I don’t think there is any doubt that some early but inevitable teething issues in the new Michelin era impacted more on Pedrosa than his rivals. Loris Baz’s spectacular top gear crash over the finish line in the first test of the year in Sepang, which was eventually diagnosed as a puncture, had people fretting. And when Redding’s rear tyre fell apart in practice in Argentina in FP4 that led to an enforced pit stop in the race on safety grounds, Michelin was forced to make harder tyres to build some safety margin into its selection. The harder the tyres got, the harder it became for Pedrosa to be fast.