"Valentino seems to need a new challenge. It's something that he has decided in his head, and I think that neither Yamaha nor Michelin can make him change his mind. Time will tell."
Now, Weber suggested, the tyre situation is calm again, and there have been two races where everything's been much more serene. Meanwhile, he pledged that Michelin will "work, innovate, and continue to accelerate development. We will be better organised. We will continue to develop the new 16in rear tyre. It has pluses and minuses, but if the riders want it, we will offer it to them."
A factory that has been involved in grand prix racing since 1973, and won 15 consecutive premier-class world championships from 1992-2006 was never going to fold up after one wobbly season.
Sunday am - Dunlop to Quit MotoGP
Dunlop will be forced out of MotoGP in 2008 – even though their Yamaha Tech 3 riders
Sylvain Guintoli and Makoto Tamada have qualified for the second row in fifth and sixth places for this weekend's Valencian round.
"That is a competitive qualifying performance," Dunlop tyre chief Jeremy Ferguson said proudly. "Week in, week out, we're improving. But everyone is under short-term pressure for immediate results from sponsors and riders."
The Tech 3 operation will switch to Michelin tyres for new riders
James Toseland and
Colin Edwards next year, and Ferguson has been unable to find a successor team.
Dunlop have found it tough competing against Michelin and Bridgestone in their two years in the white-hot MotoGP scene. But Guintoli gave them a fourth place in Japan this year, which compares well with
Bridgestone's best finish of third place after two years in the series in 2003.
It took the Japanese manufacturer three seasons to record a race win, and it's been a six-year battle for them to wrest the championship away from Michelin.
Ferguson said the small quantity of bikes on the grid - just 19 regular starters this year - makes it hard for a new tyre entrant to attract support.
