Michelin gives development update on delayed MotoGP front tyre

Michelin has outlined its development plan for the MotoGP front tyre construction it planned to introduce for 2025 but has delayed until at least 2026.

The French tyre manufacturer has been working on a new front option designed to cope better with the increased effects aerodynamics have had, particularly in regards to tyre pressure.

The idea was to introduce this tyre in 2025, but with very little testing carried out on the new construction during the 2024 season the decision was made to delay this to 2026.

Michelin brought the new front tyre to the post-season Barcelona test, which a handful of riders tried and responded positively to it.

“Yeah, more or less same feeling as Misano,” Honda’s Luca Marini said in Barcelona about the new front tyre.

“When you exit from the garage the bike feels super heavy, but when you start to massage the tyre and get it warm then the feeling is warm.

“For me they are doing a good job with the front tyre, especially when entering with the brakes on.

“The limit feels even further now [but] until you crash you don’t understand the limit.

“So, when the time comes to push with this tyre it feels like you can enter with much more brake on. There are no negative points.”

In an interview with it.motorsport.com, Michelin’s motorsport boss Piero Taramasso outlined the next phase of development for the new front tyre.

“We will take it again to Sepang and Buriram, for the winter tests, maybe making a few more changes,” he said.

“Then, based on the results we will have in these two sessions, when we will have tested it on four or five different circuits and in different conditions, we will make the last necessary changes, then the model will be fixed and we will not change it again.

“Afterwards, we will propose it again throughout 2025 both in the official tests and in the private tests, so that the teams can get used to it and start finding settings to make the most of it, both in terms of chassis and suspension.

“In this way, we think they will be ready when we finally introduce it.

“As we said in Misano, we chose not to introduce it immediately in 2025 precisely to move forward with the tests and also give a bit of stability to the teams, knowing that this year we had already introduced new compounds both at the front and the rear.”

Touching on Marini’s comments about the feeling of heaviness on the new front tyre when it is new, Taramasso says this is an issue baffling Michelin as the construction is 1kg lighter than the 2024 version.

“The only thing we need to understand is why, despite being 1kg lighter than the previous model, some riders tell us that they feel the bike is heavier, less agile, especially when changing direction,” he added.

“We need to understand if it is something related to the setting or perhaps to the pressures, which could require different parameters.

“However, I must say that this type of comment was made by practically everyone in Misano, while in Barcelona it was already a little less widespread.

“In any case, we are studying the data to understand the reason, but for the rest we can talk about a tyre in line with our expectations.”