Tire allowance: How does it work?

This weekend will be the second meeting of the calendar on the Misano circuit. And for this Emilia-Romagna GP, Michelin will not change its allocation compared to the San Marino GP organized last month. But what does that mean?

In short, each driver has 22 slicks per weekend: 10 for the front and 12 for the rear. For the front, he can choose a maximum of five tires per specification: soft, medium or hard, against a maximum of six soft, five medium and four hard for the rear. Note that if a driver manages to reach Q2 through the repechage, he is allocated an additional rear soft to try to fight for pole position and a front tire of his choice.

On certain routes which have more turns on one side than the other, Michelin offers asymmetrical tires. In the case of the Misano circuit, the rear tire is harder on the right sidewall to cope with the greater number of right turns and the resulting increased stress throughout the 27 laps of the race. For the transalpine route, however, the front tire remains symmetrical.

#SanMarinoGP #MICHELINPower tire selection #MichelinMotoGP pic.twitter.com/g5vHENfR38

— Michelin Motorsport (@Michelin_Sport) September 19, 2021

Even though rain is threatening this weekend and temperatures will be cooler compared to September, the tires will be the same as at the San Marino GP. “Last month, we were very satisfied with the performance of our tires,” says Piero Taramasso, Two-Wheel Manager at Michelin Motorsport. We had broken three records: best lap, best race lap and race duration with a very close finish and only three tenths of a second between the first two who were equipped with different rear tires. Bagnaia had chosen the software and Quarterly the medium. »

And to continue: “We are bringing the same tire allocation this weekend even if the temperatures could be a little lower and the risk of rain a little higher. I am confident that our slicks and wet tires will give drivers the opportunity to push to the limits to give fans a great weekend of racing, whatever the conditions. »

If it rains, the pilots MotoGP have 13 rain tires at their disposal: six at the front and seven at the rear to choose between soft or medium specification. However, there are exceptions in the allocation depending on the number of free sessions contested in the wet, qualifications contested in the wet or even declared with different conditions. In the event that four of the four free practice sessions or one of the two qualifying sessions are declared "wet", an additional set of "wet" tires will be allocated to each driver. The new allocation is then made up of five front and eight rear.