Alex Rins’ leg “fully burned, destroyed” in “extreme” Thai MotoGP heat

Yamaha’s Alex Rins says his leg was “fully burned” and “destroyed” due to the “extreme” heat at the MotoGP Thai Grand Prix.

Temperatures have been close to 40 degrees Celsius throughout the 2025 season-opening weekend at Buriram, with the heat forcing VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio to retire from the sprint due to burning.

This led to discussions on Saturday about the grand prix potentially being shortened from its original 26-lap distance, though that never happened in the end.

Conditions improved marginally for Sunday, though ambient temperature was still 36 degrees C.

Yamaha’s Rins says he “couldn’t handle” the heat from lap seven as his leg was “destroyed” by burns.

“For sure, it was a physical race, more to handle the heat on the body,” Rins, who was 17th, said.

“My leg is destroyed, fully burned. But already on the sprint I felt a little bit [the heat], but from lap seven today I couldn’t handle it.

“I was arriving on the back straight with the leg almost out [of the bike] to avoid this burning.

“In the end, the weather condition was a little bit better than yesterday.

“It was a little bit more cloudy and was a bit less warm than yesterday. But for sure, lap after lap, these 1000cc engines, we felt the heat.

“For sure today was extreme conditions, and also yesterday. I would say more so yesterday than today, but it is what it is.”

Honda’s Joan Mir was another to suffer on Sunday, noting that he got “blisters” on his legs from the heat coming from his bike.

He says the heat from the Honda was at its worst in slow corners, which led to him crashing out at the final corner on lap 15.

“I don’t know exactly the temperature but for sure it’s very hot,” Mir said.

“It’s burning. Also in the right corners, especially the slowest corners, I was burning. I crashed in a corner that I was burning myself.

“So, it was a shame but I think that all the difficult moments we spent with my team also make us stronger and we are happy in one part because we were able to be strong and we were competitive here.

“But in the other hand we know we have to continue working and try to avoid these things because I was not able to ride.”

Fabio Quartararo reckons reducing Thai GP distance “safer”

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo says 26 laps was “the maximum” the riders could have done in those conditions and believes it would have been “safer” to reduce the distance even if it would have been “worse for the show”.

“To be honest, it was really on the limit,” 2021 world champion added on the heat.

“I finished quite well, but these bikes with this heat I had all of my left leg burning.

“So, I think it was a little bit extreme because it never really happens in many places that you have that much hot condition.

“But I think that a little bit less laps would have been worse for the show, but it was clearly the maximum we could do today.

“I don’t really go to the safety commissions on Fridays, but sometimes we have to. For me it was safer to make the race a bit shorter and for everyone it was a bit safer.”

Shortening a race due to heat is not uncommon, with the inaugural Indian GP having laps knocked off its original distance due to extreme temperatures in 2023.

That race ended with Jorge Martin needing medical attention due to dehydration.

However, not everyone agrees that the 2025 Thai GP needed to be shortened, with LCR Honda rider Johann Zarco noting that the heat was the same for everyone and was “not dangerous”.

“I burned my calf, but we are not the only one,” he said.

“Jack burned his calf, Brad Binder has his biceps burned. So, all the bikes are struggling with the heat.

“It’s not dangerous, it’s more difficult, but not to the point that it becomes dangerous.

“It’s just too hot for the machines. It can be dangerous if the engines start to break, but also with these bikes if we break an engine the bikes stop.”