Michelin has dropped the bombshell news that its new MotoGP front tyre, designed to alleviate the issues plaguing the championship with tyre pressure penalties, will now not be ready for the 2025 season and instead will be delayed by at least a season.
The tyre is primarily designed to alleviate the issues that have plagued the championship with front tyre pressure in recent months, a problem which has led to a number of people being demoted in the results for running illegally low pressures as teams try to anticipate how much the internal pressure will fluctuate during races.
It was first tested in anger by the whole MotoGP grid at this month’s post-race test at Misano, with a number of riders (including reigning world champion Pecco Bagnaia) immediately declaring it a significant improvement.
“I love it!” Bagnaia replied when asked about the tyre by The Race, “and it’s something that I really needed.
“I’m a rider who uses the brakes a lot to enter the corner, and with this tyre this was super good. It’s more difficult to change direction, more heavy, but I like a lot the grip and the way you can push with the tyre.
“Behind someone with the new tyre, we’ll feel the problem with the front pressure less, and this is a good step. As soon as I started, it felt strange, but as soon as I understood it I loved it.
“It’s incredible. The biggest step I’ve tried in the last years.”
However, the Italian will now have to wait at least one more year before he gets the chance to use it in anger, Michelin two-wheeled motorsport boss Piero Taramasso confirmed ahead of the start of this weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Misano’s second race of the season.
“We needed some time after the Misano test to analyse all the data,” the engineer explained, “and the final conclusion is that the tyre will not be introduced in 2025. This was the initial plan, but now we need to delay the initial introduction.
“The reason is simple. It’s not enough to have one test. One test isn’t enough to introduce something new. We need to confirm it in different tracks and different conditions.
“It’s very sensitive, the feeling, and riders need more data to be sure that when we introduce it it’ll be a good tyre with good performance for all the riders and manufacturers. Once you introduce it you cannot go back.”
That lack of data, however, comes as a direct result of decisions made by Michelin, series organisers Dorna, and MotoGP’s teams and manufacturers.
It has been suggested multiple times that a mandatory test was going to be inserted into the 2024 calendar to ensure that ample data could be gathered - but, according to Taramaasso, that idea was rejected thanks to calendar congestion.
“It was planned to use it in Mugello,” he said, “but at the Monday test it was raining. We delayed it, and now it’s too late.
“Dorna are every time open, and have said that if we want to have dedicated tests then we can. We tried this year, but the answer from teams is that the calendar is too busy.
“That’s why we decided to make it mandatory in Misano, and probably we will do the same at Valencia and Sepang, to create a slot where it is mandatory.
“We did half an hour [at Misano] and maybe we will do one hour at Valencia. We can do maybe one hour every day.”
The Race Says
This is terrible news for MotoGP, because it essentially means that we’re now set for at least one more season of rather boring and processional races.
Permanent concerns around front tyre pressures mean that right now in MotoGP, all overtaking must essentially be performed in the opening few laps - and this was the tyre set to alleviate that issue and get back to closer and more competitive racing.
Instead, the teams (with the support of series bosses Dorna) have chosen short term gain at the expense of the entertainment value of the sport.
Adamant that tests are for testing only what they want, they’ve repeatedly rejected the chance to help Michelin gather data - and the end result is that they’ve harmed the show for another season.
