MotoGP, Taramasso: "Michelin's 2025 will be all about stability."

Next weekend MotoGP will experience its first act of 2025 at the Buriram circuit and as usual tires will play a crucial role. Interviewed by Motorsport.com, Michelin manager Piero Taramasso explained what will be the new developments brought by the French supplier for Thailand and more generally for the championship.

"The range is pretty much the same as last year. In 2024 we introduced new compounds that worked well both in terms of grip and consistency of performance. In fact, on virtually every track, both lap records and race endurance records were broken. By virtue of this, we have chosen to approach the season under the banner of stability," he admitted, "We have eliminated only one compound at the front and two at the rear, that is, three solutions that had not fully satisfied both us and the riders. We are now down to 28 slicks, practically half of what was offered in 2018 and 2019."

The intention is to have a more sustainable approach. "This way you make fewer tires, you have a better stock rotation, and you have fewer units to destroy at the end of the year," he explained.

A new front compound made an appearance during winter testing. "It is a medium/hard that we will introduce in 2026, but we also tried a new construction that was already tested in 2024 and further modified to implement its stability," he later explained.

In the upcoming weekend there should be no surprises in the negative. "In testing the riders got to do Sprint and race simulations and that data will help us. On this occasion we will use the high-temperature carcass at the rear and also at the front the hard will have a stiffer construction. It will be crucial to find the ideal set-up, both from the chassis and electronics point of view, to maximize the potential of the tires and grip, while also trying to limit wear," he added.

The weather will be a not inconsiderable unknown factor. "The asphalt temperature is over 50 degrees for much of the day, plus there are two long straights and violent braking that affect the heat of the tire cover and put it under stress. Added to this is the constant risk of rain. In the past World Championship the main choice was the hard in front and the soft in the rear in the Sprint, while in the GP the medium was thought of except then having to mount the wet tire because of the bad weather," he concluded.