Five weeks have passed since Pecco Bagnaia first crossed the finish line in the Dutch Grand Prix and MotoGP has therefore experienced its longest summer break, at least in the modern era. Finally, however, everything is ready to start again, with Silverstone hosting the 12th round of the season, the British Grand Prix, which will kick off the final rush of nine rounds.
The British track is particularly demanding, given its nature of long, high-speed corners. However, it does not seem to represent a big unknown for Michelin, which comes to us on the strength of the feedback collected last year, as its manager Piero Taramasso explained to us.
“We don’t have any big news for Silverstone actually, because we carry the same specs that we proposed last year, so three symmetrical front and three asymmetrical rear: these are tires that had worked well in 2021. It must be said that the temperatures were not particularly high. , because we had never gone above 27-28 degrees on the asphalt, and that helped, “Taramasso told Motorsport.com.
What kind of solutions had they used in the race in 2021?
“The choice that went the most in the race was a pair of medium tires, but there are also those who used the soft ones. The two hard ones, on the other hand, have never been tested during the weekend, but we propose them again for this purpose. year in the event that the asphalt has become more aggressive or that it is hotter this time “.
Why have you not considered replacing the hard ones with a perhaps softer solution for this weekend?
“We think they can be a good option, also because this year the bikes have become more aggressive on the front, having more downforce, so we often see stiffer solutions on the front.”
Michelin tires
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Then there is a curious cabal, which has always seen competitions skipped in even years in recent times …
“Silverstone has a particular history: in 2018 the race could not be held due to torrential rain. Then in 2019 they redesigned the asphalt and this allowed them to beat every record, because the grip was really excellent. The temperatures, however, were quite high, over 44 degrees on the asphalt, so at the end of the race we could have noticed some blistering on the rear tires of several riders. In 2020 it was one of the races that were skipped due to the pandemic, while last year everything went smooth, even with the help from the good temperatures we found “.
Silverstone is a track with many corners: it is easy to assume that it is demanding especially for the rear tire …
“Yes, it is the one a little more stressed, as there are many long and fast corners. With the presence of a few aggressive braking, the front is less stressed. Indeed, it is very important to take care of it to ensure that it always remains in temperature on the left side, since the curves are mainly on the right. I think this is also why the soft and medium were the most popular last year. If the asphalt temperature were to exceed 30 degrees, however, I think that we could also see some tough spots this year on the more aggressive bikes on the front “.
In light of these considerations, do you think the riders will be able to attack from start to finish or that the rear will have to be managed a little?
“If the weather conditions are as good as it seems, I think you can push from start to finish, provided of course that you have made the right choice. If instead it gets hot and someone tries to risk the soft anyway, then it could also be called to manage a little at the beginning or at the end of the race “.
At Silverstone we have seen rain quite often in the past, but this weekend things could be different …
“This summer also England seems to be ‘dry’ like the rest of Europe, so no rain is expected for the weekend. For temperatures we are talking about lows around 15 degrees and maximums around 25 degrees. These would be optimal conditions for the tires, but also to make things easier for the teams and riders after a very long summer break. “
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