MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

Michelin will not be introducing a new front tire at for the 2025 season. At a breakfast organized for the media at Misano on Friday morning, Michelin's head of two-wheeled motorsport, Piero Taramasso explained that although the feedback from the tire test at Misano had been positive, the tire still needed work to be ready.

Taramasso later explained to Simon Crafar on the MotoGP.com live feed some of the background to the test. The test had been good, and the comments of all of the riders had been the same. "For example, they said, yeah, the tire has more grip, we feel more contact patch, but the bike is heavy," Taramasso told Crafar. "They said the tire, we feel a good potential, we can push, but it moves too much. The movement is good, because it gives feedback, but it moves too much when you try to brake hard." Some riders liked the new front, others liked it less, and others were caught in between.

After the test, Michelin had analyzed all of the data collected, and decided to push back introduction of the tire from 2025 to 2026. "We need the time, based on the comments we want to make a few changes to the tire, minor changes because the base is very good, then test in Valencia, test in Sepang, Thailand, and then fix the model. Once the model is fixed, bring this model to all the official tests during 2025, because riders need to ride with this new tire, they need to setup the bike. Also the manufacturers need to understand how it works."

Radical new direction

The new front is completely different to the current front tire, in almost every respect. "It's a different industrial process, different material, different casing, different profile," Taramasso said. It is produced using the extremely specialized automated process introduced this year for Michelin's rear tires, in which layers of rubber are laid down very precisely and in very precise points in the tire, making them far more consistent and allowing Michelin to use a lot less material in a better tire.

"This tire is lighter, it's almost 1kg less compared to the standard one, it's 20% less," Taramasso explained. "It's lighter, it's new material, when you brake you squash more the tire, you get a bigger contact patch, that's why the turning feels heavy, but the grip is better. So it's quite different."

Riders would need more time to understand the tire before it could be adopted, Taramasso explained. "Probably they have to adapt also the riding style. But riders like Pecco, Jorge, Marc, Jack, Luca, they liked it a lot. Others said no, we need more time to learn. So we need to find a model that works well for all riding styles on the bike, that's why we need more testing."

More delay

Pushing the introduction of the front tire back to 2026 is yet another delay. Initially, the plan was to introduce a new tire for 2021, after testing during the 2020 season. The Covid-19 pandemic scuppered that plan, with all testing canceled after Sepang. Limited testing in 2021 meant more delays, with a more normal schedule only restarting in 2022.

But by then, MotoGP bikes had undergone a radical change. The increased use of aero, and the influence of the ride-height devices meant the load on the front tire had increased massively. Michelin's original plans had to be scrapped, and they had to start the design process again. But more aero and increased use of ride-height devices in the last couple of years meant they were chasing a moving target.

The calendar didn't help either. With more racing, there was less time left for testing. To address this, Dorna and Michelin added a test after the Mugello round of MotoGP, but here the weather wrecked their plans. The day started fully wet, with rain showers never allowing the track to dry fully and generate conditions which would provide useful feedback. Only 16 riders lapped, and most did fewer than 20 laps. On a normal test day, they would expect to do four or five times as many.

So the only data Michelin have with most of the MotoGP riders is the 30 minutes spent at the Misano test ten days ago. The test riders have been helping develop the tire, and the concessions have meant that riders such as Luca Marini have been able to see how the tire has changed over the year. "It's improved a lot since the beginning of the season," Marini told us. "At the beginning it was a complete disaster, but not dangerous. But now it's becoming also performing. It's a good tire now, they just need to fix a couple of details, but they already told me they know how to improve the tire."

The blame game

Are Michelin to blame for the late introduction of their front tire? That is the easy response, but the wrong one. The blame lies mostly elsewhere. To an extent with Dorna, but mostly with the teams and manufacturers.

At the heart of the matter lies testing. Since the global financial crisis, Dorna has wanted to limit the number of official tests MotoGP do, to help manage costs. The factories bridle at the restrictions - and this is one reason that the role of test teams and test riders has become so important - but the satellite teams are happy. After all, satellite teams have only costs and no income from testing (unlike races) and any testing of new parts is dictated by the needs of the factories.

