Binder: Pecco and Fabio ‘were having a full ding-dong, pretty cool to watch’

Binder eventually made his way through on both riders, but not before spending several laps tucked up behind new MotoGP champion Bagnaia in particular. 

Often the fastest rider on track, Binder still came within half a second of winning the Grand Prix after making a late comeback that saw him overtake Jack Miller and Jorge Martin. 

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However, the KTM rider lost over two seconds on lap two due to Quartararo and Bagnaia being involved in an intense battle that led to six overtakes. 

Speaking about the potential of his RC16 on Sundays and the battle in front of him, Binder said: "I think our bike is just really good over race distance. I think we’re missing a little bit in the full out performance. But when it comes to a race our bike really stays level throughout which is fantastic. Points are on a Sunday. 

"As far as passing Pecco and Fabio, I was right behind them at the start of the race and obviously with the front pressure going up, the feeling wasn’t great.

"You’re really locking a lot and you don’t have a great feeling going into the corners. When you know you have to brake a little later to get passed, then of course you don’t want to wipe them out. 

"I managed to get passed both of them really cleanly, that was great. They were having a full ding-dong at the beginning of the race. It was pretty cool to watch but we lost a ton of time."

Binder ends MotoGP season winless for first time in his career

Despite putting in arguably the best ride of any rider during Sunday’s race, Binder said his mindset was to win, nothing else. 

Binder had won at least one race in every world championship season he’s competed in since 2017, but while frustrating for the South African to not continue that streak in 2022, he was well aware that Sunday’s podium was a great result and one that can boost KTM going into 2023. 

Binder added: "I’m extremely happy to be on the podium come the end of the season. It’s the first year I haven’t taken a victory in quite a few seasons. This weekend I came with the mindset that I had to win but it didn’t work out. 

"Congrats to Alex [Rins] and Jorge [Martin] they did an amazing job. I need to say thank you to my team - I have the most amazing crew behind me, some crazy and incredible people at KTM and we’ve had some great times this season and some hard times too. 

"But we’ve always managed to give our best come race day and it’s good to finish in the top six in the world championship. 

"We’ve made a step this weekend which is fantastic because I’ve been requesting a little bit more drive grip all year and they brought it for this race. I really hope for the 2023 season we can find that last little bit to try and be more competitive every weekend. 

"I tried so hard today to get through the guys, but early on it was so difficult to pass guys with a full fuel tank. But as soon as I started to lose a bit of fuel I could brake a bit later and make some moves. 

"Happy to finish on the podium and let’s keep fighting and see what Tuesday [test] brings us."