The tires at the center of everything
For the third consecutive year, MotoGP is giving us a memorable season finale, with a beautiful point-by-point battle for the title between Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia. The sporting clash between the two Ducatisti promises to end – as it did last year – in Valencia, in a very spectacular ‘all or nothing’ match for the category. However, there is an external element that is polluting not only this challenge but the credibility of the entire championship: le tires and the now eternal question of irregular front tire pressures.
Let’s be clear right away: the blame cannot be entirely attributed to Michelin, but rather to be divided equally between all the protagonists of the MotoGP. The exaggerated use of aerodynamics is distorting the way the competition is interpreted; the desire of the teams to look only at the present prevented the French tire manufacturer from carrying out sufficient tests on the new type of front tires – which therefore cannot be introduced next year – and the way in which the leaders of the category have decided to sanction infringements even minimum compared to the precepts imposed on tire pressure have a very strong impact on the way in which races are prepared and managed by teams and drivers.
The nightmare of pressure
On the distance of a GP the obligation is to keep the pressure above the prescribed minimum – set at 1.8 bar this season – for at least 60% of laps. In the Sprint an infringement costs 8 seconds of penalty; in the long race 16 seconds. An enormity. Yesterday, however, in the Indonesian GP, a new, even more problematic front opened up: that of consistency in decisions. Pedro Acosta, who came second and was investigated for a possible infringement of the pressure rule, was instead acquitted by surprise because the pressure of his front tire was “corrected at the start of the race and the loss of pressure found during the GP was shown to depend on damage to the rim“.
The Acosta case and beyond
Never before has there been tolerance of any kind regarding this topic. The rule cited in support of this non-penalization is that ofarticle 2.4.4.9.1 of the technical regulation of MotoGP: “Drivers or teams that use tires outside these operating parameters will be subject to penalties. The decision of the Technical Director, in consultation with the official tire supplier, will be final.”. Basically the technical director of MotoGP, Danny Aldridge, consulted with Michelin and agreed that the explanation provided by the GasGas team regarding the Acosta rubber issue was convincing and sufficient not to apply a sanction.
The Spanish Shark absolutely deserves his podium, but a precedent of this kind potentially opens the way to the total interpretability of the rule. Adding to the perplexity is the way in which MotoGP is managing the communication of these episodes: It took over two hours to clarify the Acosta case. Even more grotesque was the way they were treated the cases of Nakagami and Binderwho were also placed under investigation. Initially the two had been temporarily ‘acquitted’ and the final verdict on their case should have even arrived in Motegi. Then, about a quarter of a minute later, here’s the surprise: Binder ‘acquitted’ because “no infringements were found“; Nakagami penalized 16 seconds because “the infringement was confirmed“.
The bad tires
These elements alone would be enough to understand that there is something very serious to fix, but we must also add the cases, now not so sporadic, of ‘failed tyres’. The 2023 episodes of Bagnaia in Barcelona and Martin in Qatar have in some way set a precedent, but the words released by Bagnaia himself after the Misano-2 race cannot go unnoticed, when he reported that his rear tire had “took 15 turns to start workingAnd“. Regardless of who wins this championship, it would be really sad if such a balanced and spectacular battle for the spectators were to be resolved by tires that don’t work or by penalties – more or less interpretable – related to pressure. The toy could work very well, let’s not keep ruining it.
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