“Of course, temperature and pressure affect some bikes and some riders more than others. Some riders can handle more pressure in the tire much better than others, just through their style, how they turn, how they use the front. But in general, the more the riders use the front tyre, the bigger the problem they will have. And the riders who flick the bike super-fast will suffer like hell.
“I mean look at Yamaha. A couple of years ago they were going from winning races to finishing 15th, just because the front pressure went up when they were in the group, so we are talking that much impact. So [Pecco] Bagnaia’s way of riding, the speed he carries into corners, could be a problem.”
Another factory engineer told me that helped the riders at Mugello were below the minimum pressure limit!
“So much depends on the kind of race you’re having,” he said. “We’ve had races where one of our guys has been out front, running 1.7 and going well. Then another of our guys is stuck in a group and his pressure goes up 0.2 or 0.3 bar to 2.1 and he crashes, probably because of that, so there’s a massive difference in performance. Al the riders have tire pressure monitors on their dash panels, so they know if they are under target, over target or on target and they will revise their tactics accordingly.
Marc Marquez won his six MotoGP titles through his unique front-tyre control, but things could get trickier than ever in 2023
Honda
“But if we have to keep to 1.9 I see qualifying being more important, I see more crashes and I think there will be less overtaking because it won’t be as easy to get by. Once your pressure increases and you’ve got a lot of font-tyre lock, you haven’t got any more to give and you have to drop back to cool your front tire.”
From 2023 the tire pressure rules won’t only apply in races; they will also apply in qualifying, so riders who can currently magic super-fast QP laps may struggle to repeat those feats.