MotoGP is highly advanced, and now more than ever, the details make a significant difference, with tires being one of the key factors in this aspect, both positively and negatively. Max Bartolini emphasized that, beyond the tires themselves, corner speed plays a crucial role in the category.
Tires are fundamental in today’s MotoGP, more than ever, and learning to manage them correctly at the right moment is particularly challenging, as the technical director of Yamaha mentioned in an interview with Crash: ‘Every corner has a phase of braking, entry, corner speed, and acceleration. The entry and maintaining corner speed is harder than acceleration’.
He further highlighted how the different “phases” are closely interconnected: ‘[And] if you don’t make the entry at corner speed, you will never achieve proper acceleration [on exit]’.
Bartolini also noted how Michelin has worked positively to improve tire performance: ‘The front tire is much, much better now [compared] to what it was initially. The rear is very strong, and whoever manages to use 100% of the rear grip can be faster’.
The lack of rear grip is precisely one of the main issues that both Álex Rins and Fabio Quartararo have pointed out regarding the performance of the M1.