The F1 solution to Michelin’s avoidable MotoGP tyre testing problems

MotoGP has come in for a bit of flak over the last couple of months for producing races that won’t be featuring in anyone’s best-of lists anytime soon.

For 2025, a new front tyre from Michelin with a different construction and profile to the current one in use was going to be introduced in a bid to help boost the racing show. The new tyre is designed to combat the loads placed on it by the vast amount of downforce being generated on the front end of bikes now, while also not being as badly affected by turbulent air and heat.

The advent of the much-maligned tyre pressure regulations midway through the 2023 campaign has been a major factor in the racing spectacle suffering.

The 2025 tyre was tested on Monday after the San Marino GP by the whole grid and was generally met with a positive response. Reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia was the most vocal in his support for the tyre, saying: “I love it, because it’s something I’ve been needing”.

But Michelin have served up some bad news for Bagnaia and the rest of the grid on Friday at the Emilia Romagna GP, as it has elected to delay the introduction of the new front tyre until at least 2026.

Michelin’s motorsport boss Piero Taramasso says the tyre manufacturer needed more time to analyse data from the test, with it not having much room to safely finalise the new front ahead of next year.

While this is certainly a better move than putting a tyre on track that is potentially dangerous, Michelin’s 2025 decision was entirely avoidable.

Plans for an official tyre test involving the full MotoGP grid had been in the works for 2024, but came to nothing. It seems the teams couldn’t bring themselves to agree on this due to the congested 2024 calendar.

The 2025 front was due to be tried at the post-Italian GP test at Mugello. But poor weather meant it never touched the asphalt.

Despite lacking data on the tyre, though, it was only mandatory for the 2025 prototype front to be used for only a very small portion of the Misano test - 30 minutes, in fact. Though there was a bit of dampness on the circuit for the start of that test, it ran from 9am until 5pm. Quite why one of the two sessions that Monday wasn’t reserved fully for 2025 tyre testing seems like a baffling oversight.

The F1 solution

If calendar congestion is such a problem, surely MotoGP must now look into perhaps extending practice sessions on Fridays to accommodate tyre testing?

There is a precedent for MotoGP extending practice time to allow for extra running. In 2017, FP1 and FP2 were extended from 45 to 55 minutes at the German Grand Prix in order for the riders to have more time testing the new asphalt that had been laid ahead of that year’s event.

While riders may not like having to dedicate set-up time for something it won’t be using that weekend, adding time to practice sessions at select venues to allow Michelin to try new tyres at least gets around the calendar problem for staging a dedicated test. In other words: short-term pain for long-term gain.

Formula 1 often trials development tyres during Friday practice sessions to help Pirelli gather data for its future programme. At the 2021 Austrian GP, for example, all drivers had to complete a minimum of 12 laps on a new rear tyre construction that would be introduced at the following British GP.

In 2022, at the American and Mexican GPs, FP2 was extended from 60 to 90 minutes in order for Pirelli to carry out tyre testings. Originally, it had planned to do this at the Japanese and American GPs, with Mexico as a fallback option if either was impacted by rain. Because Friday of that year’s Japanese GP was hit by poor weather, that contingency was activated.

F1 has a pretty packed calendar, with 24 rounds crammed in from the end of February to the beginning of December this year. Despite this, Pirelli has conducted several two-day tyre tests following races this year with teams using contemporary cars and current drivers. To avoid any unfairness, the teams have to use the set-up they ran in that grand prix.

MotoGP is in a relatively luxurious position compared to F1 in that each of a team’s riders has two bikes at their disposal. If muddying set-ups on a race weekend is a fear, the mandate that tyre testing in an extended session be done on #2 bikes.

Or perhaps Dorna has to take the decision out of the teams’ hands altogether and pencil in tests into the calendar where appropriate. After all, it’s in the organiser’s best interest for the 2025 front tyre to be introduced as soon as possible if it’s going to improve the show.

Michelin does have a hard job on its hands developing tyres for MotoGP, as it doesn’t have access to a grand prix bike. It uses a modified Superbike, with the MotoGP teams doing the next step of data acquisition during testing days.

The delay of the 2025 front tyre seems like, in part, it’s down to Michelin having come up against a brick wall in getting the teams to agree on organising a dedicated tyre test.

But there are clear avenues to explore to ensure this doesn’t happen again in future…