Michelin reveals initial results of Francesco Bagnaia's tyre investigation

The preliminary results of Michelin’s investigation into Francesco Bagnaia’s Austrian MotoGP Sprint disaster have found no manufacturing anomalies, nor any differences in tyre temperature, grip or wheel spin compared to the other Ducati riders.

Bagnaia lined up on the dirty side of the front row in third place and, like sixth-placed starter Fermin Aldeguer just behind, swerved dramarically sideways after spinning off the line.

While Gresini rookie Aldeguer mounted a strong recovery to sixth, setting some of the fastest laps of the race, Bagnaia’s afternoon went from bad to worse, and he retired on lap eight of 14.

“Already in the warm-up lap, I felt very strange rear grip. Then I started and I slid a lot,” Bagnaia said. “After three laps, I completely finished the rear tyre. I had a lot of shaking in the straights.

“Then I arrived in corner 1 without brakes because the shaking made the pads open, so I decided to stop. The risk was already too much. 

"Really strange because I was expecting to have the pace to fight for the podium. Unluckily, nothing worked.”

Speaking after the race, Michelin’s Piero Taramasso confirmed an immediate investigation:

“Pecco complained about a lack of grip on the rear, so now we are looking with Ducati, checking all the data from the bike and tyres to understand why. Several riders suffered, but Pecco more so, we will check and as soon as we have some answers we will inform you.”

Michelin then issued a three-point Sunday update, reporting no initial evidence of tyre problems, but pleading to continue searching with Ducati to identify 'the origin of the oscillations [shaking]':

‘1.    Bagnaia’s tyres were manufactured just two months ago, at the same time as the others, on the same machines and using the same raw materials and semi-finished products. No anomalies were detected.

‘2.    We analysed the data with the team and, particularly during the first four laps, the levels of temperature, grip and wheel spin were identical to those of the other Ducati bikes.

‘3.    We will continue the analysis once we are back at headquarters in order to identify the origin of the oscillations, both from the bike side and from the tyre side.’

Bagnaia’s Sprint DNF ended a streak of five successive wins at the Red Bull Ring.

The Ducati Lenovo rider, whose team-mate Marc Marquez claimed victory in the Sprint, was back on the pace in Sunday's MotoGP warm-up, setting the second fastest lap behind Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi.