It’s hard to forget what happened at Silverstone last year when the Grand Prix was canceled because the asphalt couldn’t drain after the rain and the level of safety required for the race couldn’t be guaranteed. The owners of the track had no choice but to completely renew the entire asphalt to avoid a recurring problem.
It was impossible to organize tests before the Grand Prix, however, and that means Michelin will face the Silverstone challenge in the dark. When choosing which tires to bring with them, the French technicians could only rely on the information provided by the company carrying out the work and various information from England.
In these cases the regulations help, which allow MotoGP riders to offer more tires both front and rear, so there are 4 compounds to choose from: one soft, one medium and two different hard ones.
As for their construction, the front tires in medium and hard compounds are symmetrical, while the soft front tires and all rear tires are asymmetrical with a harder right side.
When it rains, which can never be ruled out in England, soft and medium mixtures were chosen. In this case, only the rear tires are asymmetrical.
“What happened at Silverstone last year was a huge disappointment, however the track did a good job and the asphalt has been completely repaved, but that means we get there without knowing how the new asphalt will behave “, Michelin’s manager warned, Piero Taramasso. “ The choice of tires we have chosen is based on data provided to us by the company that laid the asphalt so we have some information on what types of materials were used. “
“It’s always a challenge to go to a place where we haven’t tested, so we have the option of adding four different tire options to the regulations to give riders the opportunity to find the best mix for them . ” and their bikes, “he emphasized.”We are confident and excited to see how the new asphalt will behave. The first indications we have received are good, but we want to check it out ourselves and of course we hope for good weather. But we’re going to England so who knows what’s going to happen. “