Marco Bezzecchi
Francesco Bagnaia and Ducati struggled on the opening day of the Indonesian Grand Prix weekend. And he believes Michelin’s revised tyres are partly to blame.
Michelin have modified the rear tyre casings for this weekend to ensure they can cope with the especially high temperatures. As Marc Marquez pointed out, the same construction was used for the season opener in Thailand.
The temperature at Lombok will peak at almost 30 degrees on Saturday and Sunday. The changes are motivated by safety.
Bagnaia and, for the first time all season, Marquez will have to go through Q1 after two mixed-up practice sessions. Fermin Aldeguer (second) was the only Ducati in the top nine, with the constructors’ champions outnumbered by Honda (two) and Yamaha (three).
Francesco Bagnaia says Michelin’s rear tyre casing is creating ‘dangerous’ situation
Speaking to publications including GPOne in his media debrief, Bagnaia explained that Ducati can’t get the tyres to ‘work’. They need extensive warm-up phases.
Worryingly, the Motegi winner says the early laps feel ‘dangerous’ due to rear-end instability.
“They’re exactly the same tyres as last year, but we can’t get them to work,” Bagnaia said. “We need five laps on the soft and 10 on the medium to get there. In the first laps it’s almost dangerous because the rear end moves.”
Meanwhile, Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo said he felt ‘very tense’ on the altered rubber. Unusually, he was only a few hundredths quicker than teammate Alex Rins.
Quartararo, also quoted by GPOne, added that the tyres yield good ‘grip’, but attributed a spate of crashes at the end of the second practice session to ‘unpredictable’ sensations.
“I think it’s due to the rear casing, since we have the same problems as a year ago. Some riders feel it more than others and it is difficult.
“The grip, however, is good, the problem is the sensations the tyres give, because they turn out to be really unpredictable. For this reason, I was slow today, in fact I was very tense riding.”
Marc Marquez backs Michelin over Indonesian Grand Prix tyre changes
Newly-crowned champion Marquez, who crashed twice during the hour-long session, was less critical. While he says the casing ‘isn’t perfect’, he acknowledged that the changes were necessary.
Marquez dominated on the fortified tyres in Thailand, but he says that knowledge isn’t carrying over. Ducati face a critical Friday evening trying to work out how other teams are extracting more speed.
“It’s true that they have a different rear casing here, which, in my opinion, isn’t perfect on this track, but it’s the safest,” he said, via Marca. “You have to prioritise safety over durability in the race. But it’s the same for everyone.
“They’ve changed the casing, which is a casing we already used in Thailand, I think, but here, it works very differently every year, and we’ve had some really nasty crashes in the past.”
Davide Tardozzi has told Marquez he can ‘have fun’ in the remaining races before switching focus to 2026. But if the Ducati remains this unpleasant to ride, the Indonesian Grand Prix certainly won’t have the feel of a party weekend.
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