EXCLUSIVE - Brad Binder analyses Pedro Acosta’s “special” riding style
“It's going to be cool to have him as a team-mate. There are certain things he does extremely well.”
Brad Binder gets a new team-mate for his sixth MotoGP season, with last year’s rookie star Pedro Acosta stepping up to the factory Red Bull KTM team in place of Jack Miller.
Acosta will be Binder’s fourth MotoGP team-mate after Pol Espargaro, Miguel Oliveira and Miller but the first with a significant age difference (29-20).
“In previous categories, I’ve had younger team-mates but in MotoGP, it’ll be the first time,” Binder told Crash.net. “Pol was three or four years older, but Jack and Miguel are about the same age as me.
“Anyway, I'm really looking forward to it.
“Of course, Jack has been an awesome team-mate and I've had a lot of fun with him for the last couple of seasons. But at the same time, I think Pedro brings something new to the team.
“He's got a really special riding style and the way he does things is really, really neat. So it's going to be cool to have him as a team-mate.”
Binder made history with KTM’s first MotoGP win, in only his third race, a year before Acosta burst onto the grand prix scene as a rookie Moto3 champion in 2021.
Their paths crossed on track last season when Acosta's promotion to the factory KTM team for 2025 was soon a formality with five podiums and four Sprint rostrums at Tech3.
Binder’s only podiums came at the opening Qatar round but he edged out Acosta to remain KTM’s top rider with fifth place in the world championship.
Pressed on what he meant by Acosta’s ‘special’ riding style, Binder explained:
“There are certain things he does extremely well. One in particular is braking. He never goes over the limit but always brakes to the limit and somehow always stops the bike on the exact same point!
“It’s one thing that's really impressive about his riding style. And the way he's able to make the bike turn is also great.”
“I’ll see Jack away from the track”
Binder’s take-no-prisoners style on the racetrack contrasts with his easy-going attitude off it.
Like many racers, the South African is based in Andorra during the European season, with Miller among his ‘neighbours’.
“I won't see as much as much of Jack at the MotoGP track but I'm sure away from the track nothing will change,” Binder said of the Australian’s switch to Pramac Yamaha.
“We spend a lot of time together when we are away, especially in Andorra. We only live about 300-400 metres from each other, so it's super close. I think it's going to be cool for him too, another project, something new.”
Away from the glamour of a MotoGP weekend, a rider's life is dominated by a relentless training regime.
“Well, the easiest thing to do in Andorra is get on your bicycle,” Binder said of his chosen method. “We have a little coffee shop down the road and pretty much every day there's four or five people keen on a pedal.
“So someone just pops a message into the group: ‘8 or 9 o’clock?’ That's pretty much how it goes. There are some crazy steep climbs. It’s amazing. An hour and a half uphill and then 20 minutes to get back home!”
“Racing is such a fine line. You're in or you're out.”
Binder, who began his international career in his early teens, said he has never thought about what he might have done if he wasn’t a professional motorcycle racer.
“But I’m 95% sure I’d be in the engineering game, with my Dad,” he said.
“We always did the work on our bikes growing up and I still do all the simple stuff like changing tyres, brake pads, oil and whatever at home.
“It’s the biggest thing I really enjoy away from the racetrack.
“So for sure somewhere along the line in my career, once this racing story is over, that’ll be my ‘go to’.”
On a related topic, what does Binder think differentiates riders who make it to MotoGP and other talented youngsters who fade away?
“Yes, it’s such a fine line,” he replied.
“You see it so often over the years, some kids arrive and absolutely thrash everybody. But then somehow, they get a little bit lost for a couple of seasons. And that's it.
“Racing is so... You're in or you're out. There's no midway. You either perform or you’ve gotta go find another job.
“So it's always important when you have those ‘bumps’ - because everyone goes through them - to make sure they're as short as possible.
“Because if they drag on for too long, you never know where you might end up.”
Binder, the 2016 Moto3 World Champion and 2019 Moto2 runner-up, starts his 14th season in grand prix racing in Thailand at the end of February.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
