Skip to main content

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Recommended for you

The new strengths Antonelli has shown in F1, 12 months on from 'reaching the bottom'

Formula 1
Belgian GP
The new strengths Antonelli has shown in F1, 12 months on from 'reaching the bottom'

How Estonia crowned Pajari as the WRC’s new flying Finn

Feature
WRC
Rally Estonia
How Estonia crowned Pajari as the WRC’s new flying Finn

What we can learn from Mercedes' floor after Russell's Belgian GP retirement

Formula 1
Belgian GP
What we can learn from Mercedes' floor after Russell's Belgian GP retirement

The important lesson Solberg put into practice in Estonia

WRC
Rally Estonia
The important lesson Solberg put into practice in Estonia

Wolff admits Mercedes has most powerful F1 engine – and Red Bull agrees – as ADUO returns to spotlight

Formula 1
Belgian GP
Wolff admits Mercedes has most powerful F1 engine – and Red Bull agrees – as ADUO returns to spotlight

Citroen Formula E team boss Cyril Blais dies aged 43

Formula E
Citroen Formula E team boss Cyril Blais dies aged 43

Belgian Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2026

Formula 1
Belgian GP
Belgian Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2026

Welcome to the jungle? When Formula 1.5 came to Spa

Feature
Formula 1
Belgian GP
Welcome to the jungle? When Formula 1.5 came to Spa

MotoGP tyre dramas shouldn't happen - Jorge Lorenzo

Jorge Lorenzo says the way his and a host of Ducati riders' MotoGP front tyres "tore up" in the Czech Grand Prix should not happen

While tyre strategy shaped the outcome of the wet Brno race, including Cal Crutchlow's choice that led to his maiden MotoGP victory, issues with the soft-compound front also arose.

Between laps five and 10, Ducati trio Andrea Iannone, Scott Redding and Andrea Dovizioso filled the top three spots, but they were all later hampered by pieces falling off the tyre.

Dovizioso was the first to strike trouble, while Iannone and Redding dropped to finish eighth and 15th respectively, two spots ahead of the lapped Lorenzo.

"Seven laps before the end the front tyre tore up so I had to change bike," Lorenzo said.

"Maybe the setting was wrong? But this shouldn't happen.

"This is experience they have to take, Michelin, to try to make different enough tyres that this doesn't happen again.

"We can have degradation, especially on the sides, but that pieces go out of the tyre, it shouldn't happen.

"Michelin is working really hard, I'm conscious that they were working to improve the feeling on the front on the slick, and they got it.

"They also probably solved the problem on the rear with the slick, but this time it was the wet tyre with which we had problems."

Lorenzo and Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi opted for the hard rear tyre, and while they both lost ground early, Rossi was able to fight through to finish second.

The Spaniard's race was further complicated by confusion when he pitted to get off the damaged front tyre, shaking his head walking between bikes when his crew chief Roman Forcada appeared to be questioning the call.

He completed a single lap on slicks, then pitted again for his original bike with a new front tyre.

"They didn't understand because when I stopped the bike, the spot where the tyre was bad was on the Tarmac," he said.

"The front tyre looked perfect, when they moved the bike then they understood that the front tyre was like this.

"Probably that's why Ramon didn't understand why I wanted to change the bike.

"So I changed to slicks, the track was too wet, I just wanted to finish the lap and change again the bike.

"It was very bad luck, with this tyre we couldn't finish the race, like Dovizioso and Iannone. Some [with the soft front] could, but I couldn't.

"I was in probably the fastest one in this moment, together with Cal and Rossi, who were more or less the fastest ones on track and I feel that I would be even faster, to finish in third and maybe even second."

Previous article MotoGP Brno: Valentino Rossi says early stages 'a nightmare'
Next article Dovizioso: Michelin's wet MotoGP tyre situation not 'under control'

Top Comments

Latest news