From this weekend’s Silverstone round, the new Tyre Pressure Management System will come into use, which measures the pressure of front and rear compounds.
This rule was set to be enforced from the start of the 2023 season, but has been kicked down the road as testing of the new TPMS continued.
The minimum riders and teams must adhere to is 1.9 bar (27.6psi) of pressure on the front and 1.7 bar (24.7psi) on the rear for at least half of a race distance.
This has been brought in as a safety measure to stop teams using tyres incorrectly in regards to pressure.
However, this front pressure minimum has raised concerns over safety, as the more the tyre balloons, the less grip there is.
As a result, Aprilia’s Espargaro believes racing will suffer as riders look to avoid their tyre pressures from getting too high.
“It’s a very good idea to make the races more boring,” he said when asked by Autosport on Thursday at Silverstone about the new rule.
“Very good idea, because we will see bikes with one second between them, 100%. I said after Assen… I don’t want it to sound bad but I was faster than Brad [Binder] in Assen but I couldn’t get closer to him because he brakes super late and I couldn’t overtake him and my pressure was too high, so I spent all the race at one second until the last lap when I got closer to him to try and overtake. And this is what you will see.”
Source: Autosport