Michelin technical chief Nicolas Goubert pledged to continue the rate of response to their problems that had been a source of pride in the French company’s return to the premier class after seven years away.
As well as new lap and race records, said Goubert, the company had shown an ability to react quickly to problems, such as the disintegration of Redding’s rear tyre in practice in Argentina. The race was split in two with a compulsory bike-change pit stop as a result.
“We realised that our rear tyres were not robust enough but we reacted really quickly.” Within a week a new construction rear was available for the next round in Texas.
Then in Jerez, where the new-construction rear suffered major wheelspin problems, “we realised how the robust construction hurt tyre performance. From the next race on we made other steps, and throughout the summer we had positive results.
“All in all, we learned a lot,” he said.
For the first year, we knew it would be crucial to react quickly,” he said. For 2017, the resources would be the same, if any other major changes were required at short order. “You have to be prepared for the unexpected,” he said.
In spite of complaints of a rash of front-end crashes, in fact statistics compared with Bridgestone last season showed little difference: “In the first 16 races, in 2015 there were 69 race crashes and in 2016 70,” said Goubert.
Intermediate tyres made a return in 2016, at the request of Dorna, to avoid empty tracks in practice, but Goubert was not sure if they would be available next year. “We found that riders could use our medium rain tyres on a dry track, and in fact there were some times when we had riders out on track using slick, intermediate and rain tyres at the same time.
“I will not say there won’t be intermediates, but maybe there is no need,” he said.
Michelin’s response to criticism of their front tyre – dubbed unforgiving and with poor feel by riders – came in the form of a new design, already tested after Brno, and available to riders as a fourth front option at Valencia.
While early response had been good, this time it was lukewarm, with riders saying there was little difference compared with the earlier tyre.
By Michael Scott
