Title contender Martin registered a season-worst 10th-place finish at the Qatar MotoGP, the penultimate race, after badly struggl♍ing with grip and he blamed a faulty tyre.

Michel♑in re♒buffed his claims and insisted there was no issue with the compound allocated to him.

Piero Taramasso, Michelin’s motorsport boss, has now admitted to that he is bothered by cri💖ticism.

"Very much,” he said. “I know what e༒ffort we make. 

“Often the criticisms are unfounded, you hear of conspiracies, bad tyres g🍰🐽iven on purpose... it's absurd. 

“Blaming the tyres is the easiest excuse.

“But I'm sorry that no one noticed the 36 records, or as in Indonesia, Qatar and Valencia, on new asphalt, the specifications were on target. It's a good result, few have seen it🧸."

He said about the Martin controversy: "It's true that a quiet season ended ꦓin an agit🍸ated way. 

“I believe many factors contributed: the stress of the fight for the t𒅌itle, the open rider market, the regulation on tyre pressure, the introduction of the S♓prints which added a nervous load. 

“Then, in Qatar, Jorge's perfoဣrmance not in line with expectations generated ꦉcontroversy and discussions."

He reiterated about whether there was a problem with Martin’s tyre in Qatar: "We did analysis on the machines where they were built, checked the quality and transport processes, the history of t♔he rubber, whether it had been heated or not: there were no manufacturing or quality problems. That's for sure. 

“A tyre that doesn't work , it doesn💖't work on the warm-up lap and already from the first lap it makes you a second slower."

Martin was substantially slower in the Q🐠atar grand pr෴ix than in the sprint 24 hours earlier.

"The first 6-7 lap🎃s are decent,” Taramasso responded. “I❀n the 4th and 7th he sets the same time as Bagnaia. 

“He misses the start, but recove𒁏rs three-four places: if the tyre doesn't work, you can't do it. 

“The rest are fಌactors of racing which meant that the deterioration of the rear tyre, and then the front, ultimately led him to lap a second slower.”

Taramasso was asked ไif Michelin have a quality control problem with the tyres allocated 🔥to MotoGP riders.

"It🐼's not true,” he said.🐷 “I invite everyone, riders, technicians, journalists, to come to France and see where and how we manufacture them.

“We make a huge effort to have maxi🌺mum quality controls and be sure that the tyres work. 

“We don't want bad publicity🌌, but that the riders are happy.”

The new tyre pressure▨ rule, implemented midway through this y🧸ear, has brought extra scrutiny.

The final rounds saw a🃏n increase in the penaltie𝓀s dished out to riders who breached the minimum pressure.

"✃Because they risked more,” Taramasso explained.&nღbsp;

“Knowing that the first time they would get a warning, they played the wild c🤡ard.

“If they had always wanted to respect the values, thဣey could have done it."

Will𒅌 Michelin☂ change anything in the 2024 MotoGP season?

"We talk to🧸 Dorna, FIM and IRTA,” Taramasso said. “We don't make the regulations. We can always improve."