Binder: ‘I gave absolutely everything I had’

Fourth behind the trio of Ducatis in the world championship standings, Binder replicated that finishing position in both the Sprint and Sunday race, leaving him 100 points from Bagnaia.

Fourth was still ‘quite decent’ from just 14th on the grid, but the weekend also highlighted rear grip struggles for the RC16 on the stiffer heat-resistant tyre casing, which will reappear at Buriram next month.

“I gave absolutely everything I had today,” said Binder, who finished four-seconds behind the Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo but narrowly held off Honda's Joan Mir at the finish. “It wasn’t quite the result we were hoping for but coming back from 12th to 4th was quite decent.

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“We worked as hard as we could to maximise what we had for today. The bike felt good but I think we were just struggling a bit more than we anticipated to get out of the slower corners.

“It is clear what we need to improve for the future and hopefully for Japan.

“I was able to be super consistent. But with 5 laps to go I had no tyre left. It was a rough day out there today. I tried really hard. It just was not quite what I had in mind.”

Team manager Francesco Guidotti said: “Of course, we should be more in front but the result today was OK. Being on, or as close to, the podium is our seasonal target and while you can always want better now-and-then we have to be happy with a 4th.”

Team-mate Jack Miller finished 14th after dropping to last in the opening laps.