Severe tire degradation slows Marc Marquez: “I can’t explain it”

– The degradation of the soft rear tire was the big topic at the MotoGP sprint in Silverstone. Only Jack Miller (Pramac-Yamaha) and Brad Binder (KTM) chose the harder medium rear tire for the ten-lap race, which is expected to be the clear choice in the Grand Prix.

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That the soft rear tire would degrade so much in the sprint came as a surprise to the teams and riders. Michelin brought a different soft tire to Silverstone this time compared to last year because the race takes place in August.

“The soft option for the rear tire has evolved,” says Michelin manager Piero Taramasso and explains the details: “With increased stiffness to better cope with potentially higher temperatures.”

Especially Ducati had significantly bigger problems compared to Aprilia in direct comparison. In the early phase, Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46-Ducati) was still able to keep up with the Aprilias of Jorge Martin and Ai Ogura.

From the fifth lap, “Diggia’s” lap times became noticeably slower. He was first overtaken by Marco Bezzecchi and then by Alex Marquez and finished fifth.

The tire degradation was even more dramatic for Marc Marquez. He completed the penultimate and last lap in the 2:02 minute range. For comparison, sprint winner Martin still did 1:59.6 minutes in his penultimate lap.

Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo says about the soft rear tire: “I think it’s less about tire wear and more about the fact that you overheat the tire quite quickly.”

“When you have more grip, you can play with the throttle and keep the temperature a bit lower. I think that’s exactly where Aprilia is stronger than everyone else because, in my opinion, they manage to keep the rear tire temperature lower and can therefore maintain a strong pace longer.”

Martin also indirectly confirms this. When asked how he managed his tire, he answers: “Not opening the throttle one hundred percent and waiting until the grip is there.”

Marc Marquez didn’t want to risk a highsider

Martin and Ogura also had problems with the rear tire, but these were not as significant as with Ducati. Just one or two more corners, and Marc Marquez would not have scored any championship points.

“It felt quite dangerous to enter the corner and risk a highsider. Then I decided to just finish the race because I don’t want to get injured. And that is the most important goal right now.”

Marc Marquez succeeded in this, but he is still disappointed with ninth place, “because we experienced a new feeling in the sprint. In practice, we never had this degradation on the rear tire.”

“I wasn’t the only one; many riders had the problem, but I was the one who suffered the most because it started very early. Already in lap four, I felt massive degradation.”

Marc Marquez does not blame Michelin

Marc Marquez cannot explain why the tire degraded so much for him: “The problem was not tire wear, it was graining, and when you have graining, it’s like the rubber is not working at the right temperature.”

“It’s not that Michelin brought the wrong compound because if you compare the tire temperature with the track temperature, it’s the right one. We are in the right range.”

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“So we have to focus exactly there and understand. I can’t answer it,” wonders Marc Marquez, who wants to orient himself on his brother: “We have to understand well what Alex is doing and whether this direction can help us for tomorrow.”

Michelin also commented on the strong tire degradation, which was somewhat surprising even for the engineers of the French brand. But Taramasso has an explanation for it.

“We expected the degradation two laps before the end, but it occurred early,” says the Michelin manager. “Now we have to investigate that more closely. Certainly, the pace was very fast.”

“In the first four or five laps, the riders, especially those at the front, pushed very, very hard. So that is certainly one reason. Also, the track temperature was quite high.”

“On Friday, several riders did ten to eleven laps with the soft rear tire. We didn’t see this degradation, but they did the laps in two runs.”

“Also, the pace [in practice] was much slower because the sprint was one second faster compared to the 2024 record. The fastest lap was also six tenths faster compared to the record.”

All these factors together caused the tire to degrade earlier than expected. Di Giannantonio paid for trying to keep up with Martin and Ogura at the start. He spoke of his own mistake.

Alex Marquez doesn’t see a chance against Aprilia

After the sprint, Alex Marquez stated that it was a mistake not to choose the medium rear tire. For him, the strong degradation of the soft rear tire already occurred in the morning practice before qualifying.

“I think that was the best practice for the race,” says the Gresini rider. “And I was also a bit lucky at the start that I had Raul and also Marco in front of me. They were fast but not extremely fast.”

“At that point, I could save some tire. The others, on the other hand, tried simply to follow Jorge. Without Raul’s crash, my fourth place today would have been fifth.”

“With all Aprilias on the track, fifth place will be the maximum we fight for,” says Alex Marquez looking ahead to the long race on Sunday. He therefore hardly expects any chances in the duel with the four Aprilia riders.

For the Grand Prix distance of 20 laps, the medium rear tire is expected to be the preferred choice on Sunday. However, Marc Marquez believes that this tire could also degrade strongly.

“On paper, soft and medium are very, very similar tires. The left compound is the same, the right compound is from the same family, just one step harder, so the difference between the tires is not big.” It is an asymmetric tire with a harder compound on the right flank.

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