The ever-expanding calendar is to blame here was well. In a season of 18 rounds, there is space to insert one-day tests and more pre- and post-season testing. With 20 or more rounds, there simply isn't the time, and the pressure on team staff becomes immense. Putting together a calendar is hard enough, matching affordable and feasible logistics to available slots at circuits. Trying to find additional days for testing is even more challenging.

How does that help me?

Even when tests happen, that doesn't mean that tires Michelin bring get tested as well. The teams and factories have a lot of their own items to test and no desire or incentive to test tires as well. Testing a new front for Michelin will not give a particular factory an advantage, the test benefits everyone.

Factories would rather spend time trying a new swingarm, chassis, engine configuration, electronics setup, aero package. All of these might make the difference against their rivals in the coming races. Any time spent testing tires is time wasted trying to gain an advantage over the competition.

The solution would be to organize a test with the sole purpose of testing Michelin's new front. But, Taramasso told journalists this morning, even though Dorna was willing to help organize such tests, the teams all rejected the proposal. The calendar was too busy, they told Michelin.

Balance of power

Can Dorna not force the teams and factories to test? This fundamentally misunderstands the power relationships within MotoGP. Although Dorna is the series promoter, and has an awful lot to say about the championship, they cannot simply impose their will on the factories. If they could, then ride-height devices would have been banned three years ago, and aerodynamics severely restricted.

MotoGP as a series exists as a result of a delicate balance between three parties: Dorna, as series promoter; the MSMA, representing the manufacturers; and IRTA representing the teams. (The FIM is the fourth part of MotoGP's organizing structure, but in practice they are a junior partner that does not interfere.)

In the triangular relationship between IRTA, Dorna, and the MSMA, IRTA holds the weakest hand. There is no racing without the teams, but they are dependent to a large extent on both the manufacturers and Dorna.

Tug of war

The real balance of power is between the factories and Dorna. Dorna need the factories to go racing - without manufacturers, the glamour of the MotoGP bikes would be much diminished, though the CRT period after 2011 showed that Dorna was willing to take that step. And the price Dorna pay for having the factories support them is that the MSMA has control of the technical regulations.

So the simple fact of the matter is that Dorna is not in a position to force the teams and factories to attend a special tire test. They can make requests, and they can haggle and argue, but they have no way of forcing things through. The financial support they provide to the factories and the teams is welcome, but not sufficient to give them the power to control them.

Fans of multiple motorsports wonder why it is possible for the FIA to force F1 teams to test, but not possible for Dorna to control MotoGP in the same way. The reasons for that are twofold. Firstly, and most importantly, F1 generates approximately six times the revenue that MotoGP does, approximately $3.2 billion to $540 million. F1 teams receive just under $250 million from the series, or half Dorna's total revenue. This gives the FIA a lot more leverage.

Secondly, the way the two series are run is vastly different. The FIA is in a position to control the rules for F1, as the input of individual manufacturers is far less. With the exception of Ferrari, F1 teams are mostly independent racing teams working with manufacturers. In MotoGP, Dorna has to coax and persuade manufacturers to develop racing bikes and supply them to the teams at an affordable price. That means making compromises, and taking no for an answer when asking for an extra tire test.

The waiting game

And so MotoGP is stuck with Michelin's current front tire for another year, and the possibility of tire pressure infractions. In the second year of tire pressure rules, the teams have become much better at managing pressures, and Michelin's new technology fronts make them a little more resistant to high temperatures.

Unfortunately, one of the tactics adopted by teams and riders to manage front tire pressures is to try not to follow riders too closely. That makes overtaking extremely difficult, and leaves riders stuck riding in single file to the line. Add in ride-height devices shortening braking distances, leaving less room on corner entry to pass, and large aerodynamic packages creating massive wakes which make hitting braking markers very difficult when you pop out of the slipstream, and racing is likely to trend toward the processional.

The arrival of Michelin's new front in 2026 will be welcome. But MotoGP will only really get its mojo back once ride-height devices are banned and aerodynamics limited when the new regulations take effect in 2027.

Below is a short video released by Michelin explaining their decision to postpone the introduction of the new front tire.

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