Yamaha content if tyre limits stay

After winning every title since 1994, Michelin has struggled to match Bridgestone this year, with its riders winning just four of the 13 races held so far.

Rossi has regularly suggested that the new-for-2007 limit of 31 tyres per rider per weekend has hit Michelin harder than Bridgestone, but yesterday he admitted that it the French company required more than an increased allocation to get back on terms with its Japanese rival.

The tyre manufacturers are currently discussing next year's rules, with some suggestions that the limits could be relaxed for 2008.

But Brivio and Burgess are not convinced that this would make a difference.

"My personal opinion is that nothing should change in the tyre regulations," said team manager Brivio.

"We have to work more. We have to test as much as we can to improve our tyres.

"There is a lot of discussion about trying to change the rules. We have to make sure that if we change something we go in the right direction otherwise it's better not to change. I don't know if a few tyres more in the allocation or the possibility to test a little bit more would change the situation.

"I think the situation might change dramatically with much more development and work. But if they think some change in the rules would make an improvement, we would welcome it. But I think we have a lot of homework to do.

"This is my opinion. Yamaha is not making the regulations and is not deciding anything about this. Michelin and Bridgestone are discussing it and everything will be decided by the MotoGP commission. We can just give our opinion.

"If they come up with a good solution that both Michelin and Bridgestone are agreed on, it's okay. But just to be clear that this change is not requested by Yamaha or Valentino. The discussion is going on with the tyre manufacturers."

Burgess believes the testing limits are a bigger issue than the restricted tyre allowance.

"Maybe 31 tyres could be enough, but we should at least review the programming and the regulations of tests: the teams should not be restricted anymore on the number of days available for testing. It's incredible it is so, with the amount of money the bike manufacturers invest in this series," he told Motosprint.

"We must have more freedom, we must eliminate the rules that disallow testing in August and the one that prevents you from going back to a track where you've raced already.

"These are useful things to understand the problems and to try to solve them. For example, it would have been very useful for us to go back to Laguna Seca, just like it would have been helpful for Bridgestone to go back to Sachsenring."