Brad Binder’s surge from 15th to first in the MotoGP sprint in Argentina was a show-stopping delight, a charge the likes of which the series organisers would’ve struggled to imagine in their wildest dreams when they came up with the format.
Yet remarkably, it was somehow much simpler than the numbers made it look, with the actual ‘charge’ part of the win completed in just over two laps, aided by the high early-laps aggression within the pack, including Binder’s own.
Somehow, getting to first turned out to be the easy part. And it was the race of another rider that was somehow equally as important – if not more so – to Binder pulling off his remarkable feat.
But first, a closer look at how the South African KTM rider’s pivotal first three laps unfolded.
Binder was starting fourth-to-last after a disappointing qualifying in mixed conditions – though he did only miss out on Q2 by just over a tenth of a second.
So good was his initial launch that he cleared the riders ahead of him on his row, row five, immediately, both Raul Fernandez and Fabio Di Giannantonio left behind.
The initial launch gains didn’t stop there. By the time the braking started properly, Binder was ninth, perhaps also a little fortunate to have his momentum not impeded at all by the terrible getaway of Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin from the middle of row three.
Entering the sweeping right-hander Turn 1 – braking late and absolutely hugging the apex – Binder first had the two Aprilias and LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami on his outside, but then drew level with Johann Zarco and Pecco Bagnaia up ahead, Zarco taking Bagnaia slightly out wide.
So Binder’s aggressive line translated into fifth place, but it meant his momentum was compromised exiting the corner. So coming up to the left-hand Turn 2, also a long sweeping corner, he now had Maverick Vinales and Bagnaia either side of him. No matter though – both were seen off on the brakes.
Next up, a gift. Up ahead, Marco Bezzecchi sought to make quick work of VR46 Ducati team-mate Luca Marini but ran out of room on the inside through the latter half of the hairpin-like Turn 5 right-hander, clipping Marini’s rear.
That sent Bezzecchi wide, promoting Binder into fourth place. Marini then had just enough of a shake through the long left-hander Turn 11 to allow Binder to set up a move at the sharp hairpin-like Turn 13 right-hander.
Another shake for a year-old Ducati – this time a bigger one for Alex Marquez exiting the right-hander Turn 3 – meant Binder could ease into second and tuck in behind leader Franco Morbidelli for the next lap and a bit.
He then pounced on Morbidelli in a delightful third-lap move, set up through the changes of direction through Turns 9, 10 and 11, to take a lead he would never relinquish.
“S**t, I surprised myself a little bit there,” Binder said after the race.
“What a start. Got super tight into Turn 1 and just tried to hug the inside, and then yeah, just one at a time and I tried to say ‘OK, if I go to the front and I fight like hell, there’s a good chance I can maybe stay there’.
“The plan worked out perfectly, I could hear the [VR46] boys right behind me on the last lap, so I had to keep locking.
“Thanks so much to my team, the step they made from yesterday was unreal, my bike worked fantastic.”
Binder has a richly-earned reputation for being one of the grid’s most reliable and efficient riders come race trim, but as good as his charge was, he really needed some help to bring this one over the line.
That help came in the form of a feisty but not-quite-tidy-enough race for the super-fast Bezzecchi, who finished 0.072s behind him.
Bezzecchi already looked to have spectacular race pace on Friday, second maybe only to Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, and was starting the sprint seven places ahead of Espargaro.
But he dropped to fourth from second early on and, likely looking to make up ground as soon as possible, compromised himself further by clipping Marini.
The next few laps, he was in the wars. Having dropped behind Vinales, he passed him at Turn 1 on the second tour, only for Vinales to absolutely divebomb him at Turn 5, this leaving Bezzecchi in eighth place.
He had to fight off the two Aprilias, finally succeeding for good on lap four, and then worked his way past fellow Ducati rider Bagnaia on the fifth lap at Turn 5.
But in a lunge on Marquez at the same place the following lap he not only failed to complete the move, but allowed Bagnaia to get past them both.
Later into the lap, Bezzecchi did get an overtake done on Marquez, pouncing at the penultimate corner.
That began his ascent. Two laps later, Bagnaia was again dispatched at Turn 5. The following tour, with Marini getting ahead of Morbidelli up the road, Bezzecchi took care of the Yamaha man with a forceful penultimate-corner move.
Then it was team-mate Marini’s turn to be dealt with, which Bezzecchi did exiting Turn 4, squeezing Marini towards the outside on approach to Turn 5 to ensure the move got done.
Having been 1.127s off the lead after six laps, he was now 0.649s behind with two laps to run and no traffic separating him and Binder. At the start of the final lap, that gap was all but gone.
But Bezzecchi wasn’t quite close enough at Turn 5, and Binder shut the door through through other favoured overtaking spot Turn 13, leaving the VR46 man no way through.
The way the race had played out, removing any one of the many hold-ups Bezzecchi had experienced – either through his own aggression or that of others – would’ve surely made him the winner instead.
