Tire pressure on MotoGP was a subject quickly discussed during this 2022 season before being just as quickly evacuated. And for good reason: the theme is sensitive and all the more open to controversy as the instruments for measuring said pressure were not then uniform. The results could therefore not properly serve as a basis for any claim. Because MotoGP tires must have a regulatory pressure which is a real headache to maintain when a machine is in the aerodynamic turbulence of the one in front of it. So, in the teams, we start from a base and we imagine the evolution of the pressure in the race to be in the nails at the finish... Knowing that the Europeans will always be more daring than the Japanese in these estimates. But in 2023, it will be a different story, and that promises a great rat race...
It is a revelation made by crash.net on a subject which has all the ingredients of the great future controversy of the next season... This is the firm intention of the organizer to ensure that MotoGP participants respect the tire working pressure range provided by Michelin . The manufacturers have agreed on a level of tolerance before applying penalties which will be as follows: in the case of practice and qualifying, any driver who drops below the minimum tire pressure for a certain time will lose this round.
For a race, an infraction will be determined by counting the number of laps when a driver's average tire pressure is above the minimum specified by Michelin, which is 1,9 bar for the front tire and 1,7 for the rear. The concept is to calculate the average pressure over each revolution, then the number of revolutions for which the average pressure was greater than the minimum.
However, if laps in practice and qualifying sessions are already canceled on the spot for passing a waved yellow flag or exceeding track limits, teams will be allowed three races before the new pressure penalties kick in. are applied. “ There is a danger of seeing many tours cancelled. It has therefore already been agreed that, even if we introduce the new system from the start of next season, we will only apply the penalties after at least three races ", said the MotoGP technology director, Conrad Cecchinelli.
« We will have a unified system capable of securely measuring pressure in real time«
He added : " we are very open to taking the time necessary for everything to work correctly. This is something that we, as organizers, try to do in the common interest of manufacturers to offer them fair racing conditions ».
For everything to work, you will of course need a unique tire pressure measuring device: “ it will be possible for the teams to install the full official tire pressure system on their motorcycles during pre-season testing next year, so they can start to figure it out and then they can get real data from the race weekend in the first few rounds » said the same Cecchinelli who concludes: “ our only interest is that everyone is happier with the new system than without it ».
It will be remembered that tire pressure must be monitored as operating below the minimum can offer performance advantages at the expense of safety. “ There is a recommended range of tire pressure and temperature that you should stay within, and it doesn't change ", highlighted Cecchinelli. The difference is that “ next year we will have a unified system capable of securely measuring pressure in real time ».
