During the pre-season MotoGP tests, we were able to meet Piero Taramasso, Michelin Motorsport Two-Wheel Manager, to ask him a few questions about last season and the one to come.
Without any particular incident, the 2018 results appear overall very positive for Michelin, which does not prevent the Clermont-based manufacturer from preparing some new products for the 2019 season, the first of which we offer you here
This 2018 season saw many more Grands Prix in the dry than last year. Has this made it possible to break many records and, more generally, can we draw conclusions from this season?
Piero Taramasso : “it's true that we had a lot of dry races, and we also had a lot of hot weather, like in Brno or at the Sachsenring, in countries where it's not normally this hot. We encountered track temperatures of 40, 50, and even 60° in Thailand. But as the weather was dry, it allowed us to break records, which was somewhat the objective of this season with stabilization. We wanted to have a stable range of tires and not make any changes during the season. We broke records in Qatar, Mugello, Barcelona, Misano, on several circuits, and it really was a positive season. During the last Grands Prix, such as at Sepang, these were very good races where the drivers were able to attack from start to finish, with a race duration 5 seconds faster compared to the previous year. This is really what we are looking for: to provide tires that have grip, but grip throughout the race!
That's our best result, but if I may, I can say that it was a positive season since all the drivers and all the teams asked us "please, for next year , would not change a thing ! The tires work well, we have a good feeling and we are happy.” We accepted their request and in 2019, we will have the same carcasses and the same profiles as 2018, and we will just do some small tuning in terms of the rubber compounds.”
What are you doing this fall, at the pre-season tests in Valencia and Jerez?
“Yes, for the rear we are going to try to test a soft with new technology which gives more grip and more consistency, and a slightly harder hard with still the same technology aimed at grip and consistency. For the future, but this will be tested in 2019, we will try mixtures which are located between medium and hard. On several circuits, we realized that something was missing between medium and hard, because some drivers had the perception that the medium was too soft but they could not exploit the hard. So we're going to do something in between.
And for the rain tires, we are going to work on an extra soft rear compound, to use in conditions like in Valencia, where it was cold and there was a lot of water, Silverstone, or Misano where there is very little grip. ".
Why the regulatory decision to have to announce at the start of the year the tires you are going to use throughout the year, and doesn't that handicap you?
“The decision corresponds to this spirit of stability: the teams and drivers like to know well in advance the tires that we will offer for each race. They can then start preparing the bikes, strategies, settings and electronics. In the past, we often developed and changed the compounds and tires, and when we found a good solution, we immediately wanted to introduce it to the next Grand Prix. The drivers and teams were a little unsettled and therefore requested this point of regulation. We responded positively but, for us, it is penalizing. It's true that it penalizes us because, in February, in March, we don't know what the weather will be like during the year. Before, we chose a month in advance: we looked at the weather trend to anticipate the temperatures. There, we can no longer, so the risk of making a mistake in the choice of rubbers is higher.”
There is nevertheless a little flexibility since we have seen that, from time to time, you offer 4 types of tires instead of the usual 3...
“They especially allow us to bring the 4th tire when it’s new circuits or new surfaces. For example at Silverstone, it was after a resurfacing and we hadn't done any testing. So in these cases, we can bring a 4th specification. Same in Argentina and Barcelona, after resurfacing. Otherwise, it's 3 specifications, and with that we try to cover all possible conditions, from cold to warm, with more or less wear. We try to anticipate. It's not easy, but now we have a lot of data: we have the information collected over 3 seasons, and with that, I think we can do well. There is less stress but you are never safe from a surprise. For example, like in Thailand. We did tests there in February and we had 48° on the ground. Everyone told us “when you come back for the race, it will be colder because it’s the rainy season”. In fact, it was the opposite and the track was at 60°! So 12° more, which changes a lot for the tires. In addition, the track had much less grip. We didn't know why but the grip was much less, which generated a lot more slippage, so we wore out the tires a lot more. It was borderline! It went well and it was a good race, but we will have to review the allocation a little for next year.”
If we had to choose one positive point for this season...
“I would say that every time, whether the conditions were dry or wet, the tires always performed well, but beyond that, there were races, like for example in Barcelona, the 6 specifications that which we brought were used in the race. This was also the case in Austin, Austria and Misano. That means that all tires work, and that each brand, each motorcycle, each rider, really finds the tire that suits them! This is also why we were able to see different winners and podiums made up of 3 different brands. It is therefore proof that even with a single manufacturer, with the same tires, there is still a spectacle and everyone has the possibility of winning.”
A negative point or one to improve…
“That’s always the hardest question (laughs). One thing that could be improved is the quantity of rain tires. If the track remains wet during the 3 days, we can sometimes be a little short on the number of tires. This is set by the regulations but, in fact, we are currently discussing it to try to change this point for next year. We are willing to provide an additional front tire and an additional rear tire. Because if it rains during the 3 days, as was the case in Motegi last year, the quantities we have today are a little tight. I would say that we can improve that, and that 99% of it will change.”
