English
Italiano
In fact, the rider from Pesaro complained of an excessive deformation of the front tire that didn't give him confidence and prevented him from pushing.
"Valentino brakes very late and hard. Not like Marquez, but almost," said Piero Taramasso, head of Michelin. "The deformation of the tire is called graining, and it usually depended on a not so perfect set-up. Normally, with a few laps, the tire cleans itself, but if it works badly, it'll never get clean. Also because there's sand here on the track and humidity."
Graining occurs when the front tire absorbs all the lateral load without the rear cooperating. There is practically an imbalance, depending on how the set-up makes the tires work.
Making the tires work well today is what every team aims for because only by finding the optimal set-up will you achieve the best performance.
If the Yamaha currently seems to only be suffering with Valentino, Honda is still looking to make the front tire work well for Marquez, who is always forced to choose the hardest of the compounds available.
Taramasso's answer is peremptory: "They're working on it, but Marc's style always requires a harder tire on the front."
Much here will depend on the weather conditions at the time of the Grand Prix, which will start at eight in the evening.
"Actually, racing at that time is fine. It's a good compromise, and our front tire works even with only 15/12 degrees. Obviously, if the temperature changes and rises, the medium tire is the best choice because the soft one, even if it offers a better grip immediately, moves more and needs to be managed in the last laps. How many degrees must the temperature rise? Seven or eight would be enough."
Taramasso then spoke about the future test on the Finnish circuit of Kymiring, August 19th and 20th.
"We'll bring 7 or 8 different tires, maybe even a couple of more when we'll know the shape of the track, in order to have the right selection for the Grand Prix."
Michelin is not afraid of the increase in the number of races, so much so that Taramasso let something slip out: "We knew when we signed the contract as a sole supplier; we were told that we would have reached 21."
