one of the rain delays of the Sepang Test, I asked Piero Taramasso, Michelin's manager of two-wheeled motorsport about this. Did riders only have ten sets of slick tires for the test? "Yes, this is regulation," Taramasso told me. "It's always been the same since 10 years or more. So no change compared to previous seasons."

Ten sets of tires should be more than enough for a test, Taramasso said. "They can use 10 sets of slick tires, so with 10 sets of slick tires it means 260 laps. So they can do 260 laps in three days. That's 80 laps per day."

That is a lot of laps to be doing in the sweltering heat of Sepang. The busiest rider, Maverick Viñales, only completed 158 laps over the three days, with Quartararo a close second on 155. "So this is quite a lot," Taramasso said. "And also, if some riders want to stick only to one specification, because on the rear they have two specifications, the quantities are 7 and 7. Also if they want to stick with the medium or the soft, with 7 sets of soft they can do 180 laps. So it's still 60 laps a day, it's still a lot. So this is what we have here."

Private testing reduction

The overall allocation of tires for testing has been reduced, from 240 to 200 tires. That didn't affect the Sepang test, however, as this allocation is meant for factory test riders at the private testing they do. "All the official tests, the tires are one story, and then there is another story about the quantity for private tests. This is for the test rider only. So it was reduced from 240 to 200 this season," Taramasso explained.

The idea is to restrict the amount of private testing the manufacturers can do. Tires are such a crucial component of how a bike behaves and needs to be designed, there is very little point in trying to use alternatives for anything beyond durability testing. "This is the easy way to do it, and it works. Also for sustainability, this is a good way to do it."

Despite the reduction in tire quantity, Taramasso expected the impact to be limited. "Actually we checked in the past, and they never used the full quantity. Then with Dorna and IRTA we decided to reduce, because first thing we have to build the tires and then they don't use them. Also to reduce costs. And also to control a little bit the development because if somebody spends a lot of money on development, it can make a big gap. Then for the show, it's not good."

Two rear tires instead of three

One change that will affect the full time MotoGP riders is the change in rear tire allocation. In 2023, the riders will have the choice of only two different rears, rather than three as in previous seasons. "Front, no change, so three specifications. We reduced the rear specifications from three to two specifications, but the quantity is still the same," Taramasso explained. "So they will get 12 tires, and they can use all the tires. And the split will be 7 tires for the softer spec, and 5 tires for the harder one."

This change has been made in part due to the introduction of sprint races in 2023. "This goes in line with the sprint race. Because they will probably use the softest specification for the sprint race, also for qualifying, and also for the time attack. So that's why the quantity is a little bit bigger. And for sure I think it will work well, also for the preheated tires, because they get 12, they can use all the allocation, so there will be no preheated tires left. So everything is going in the right way for this, in the right way for the sprint race, for the new sporting protocol."

The advent of sprint races won't have a major impact on how Michelin works each weekend, Taramasso believes. "It's not complicated. Actually, we kept the same specification as last season. And we didn't make any special tires for the sprint race. We want tires that are raceable for the full race distance. We don't want one tire just for the Saturday and one tire just for the Sunday. So it was not complicated and for us I think it will be good things. One more race, more visibility, more people at the track, more people watching on TV. And the very good news for us is more time in FP2. Because there, you can really put a new tire, you can do many many laps in a row to evaluate the tire consumption and the tire degradation and the drop of the tires."

A newish front...

The one thing at the front of everyone's minds is the behavior of the front tire. Rising temperatures and pressures have been an issue for the past few years, and with the minimum tire pressure being made mandatory and subject to penalties for this season, there are concerns that this will affect the races. And it leaves the entire MotoGP field hoping to see Michelin's new, long-awaited front tire make an entrance.

Michelin are doing something which may help alleviate the issue a little, but the completely new tire will be some time. "For this season we have a new compound, we already tested last season once in Misano with good results," Taramasso said. "Now we have it here also. So some riders already tested today. It's a new compound in the range medium-hard. And what we are looking for is the grip from a medium compound and the stability from the hard compound, so we are trying to mix these two. This tire will also be tested at the Portimão test and will be introduced this season."

… and a new front

The redesigned new front is still a couple of years off, however, despite Michelin working on it since before the 2020 season. "We started to work since just before the Covid situation, and then we had to stop because of Covid," Taramasso explained. "So we have restarted work on that. The bikes have changed a little bit, and we will make some changes. So the base is the one from two years ago. Different profile, different casing, a little bit bigger overall. We are looking for more stability, bigger contact patch, and that tire can be used at lower pressure. So lower compared to today."

The objective is to make it a little less sensitive to increasing pressures. "This is one thing, but now we need to change the carcass, the casing, the material inside. The first prototype of this tire will be ready in the middle of 2023. So we will give to the MotoGP test riders first to test, and then the goal is to give it to the official riders by the end of this season or the beginning of 2024, and then they can test during all of 2024 and if the results are good, it will be introduced in 2025."

Taramasso acknowledged that 2025 is a long time to wait for a new front tire. "It seems a long time – it is a long time, but to validate a front tire, we also want to test in different tracks, different weather conditions, cold conditions, hot conditions. So we need a full season to do that."

Why 1.9 bar in the front?

Finally, I asked a question which I felt had never been adequately explained. Everyone knew that there was a minimum tire pressure, and that Michelin tried to enforce it, but I had never heard a good explanation for exactly why that was. So I asked why it was a bad thing for teams to be running less than 1.9 bar in the front tire.

"This is bad because if you don't put enough air in the tire, it's a mechanical thing. So the construction is flexing, and when it flexes, it can make it rupture," Taramasso explained. "It's a risk of failure. So you can damage the carcass. If you lose rubber and the carcass stays in one piece, this is not very very bad. The problem is that you make a mechanical cut and the carcass can open."

The tire could explode, or deflate explosively. "This is really a safety issue. So this is why we are very very serious about this topic. So you cannot play with that. It's simple: less air, more flexing, more movement, and then you can break the carcass. It can handle a few laps with lower pressure. But not 25 laps." Taramasso said.