MRW Issue 41

Brad Binder’s MotoGP pitbox is a hive of
characters, nationalities, expertise, and
dedication. The 28-year-old sits at the
back, in his crook, while the KTM RC16s
are fettled in front of him. Wheels are
wrapped, swapped and attached, cables
fly, tools clank. People almost dance
around the small, carpeted space as
they work. Binder usually stares into and
beyond the panorama; lost somewhere
between concentration and focus and
thought. When he’s not armed with a
clipboard or talking into a microphone to
the rest of the group, or staring at a data
monitor, Andrés Madrid is conducting
proceedings and trying to make the scene
move to Binder’s tune.
Brad enters 2024 MotoGP and his tenth
season in Red Bull KTM colors, and
Madrid has been with him through nine
campaigns of this decade spell. From a
data engineer in Aki Ajo’s Red Bull KTM
Ajo Team in Moto3, then Crew Chief
in Moto2 and then the same role in
the considerably bigger expanses of the
MotoGP Factory team since the beginning
of 2021. Binder has been 11th, 6th, 6th
and 4th in his previous MotoGP terms.
Together with Andrés, there is a sense that
’24 could be something even more special.
If there is one fallacy with MotoGP
‘awareness’, then it’s a lack of light on
the role that the team play inside and
outside the pitbox and the value to the
result. There are 22 highly skilled, highly
experienced (they have been competing
since they were small children), highly
motivated and extremely brave athletes on
the grid. But behind every single one is a
knowledgeable, weathered and diplomatic