MotoGP considering mandatory hard tyre as Miller warns of “lottery”

Jack Miller believes the entire MotoGP grid could be forced to race with the unused hard rear tyre in Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix.

The Australian said he could “almost guarantee it” after discovering extensive blistering on his medium rear following the 12-lap Sprint.

Miller and Marco Bezzecchi were the only riders to choose the medium. Everyone else used the soft, with Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia suffering severe late-race tyre problems.

But Miller’s revelation that his medium also blistered badly on Motegi’s new asphalt raises the possibility that Michelin’s reinforced hard rear could be brought into play for the grand prix.

“I can almost guarantee it”

“I went for the medium option. It had blisters all over it, too. So, yeah, we’ll be on a hard I think, tomorrow, all of us,” Miller said after finishing the Sprint in 16th place.

Pressed on whether he believes the hard could be made mandatory, Miller replied:

“Yeah, yeah, like I said, mine had a lot of blisters, a lot of blisters on it, and I went to the medium simply because I like the stability of it.

“The grip difference wasn't massive for us, we don't get a massive boost of edge grip or braking support from the soft as some of the other manufacturers do. So I opted for the medium.

“I mean it was still driving good, especially on the right-hand side, but in the centre of the tyre, she was pretty blistered out, like a lot. Not [as much as] Pecco [on the soft], but not far.

"So, yeah, we’ll be all on the hard tomorrow, I can almost guarantee it.”

A "lottery"

That would cause a major shake-up with no laps on the hard so far this weekend, and Ducati - which won the Sprint with Marc Marquez - struggling for grip on the same stiffer construction tyre last time at the Red Bull Ring.

“I know Max [Bartolini, Yamaha] was going to ask for 20 minutes warm-up if we have to [use the hard], just to sort of understand, because the maps can be completely different,” Miller said.

“All the work we've done throughout the whole weekend is going to be completely wrong. So, yeah, we'll just try and adapt as quickly as possible.”

Miller agreed the grand prix could become a “lottery” if such a late change is required:

“I think so. You know, it'd be better if it rained, then we wouldn't have to worry about it, but I looked at my forecast, and it's not coming.”

Team-mate Toprak Razgatlioglu, who finished 17th on the soft rear, also used the word "lottery":

"It looks like everyone will have to use the hard rear tomorrow, and nobody has done a single lap on it yet, not just us but anyone," he said.

"So it‘s going to be a bit of a lottery because we‘ll have to understand the tyre very quickly and adapt the bike around it. 

"Hopefully they give us a little more time in warm-up because we really need to understand how it works before the race."

Michelin and MotoGP are yet to announce any official changes to the tyre allocation for Sunday.

Alternatives to the hard could include a flag-to-flag mid-race pit stop and/or reduced race distance with the medium.

Aprilia's Martin holds a narrow seven-point title lead over Marquez heading into Sunday's race.