Is MotoGP’s tyre pressure rule making it look stupid?

In this week’s Crash.net MotoGP podcast, the tyre pressure rule which almost denied Pedro Acosta a podium at the Indonesian Grand Prix is a main topic of discussion.

The unpopular regulation introduced in 2023 was the subject of intense scrutiny again last Sunday at the Indonesian GP after three riders - Acosta, Brad Binder and Takaaki Nakagami were flagged for a possible breach at the end of the race.

Acosta had finished second and a decision would not be reached until hours after the chequered flag, by which time Acosta had stood on the podium and spoken in the top three press conference.

A damaged wheel rim was deemed as the cause of the irregular pressure readings and he was cleared.

Binder was also cleared once KTM’s data was checked against the stewards’, while Nakagami was given a penalty. But these two outcomes were U-turns, after the stewards initially announced that the results would remain provisional until Motegi while the investigation was completed.

“There’s a feeling of dread when that ticker comes across at the bottom of the screen at the end of the race and we know it’s going to be for a tyre pressure, and it’s ‘who is it going to be?’,” Crash.net's MotoGP Editor Peter McLaren said.

“Normally when someone’s named on that they do get the penalty. Not on this case. But basically we had three riders investigated and three different outcomes, which again was a new one.

“So we have the wheel rim, we had binder who was just found when it was checked not to be in breach, and Nakagami was.

“We weren’t told why when Binder was checked he wasn’t found guilty.

“It seems like it was something to do with the sensors that sent the real-time stuff didn’t send the right data, so they checked against what the team had and the team could show it was over.

“For me, it just has the feeling of a rule that is designed by a committee. It’s trying to keep so many people happy that it just ends up getting so overcomplicated.

“If you look at Nakagami, he was five seconds from Raul Fernandez and five seconds ahead of [Alex] Rins, and quite clearly that’s why he was under pressure.

“But he was in clear air because nine riders failed to finish the race. How could LCR have possibly sat there before the race - bearing in mind he finished in the wheel tracks of Aleix Espargaro the day before - possibly predict that kind of race?”

Crash.net's Senior Journalist Lewis Duncan added: “It makes MotoGP look stupid. It makes this championship look really, really dumb.

“This was a bad rule to begin with, we’ve been speaking about if for a while because how do you possibly manage tyre pressures when you’ve got all the ride height devices and aerodynamics, and it all hinges on where you qualify.

“But if you somehow jump 10 bikes in front of you, your tyre pressure is set wrong. So then you’re going to get a penalty. It’s really stupid.

“The stewards element is ridiculous as well. We have this automated system in place to check the tyre pressures and once the system is flagged, they have to check the data properly. 
“But it cannot take until after a press conference and after a podium and we’re talking to a rider who might not even be there.

“That cannot be the case. We got no explanation from the stewards, from Dorna.

“We asked them what was the delay, and why did they all of a sudden decide to delay it to Motegi for a result, and then why they’d suddenly figured it out.

“The only answer we got was that it took less time than they thought it would. Ok, but how long did they think it was going to take in the first place, and isn’t that the stewards job to investigate incidents to the end, not ‘we’ll take care of it next week’.”

“I completely agree,” Crash.net's Social Media Manager Jordan Moreland said.

“I don’t want to come across as so negative, because I vented a lot of anger in my house yesterday while waiting for the decision. I won’t say what I was saying to my computer screen, but I was just getting so annoyed at the fact it took so long for a decision.

“It’s just not a great look, it just seems so unprofessional and the lack of communication is really bad at the minute.”