To close up a grey area in the rule book over tyre pressures, after numerous teams were found last year to have been running under the recommended minimum set by Michelin, MotoGP introduced a stricter enforcement on the matter for 2023.
From the British GP, the rule was officially mandated, whereby riders must run at the minimum front (1.88 bar) and rear (1.7 bar) pressures for at least 50% of a grand prix and 30% of a sprint.
The rule was ostensibly brought in as a safety measure on the advice from Michelin, though riders have criticised it.
This is largely down to the fact front tyres lose grip and braking performance once they go above 2.0 bar of pressure.
While this is dangerous in itself, it has also meant overtaking has become a lot harder as well as more aggressive, as riders try to make up ground as early as possible in races to avoid any pressure issues.
This was one of the elements blamed by riders after last week’s San Marino Grand Prix for leading to boring racing.
I see it as riders trying to use ‘safety’ to get things changed where it really comes down to them knowing that tire pressure going up when in traffic / following someone means they have to artificially slow their pace otherwise they lose the front. Michelin is also using the ‘safety’ card when in reality they just don’t want a tire to explode because it’ll make them look bad…oh and maybe someone will get hurt / die but the looking bad / losing money is their real fear.
Sorry about the downvotes friend.