Pramac rider Martin blamed poor Michelin tyres for a lacklustre Qatar MotoGP which conce🏅ded a 21-point advantage to title rival Francesco Bagnaia heading into the final round.

Michelin responded by💫 vowing to investigate the sta💎te of the tyre allocated.

Sylvain Guintoli said via TNT Sports: “The rear grip wasn’t right. It looked like he was ꦿstruggling, he co♎uldn’t extract his bike on the turns. 

“Look at his [spri𓂃nt race] there was a massive contrast. Something went wrong.”

Neil Hodgsonꦰ insisted: “I’v🔯e got to say, I definitely think it’s a faulty tyre. 

“It’s a graphic example. It spins up - he’s the only one. The bike doesn’t turn - watch him throughout the race, it doe𒉰sn’t turn at all.

“That’s rear grip. It plays a huge part. Zero acceleration, bizarre, like he got 🐓the wrong mapping. That’s the tyre. 

“Occasionally it can happen, you get a tyre that’s n༒ot quite the same as the other one. 

“It happens -🐎 it’s just a shame it happened at this stage oওf the season.”

Guintoli was asked to reply to any “conspiracy theory” that Martin was allocated a f💛aᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚulty tyre by explaining the process.

He claimed: “The reality - and I’m not saying yes or൩ no - is that it’s highly unlikely [th🥀at a bad tyre was given to Martin]. 

“As soon as something goes wrong, the ridersඣ blame the tyresꦯ. 

“The way that the tyres💫 are selected for the race, every tyre is accounted for. They know exactly where that tyre has been. 

“Every tyre cannot exceed a certain number of heat cycl༒es. The teams know exactly which tyres, and how many heat cycles. 

“This i𒆙s to keep the best tyres for the races. It’s just so unlikely.”

ꦡHodgson asked Guintoli: ꦺ“If it wasn't the tyre, what could it have been?”

Guintoli replied: “It could be a s💮ensor problem. The elec🐼tronics. Something like that. 

“Something gone wrong with the ECU or the mapping. It’s hard to tell. It’s very unlikely, 💮but not impossible.”

Hodgson said: “You’ve got to trust the rider. He’s sat o൩n the motorcycle and he has so much experience, he knows what a bad tyre feels like. He’s had them before. It does happen. It’s a mess🌠!”