MotoGP, tire lottery: a neutral variable has become decisive

So it seems like a random draw: it’s like when in Monopoly you draw the Unforeseen Card and it says to go straight to Parco della Vittoria, or to prison without passing through the street. Except that if you get the wrong tire you certainly won’t park in parc fermé and you won’t see victory even if you’re Bagnaia, not even if you’re Martin. They say it themselves: “Some tires work, some don’t,” Jorge complained on Sunday. “I went faster in qualifying with used tires than in the Sprint,” Pecco had protested on Saturday after the Sprint. So it happens that every now and then one comes out of the lot that performs poorly or not at all. “It had not been used or warmed up” assured Piero Taramasso, Michelin manager, referring to the infamous rear end that slowed down Martin’s race on Sunday. Because there is no doubt that the Spaniard, wild and constant from Misano onwards, encountered sudden difficulties in the Qatar GP. On Saturday he consistently lapped in 1’53”, on Sunday he repeated that time in just 4 out of 22 laps.

no to suspicions

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“It happens”, many repeated, including Daniele Romagnoli, crew chief of Pramac, Martin’s team. There have already been suspicious cases. There was Andrea Dovizioso who in the year of the pandemic, 2020, went like a missile in the first race at Zeltweg and remained stuck like a supporting actor in the second. There was the same Bagnaia, this year in Barcelona, ​​where he fell disastrously at turn 2 of the 1st lap and was then hit by Brad Binder, risking the unspeakable. “Already on the reconnaissance lap I felt little grip at the rear,” he declared. It happens, indeed. Except that between Saturday in the Sprint in Pecco and Sunday in the GP in Martin it happened at the worst moment. And the mere fact that Jorge threw out “I’m not saying that Michelin did it on purpose…”, means that such a penalty, however casual, however imponderable, could not fail to generate afterthoughts.

pushy

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While we are already almost in Valencia, it would be nice if we could talk about the tires as little as possible, since with a single brand, as with the referee of a football match, they are better the less they make the news. And instead they are a central theme, not only because of the unknown defective part, but in general because of the management they force everyone to do in races destined to no longer always be about pure speed. Without forgetting the pressure issue, after the warning was introduced at Silverstone and then the +3″ for anyone who lowers it too much. On Sunday in Qatar 4 others (Miller, Zarco, Alex Marquez and Augusto Fernandez) played for the wildcard, earning a painless reprimand. We will start again from Bagnaia at +21 on Martin. He hopefully does not have to draw cards from the Unforeseen deck.