MotoGP and Michelin: mission credibility

It was a fantastic Sunday for Italy – a Ducati triple and three Italians on the podium, the great story of Fabio Di Giannantonio winning for the first time in the reigning class (but still without a ride for 2024, sooner or later someone will need to explain the real reason) and a Pecco Bagnaia who may have taken the decisive step towards the title trophy.

GP Qatar: Michelin and the reliability issue

But then there’s the other side to the Qatar coin. The grey, or should we say black, side. We don’t even want to consider the possibility that Jorge Martin found himself racing with a non-performing tyre because of 'match-fixing'. Why? Because that kind of problem for us in motorcycling would be as serious as betting in football or doping in athletics. Because the entire credibility of a movement would be lost, at a time when - now more than ever - this sport really needs to be setting the example in terms of impartiality and equidistance.

But let’s leave conjecture and focus on the facts for now. And the facts tell us that, over the course of the season, we have results that have either fluctuated or been overly conditioned by defective tyres or unpredictable behaviour. Bagnaia himself cited an issue in Saturday’s Sprint at Lusail and has been hindered at least four or five times during the season by tyres deemed less than perfect. 2023 has also been characterised by excessive see-sawing in performance. Bagnaia and Martin aside, we’ve seen Marco Bezzecchi, Enea Bastianini, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Luca Marini for example – all on top just once and then straight back to mid-field (is it a coincidence they’re all ducatisti?). Maybe they can’t do it every time, but if a rider can fight for the podium once, then surely they can do it often.

Dorna, FIM and Michelin need to take action, finding a solution that ensures greater equilibrium and more coherence on track. Regardless of any negative thinking, the consequences remain… Supplying a non-performing tyre every so often could be a justifiable error, but if the number of cases increases, it could be bad publicity for our sport. And bad news for all the staff and partners who invest. And the fans who watch.