Brad Binder’s Crew Chief Andres Madrid: “We are trying a lot of stuff to get back the confidence”
The South African Grand Prix winner is striving to reverse a tough trend of results in 2025 and his Crew Chief insists KTM are doing all they can to help the 29-year-old get back in podium contention.
By Adam Wheeler. Photos by Polarity photo.
Three DNFs and a highest classification of 6th from the first eight rounds of the current campaign is a meagre return for a rider of Brad Binder’s capabilities. The Red Bull KTM Factory man last walked a MotoGP podium back in Qatar 2024 but both he and the team have been persistently looking for ways to find a better feeling for rear edge grip and less understeer to allow the former Moto3 world champion to use the merits of his hard-braking style. “In our opinion everything started with the new rear tyre technology that Michelin introduced in 2024,” Andres Madrid, Binder’s Crew Chief since the 2021 season explained. “From our information, from our numbers, we could see that this new tyre behaviour had more affect after Qatar [2024]…for some reason.”
The Spaniard and the rest of the KTM technicians have been fighting to optimise a configuration that can suit #33 since the trip to Lusail. “We are still trying to apply a solution,” Madrid sighs. “We have tried several approaches, different ways to set-up the bike, different components. We are trying a lot of stuff to get back the confidence.”
Binder’s struggles and those of his teammate Pedro Acosta (the Spaniard is the best RC16 rider to-date in his second term in the class but has been vocal of his frustrations in needing more performance) have coincided with off-track turmoil for KTM. It would be easy for race fans to assume that KTM’s instability as a company would be having an influence on their potential to be MotoGP winners but Motorsports Director Pit Beirer has repeatedly underlined the firm’s commitment to the series until the end of the current contract window in 2026. Madrid also insists that the KTM Motorsport department have not eased off the throttle for development.
“During the last winter test the amount of stuff we had was a lot,” he says. “I would never have said ‘we’re in a situation…’. OK, some parts in certain areas have taken longer to produce but, for me, the capacity of the factory is at a very high level for MotoGP. This year I think we had more new parts than previous seasons. This is my experience and a fact. Whether these parts can bring us success is another thing. People don’t see but we tried a lot of different things this winter. The company told the riders that we will make the bike better and they are doing their best. Unfortunately, the other manufacturers have done better so far. It’s simply this.”
Binder, now six seasons into his MotoGP career, has registered at least one podium finish for KTM each year. Madrid believes that the calibre of a rider like Brad – a winner of Grands Prix in all three categories - also has to go through a retrieval process to arrive back at the front. “There is a point where riders lose the confidence and even if we gave them a winning bike then they would not immediately go very fast,” he claims, generally. “First of all, they have to recover what they have lost because the amount of crashes has increased [Binder fell 9 times in 2022, 15 times in 2023 and 19 in 2024.] To find their way back takes time. It’s quite difficult. Of course, we need to improve the machine, and we need to use all our resources for that: like the efforts of the other MotoGP riders and the team test. It’s a complicated issue. “
“All you can do is keep working and be as professional as you can, and I think Brad is doing this,” he stresses. “No matter how bad the previous weekend might have been, he tries to follow all our work plans and never, ever gives up. He is fully motivated for every grand prix. Even from one day to another: if we have a bad qualifying then you know he will still go ‘beyond’ for the race. This is something that I’ve never seen in a rider quite like Brad: it’s that capacity to reset and deliver.”
In this sense Madrid has two jobs: to refine and improve the RC16 as a technician but also as a psychologist to get Binder back in the Prosecco spray. “Yes, but that works both ways because Brad motivates us with his energy,” he says, drawing more on the human side. “Some other riders might bring this depressed state of mind to the garage. We’ve seen this in other boxes. Brad, no matter the situation, enters like ‘new’ again and this is super-appreciated by the mechanics, the crew and everyone. He is always keen to ride.”
As much as Binder comes across as a hungry and determined athlete, and one that would seize a mere sniff of an opportunity, Madrid believes the reversal of fortune will take some time. “I don’t think you can recover everything in one weekend. When you start the GP you know more-or-less how it is going to be. You can see where the other KTMs are and if they are all performing then you know the bike is suited to the current layout quite well. Then you think: ‘we can do it…’ and the rider sees it. Then you have to take this to the next race and prove it was not just luck. So, one weekend is not enough. We know in this sport that the rider is important but the bike is also very important and you cannot make magic. There is a limit.”
KTM are not a million miles away from troubling the Ducatis. In Aragon last week Acosta and Binder were running P4 and P5. During Monday’s one-day test Red Bull KTM Tech3’s Maverick Viñales set the all-time lap record at the track. The factory famously reduced a 2.5 seconds deficit to the leaders in their first GP appearance as full-time members of the grid at Qatar in 2017 to get on the podium less than two seasons later and win races by 2020. The step to silverware in 2025 might again come soon.
“My experience tells me if you measure the gap in time then it’s ridiculous,” Madrid says. “If we are missing half a second then it can be seen as a lot but if take a stopwatch and try to measure it then it’s nothing! The difference is so small. In the past we have made a couple of clicks or switches and then the performance went completely downside up. Sportsmen, I think in general, have a sweet spot: you must find the way to put them inside it and then they can deliver from 5% to 300%! Sometimes it’s just a couple of clicks and the rider brings another four. Sometimes you don’t need massive help. Half comes from the package and half comes from the rider…they just need the little boost and then boom!”
