Stoner says new tyres will equalise field

The series opted to end its tyre war and switch to control tyres last month, with Bridgestone subsequently winning the tender - Michelin having decided not to submit a bid.

The first 2009 tyres will be tested at Valencia next week, and Stoner expects them to be completely different to all Bridgestone's previous rubber.

"It's not going to be a tyre that any of us have been using," he told reporters. "I'm sure the data that we've used from the tyres we've been developing will go into it, but any of the tyres we're using now, with the amount of compounds they're suggesting, would be impossible - there would be crashes left, right and centre.

"We first expected them to use very similar compounds and constructions to what we're using now, but they've since informed us that they're going to be completely different."

Stoner does not expect the teams who are already using Bridgestones to have any advantage over those moving across from Michelin - and added that he believes it is up to the teams to adapt to the tyres in any case.

"They're a smart company. There will be no advantage or disadvantage," he said.

"I was destroying my front tyre at the Sachsenring. Completely destroying it. After five laps I couldn't do anything with it. But you just have to change the bike. You can't go 'I want this direction and the tyre's crap'. You have to work through things.

"We were struggling recently with a construction of rear tyre that suits the other bikes but not ours, and we just had to work harder towards it. At some races it just doesn't work. At Phillip Island the bike was bucking and moving everywhere, and we tried everything to fix it. Finally in the warm-up we found something that completely smoothed out the bike.

"So there are always ways of fixing it. Every bike has got two wheels and a lot of different weight options, so you can fix almost any problem."

The control tyre rule was introduced mainly on safety grounds, but is also intended to improve the racing, as there have been several occasions in recent years when one tyre manufacturer had a significant performance advantage over the other.

But Stoner expects complaints about tyres to continue despite the end of the tyre war.

"Everybody got what they wanted, so let's see if they're happy with it or if they're just going to start bitching about it," he said.

"I'm sure there will be a lot of complaining, it's not going to stop. They're always going to say 'it suits that bike and not ours.'"