Countdown, slipstream messages to help riders meet MotoGP's tyre pressure rules

Fabio di Giannantonio has outlined the information Ducati is making available to its MotoGP riders during a race, to help them stay above the tyre pressure limit.

After last year’s introductory phase for the new real-time tyre pressure system, the warning for a first offence has been removed and post-race time penalties increased to +8sec in a Sprint and +16sec in a Grand Prix for 2024.

“If you get a penalty then you are out of the points because it's quite a strong penalty. For me, too strong,” Marc Marquez said of the revised time penalties. “But the rule is the same for everybody, so we need to manage.”

In response to requests from riders, the specified front tyre pressure has been lowered from 1.88 to 1.80 bar. But in return, the percentage of grand prix race laps that must meet the minimum has risen from 50 to 60%. The limit remains 30% for a Sprint or short (restarted) grand prix race.

di Giannantonio was the most high-profile victim of the tyre pressure rules last season, losing a podium at the Valencia finale for a second offence.

The Italian, who has switched from Gresini to VR46 for 2024, explained Ducati is providing its eight riders with a real-time countdown of laps completed above the minimum. It is assumed that other manufacturers also use a similar system.

“Well, it's quite easy,” he said. “We just have a countdown of laps, how many laps you have to be inside the regulation. So you do a lap, and if that lap you are inside the regulation with the pressure, it goes down one lap. So you have like a countdown and once you are OK [meet the minimum laps], you are free to [overtake and] be in the front.”

That means the first half of some races could see riders deliberately remain inside the group and only attack for the lead, meaning clear air and a lower front pressure, once the countdown has been cleared.

Likewise, a rider who makes an early break for the lead, might be forced to drop back into the pack if they are not able to meet the minimum.

“It will be strange maybe in some races, because it's true that in some races we struggled a lot to find a stable tyre pressure,” di Giannantonio said. “So I think we could see some games during the races to try to be inside the regulations and maybe not races were one guy goes in front and does his race [alone].

“So it's strange, but also we have these rules so we have to try to be the best with the rules.”

If a rider approaches the midway stage of a GP race without already clearing a significant number of laps above the pressure, a ‘slipstream’ message will warn that they need to try and raise the pressure.

“It's no more ‘mapping 8’, it's just ‘slipstream’. Last year we used ‘mapping 8’ for one race,” said di Giannantonio.

“It's the only way [to raise the pressure]: Try to be in the slipstream and try to brake as hard as possible if it's in the front [tyre pressure]. 

"If it's in the rear, it's quite easy, because in the end you just have to spin a little bit more, but the front is the main issue.”

All MotoGP riders met the minimum tyre pressure requirements during the Qatar season opener, although teams also had extra data available from the pre-season test to help set their tyre pressure levels.