ACOSTA SLAMS MOTOGP TYRE-PRESSURE RULES; MARQUEZ DENIES HAVING ISSUES

Pedro Acosta criticised MotoGP’s tyre-pressure rules after the Indonesian Grand Prix, saying the position swaps they prompted made riders look like “donkeys”. Starting ninth, he showed strong early pace, moving into the top seven with a pass at Turn 10 before overtaking Marc Marquez’s factory Ducati for fourth on lap seven. But his front Michelin tyre pressure then fell below the permitted minimum of 1.8 bar, prompting a warning and forcing him to give places back to Marquez several times to avoid a 16-second penalty for spending too many laps under the limit.

The two riders repeatedly swapped places on track, not through a conventional battle but to seek shelter in each other’s slipstream and build tyre heat. Acosta said the rules should be reconsidered. Teams set pressures before the race based on how they expect it to unfold, but he argued that riders cannot predict what their rivals will do. “I think we should have a minimum pressure before we start on the grid, and then what happens happens. You cannot do anything,” he said.

Acosta suggested Marquez may have faced a similar problem, noting that the Ducati rider also let him through. He described how the pressure seemed to change as his position did: “When I was behind it was OK, but when I was in front it was like, fine, fine, fine, fine, not fine, not fine, not fine.” Marquez, however, rejected Acosta’s theory. Speaking to Sky Sports Italy, he said: “I didn’t have pressure issues.” He explained that the position swaps reflected the Ducati’s pace, which had left him around fifth to seventh throughout the weekend. Marquez said the team had exceeded expectations by taking pole and winning Saturday’s sprint.

The KTM rider said the repeated swaps cost him time and hurt his chance of finishing in the top four. “I was struggling the whole race with the front tyre pressure and I was losing massive time letting Marc pass, then overtaking him again, then letting him pass again, then passing him,” he said. Ai Ogura caught the pair late and passed them, finishing fifth. Acosta was sixth, the best finisher outside the four Aprilias. He said KTM had improved on the sprint, got its chattering under control, and taken the maximum available, although he still struggled in the second sector. He also noted that the result was “much better than yesterday”.

Acosta acknowledged he might have stayed behind Marquez longer, but thought passing a lap later would not change the outcome. He said the position changes cost him the chance of a top-four finish. In the championship standings, Ogura’s late move left Acosta one point behind the Trackhouse rider, on 258 points.

The issue followed a similar tyre-pressure controversy in Saturday’s sprint, when Jorge Martin lost victory after a warning forced him to slow and seek a slipstream. Acosta said Martin’s pre-race expectations may have depended on Marco Bezzecchi and Marquez being ahead, illustrating why he believes teams should not be penalised for race circumstances they cannot control. KTM’s Maverick Viñales also received a 16-second penalty for a pressure breach, though it did not change his last-place finish. Michelin’s tenure as MotoGP’s tyre supplier ends this year, with Pirelli taking over in 2027.