MotoGP is experiencing an extremely intense season finale. The Malaysian Grand Prix has just been archived and it is already time to turn our attention to that of Qatar. In the most recent era, the Lusail International Circuit has always hosted the opening race, but this year it was moved to the penultimate round to make possible the modernization works on the facility required by Formula 1.
Works which also led to the laying of a new asphalt surface, which created several headaches during the four-wheel Circus race, in which a double pit stop had been imposed to avoid problems linked to degradation, but also to pyramidal curbs that caused microfractures on Pirelli tires. A big unknown for the Michelin men, who however think they have implemented all the countermeasures to experience a weekend without too many worries, as manager Piero Taramasso explained to us.
“Qatar will be a good challenge because, even if we know the track very well, there is a new asphalt which seems to be very aggressive. Or in any case more aggressive than what was there before. Furthermore, there is always the unknown of the sand that is brought to the track by the wind, making the surface even more abrasive. Without forgetting that we are also talking about a race that takes place at night”, Taramasso told Motorsport.com.
How did Michelin react to this situation?
“To ‘cover’ ourselves, we will bring an extra specification for the front and an extra specification for the rear, as we always do in cases where we have to deal with new asphalt without having had the opportunity to do a test. After what we saw in the F1 GP, it’s true that there is a bit of nervousness, but we can only go to Lusail and see what the situation is.”
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Piero Taramasso, Michelin
Given these factors, what kind of choices did you make for the weekend?
“As for the front, we will bring four symmetrical tyres. In terms of compounds, three are the same ones that we brought in 2022. The novelty is the medium, which together with the soft could be used for the race, when darkness falls on Lusail. As regards the two hard compounds, however, they are useful solutions for daytime shifts, when it is hotter. Moving on to the rear, there are the soft and medium which are asymmetrical, while the hard specification, which it’s the one we bring as a back-up, it’s symmetrical. In this case, the soft is the same as last year, but we’ve modified the medium, trying to make the left side a little more performing.”
What kind of choices do you think we’ll see at the rear over the course of the weekend?
“Last year 11 riders raced with the soft and 13 instead used the medium. With the change we made, however, I believe that the medium could be the majority choice this year for the long race. Then there’s the fact that can fit the soft for the Sprint, given that last year half of the grid used it in the long race”.
This year we go racing in Qatar at a very different time of the year, in November, while we usually go in March. Could anything change from a climate point of view?
“I looked at the temperature forecasts and I have to say that they are quite similar. Maybe there could be a couple of degrees less, so the conditions shouldn’t be too different. In terms of humidity, however, we’ll find out when we get there.”
Usually, since it is a night in the desert, the temperature tends to drop during the race in Qatar. Do you think this could have an impact on the much discussed management of blood pressure values? It could be something very important, given that both title contenders have already played for the warning wildcard and are now at risk of penalties…
“I don’t think so. For me, the track on which it’s most difficult to find the right compromise is Phillip Island, because you start with high pressures and they even lower during the race. In Qatar, when the race starts, there are usually between 22 and 24 degrees on the asphalt. Then the temperature can be lowered by a couple of degrees, but this is not enough to influence the pressures”.
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