As The Race reports, MotoGP riders and teams completely missed the mark at the Japanese Grand Prix by refusing to sample a specific tyre option until Sunday, leaving everyone scrambling after treating it like a pariah all weekend.
Because of uncertain wear levels on a newly resurfaced Motegi circuit, Michelin brought three rear tyre choices rather than the usual two. Alongside the standard-construction soft and medium options, they introduced a reinforced-casing hard rear as a back-up, even though the compound itself wasn't believed to be harder. But the paddock wanted nothing to do with it. The harder-construction tyre has shaken up the competitive order at other tracks and historically offered poor grip, making riders vocal about avoiding it right from Thursday.
For me, to be honest, I think we were a bit stupid to not consider this tyre [earlier],
"Usually when we have the standard casing, we always prefer the standard casing," said Luca Marini. "Our normal tyres are much nicer to ride," said Brad Binder. Jack Miller went even further: "F**k me! It's not an option. If we're using that tyre, I'd pack up and go home."
That sentiment echoed up and down pitlane, resulting in zero riders running the hard rear for even a single lap across Friday and Saturday. The blind spot only cleared during the extended Sunday warm-up, and that was purely because Michelin pulled the soft rear from the allocation following excessive blistering during the sprint. Michelin recommended, though didn't force, a switch to the hard rear.
Nineteen of the 22 riders immediately set their fastest warm-up time on the hard tyre instead of the medium, and every single competitor selected it for the main race. Once the lights went out, eventual winner Marc Marquez was one second quicker at the 12-lap mark than he had been at the end of the 12-lap sprint.
"For me, to be honest, I think we were a bit stupid to not consider this tyre [earlier]," laughed Fabio Quartararo after the finish. He added that it could have aided their time attack, noting that reduced tyre oscillation meant Yamaha could have run more power. "Was funny because nobody used it, and at the end it was the best tyre. A bit crazy."
Alex Marquez admitted the paddock was baffled: "In the morning we were joking a little bit - 'if the hard is working now, we don't understand anything about bikes'. But it's true that here the strategy changed a little bit from Michelin. Normally when they give the hard casing it's with the hardest compound. This weekend it was with the soft[er compound]."
Marini felt Michelin technicians attached to teams failed to push hard enough for riders to test it, suspecting the supplier was surprised too. "Fantastic. Unbelievable," he said of the tyre, adding that the unbelievable grip fixed all the bike's problems. He acknowledged it was an oversight by him and his team, suggesting they need to be cleverer in the future, especially with three specs coming every time next year.
