The Jerez race, won in convincing fashion by Valentino Rossi, was marked by severe rear tyre wear and ‘spinning’ for the majority of the field.

As well as the oft-cited low-grip track surface at Jerez and high race-day track temperatures of 40°C, Taramasso said the effect of aerodynamic winglets – which are intended to prevent the front wheel lifting off the ground – were a contributing factor in causing problems at the rear.

"The cause for the spinning of the rear tyre is three-fold,” Taramasso told Motorsport.com.

“First, the grip of the Jerez track is very limited because of a surface that now needs redoing, and temperatures rose on Sunday by about 10 degrees, worsening tyre wear.

"Secondly, we noticed that the bikes equipped with winglets have reported more sliding problems in Spain: they generate downward pressure on the front suspension of about 4mm, creating an imbalance that places less weight on the rear of the bike.

"Thirdly, the rubber itself. We do not want to shirk our responsibilities. We are gathering data to figure out how to evolve our product, because even in Barcelona we will find asphalt characteristics with low grip [like at Jerez].”

Taramasso added that during the post-race test at Jerez on Monday, a more rubbered-in track and more honed set-ups meant far fewer spinning issues were reported.

“On Monday, on the same track, we made ​​a day of testing with the same type of rubber and did not encounter the same problems of the day before,” said the Italian.

“The main reason? Simply the track has been rubbered-in, given that the temperature was almost the same and the teams have been working on the most suitable setup.

“Only at the end of long runs did some start to feel a bit of wheelspin, but nothing to compare with what some riders complained Sunday.

"[Marc] Marquez, for example, completed 90 laps without any trouble.”

Single front casing

Michelin has also chosen to use a single type of casing for the front tyre going forward, selecting the hardest available option (the '34' option) after Monday's test.

Taramasso said that eliminating the second casing option will allow for a better evolution of the chosen compound, ultimately increasing its performance.

"There were too many choices,” he said. “The normal thing is for teams to have two different compounds available. If you add two casings, you get four options.

"At Le Mans, we could have a track temperature between 15 and 45°C. If we were to take three compounds and two casings, it would result in six different possibilities, far too many."

While the front casing is fixed for at least the next three races, Taramasso says it could change later in the year.

"Even though there will only be one casing in the future, we don't rule out introducing a softer front one towards the end of the season.”

Additional reporting by Franco Nugnes and Oriol Puigdemont