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

Michelin rebuffed his claims and insisted there was no issue with the compound a💯llocated to him.

Piero T🐽aramasso, Michelin’s motorsport boss, has now admitted to that he is bothered by criticism.

"Very much,” he said. “I know what effor🤡t we make. 

“Often the criticisms are unfound♌ed, you hear of conspiracies, bad ꩵtyres given on purpose... it's absurd. 

“Blaming the tyres is the easiest excuse.

“But I'm sorry that no one notiꦫced the 36 records, or as in Indonesia, Qatar and Valencia, o🅺n 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 in ꦏan agitated way. 

“I believe many factors contributed: the stress of the fightಌ for the title, the open rider market, the regulation on tyre pressure, the introduction of the Sprints which added a nervous load. 

“🌸Then, in Qatar, Jorge's pꦯerformance not in line with expectations generated controversy and discussions."

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

“A tyre that do♕esn'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 substa🅰ntially slower in the Qatar grand prix than in the sprint 24 hours ea♔rlier.

🅘"The first 6-7 laps are decent,” Taramasso responded. “In the 4th and 7th he sets theꩲ same time as Bagnaia. 

“He misses the start, but recovers th🦂ree-four places:💯 if the tyre doesn't work, you can't do it. 

“The rest are factors of racing which meant that the deterioration of the rear ty🌱re, and then the front, ultimately led him to lap a s🅰econd slower.”

Taramasso🐽 was a🎐sked if Michelin have a quality control problem with the tyres allocated to MotoGP riders.

"It's not true,” ꦇhe 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 haveܫ maximum quality controls and be sure that the tyres work. 

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

The new tyre pressure rule, implemented ﷺmidway through this year, has brought extra scrutiny.

The final rounds saw an increase in the penalties dished o𒁃🥃ut to riders who breached the minimum pressure.

"Because they risked more,” Taramasso explained🍷. 

“Knowing that the first🅠 time they would get a warning, tꦬhey played the wild card.

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

Will Michelin change an🅷ything in the 20𒊎24 MotoGP season?

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