The MotoGP rookie fighting two fronts in his debut year

The job MotoGP rookies face now is astronomically difficult. Such is the level of the premier class in 2022 that every rider has won a race at least once in one of the classes of grand prix racing, while 14 of the current crop of 24 have won world titles.

On top of that, the level of rookies in recent years has been so high that expectations have naturally (but unfairly) have shifted. In the last two seasons, two newcomers – Brad Binder and Jorge Martin – scored wins in their rookie campaigns, while there have been strong podium showings for the likes of Fabio Quartararo in 2019, Alex Marquez in 2020 and Enea Bastianini in 2021.

But there is one rookie in 2022 who is having a harder go at it than most for two reasons. At RNF Racing, Darryn Binder has stepped straight up from Moto3 to MotoGP aboard the Yamaha that Quartararo took to the championship in 2021.

This isn’t the first time a rider has gone straight from Moto3 to the top class; Jack Miller did so in 2015 with LCR after signing a three-year deal with Honda. But Miller’s pedigree in grand prix racing far surpassed Binder’s. The Australian was a runner-up in the championship in 2014, having made his full-time debut in 2012. And though Miller was a rough diamond to begin with in MotoGP, he became a race winner in 2016 with Marc VDS and has been a mainstay of Ducati’s line-up since 2018.

Binder – younger brother of double MotoGP winner Brad - by contrast, spent seven seasons in Moto3 and managed just one win back in 2020. As RNF’s options for 2022 dwindled throughout last year, Binder’s signing from the squad’s former Petronas SRT entity in Moto3 came with a hefty financial incentive – reportedly, to the tune of around 500,000 euros.

Until August of last year, the younger Binder brother hadn’t even ridden a big motorcycle on a circuit before a test on a Yamaha R1 Superbike at Brno. So, bereft of big bike experience, Binder always faced an uphill struggle. But that incline was only worsened by his own reputation. Nicknamed (affectionately or otherwise, depending on what side of the fence you sat) ‘Divebomb’ for his aggressive out-braking moves, Binder’s riding courted criticism.

Binder has courted controversy for over-aggression in Moto3, and attempted to wind it back to make sure he finishes races

Photo by: MotoGP

This came to a head at the worst possible time, when an overtake gone awry on the final lap of the Moto3 Algarve Grand Prix saw Binder wipe out Dennis Foggia – handing the 2021 title to the latter’s rival Pedro Acosta. When this incident happened, Binder’s MotoGP promotion had already been cemented.

While Binder and his RNF team have repeatedly brushed off suggestions the pressure has been high, the South African made his first suggestions during the Americas Grand Prix weekend that the weight of expectation of his failure has, in some way, been conditioning his riding in 2022.

“I've always been a strong braker,” the lanky Binder, exuding the same laid-back energy we have become accustomed to seeing from his brother, tells Autosport when we sit down with him at the Circuit of the Americas. “So, I feel like I'm gonna eventually get that under control. But right now, when you're arriving at the end of a straight over 300km/h, if you break five or 10 metres later, it makes a really big difference at 300km/h.

"Right now the most important thing is to finish the races. You learn the most in a race, like 25 laps non-stop, you're gonna learn a lot more than a couple of laps here a couple of laps there" Darryn Binder

“I've always been on a little bit on the early side, because I don't want to run wide, I don't wanna mess up. Slowly but surely, I'm getting a bit better at the late braking. But step by step, that's something that I think is just gonna take a little bit of time.”

When asked if this cautious approach to braking in MotoGP was a result of the intense scrutiny he is under, Binder replies: “It's half and half, you know. I mean, obviously, I don't want to make a mistake in general; I just don't want to mess up, even if I just run wide or anything.

“Especially in Argentina, when people were running wide all the time, I was really a little bit scared to go up the inside of somebody or try and dive them - and then maybe make a mistake and clean them out. I feel like I would be really shooting myself in the foot, because I get a lot flak from it or whatever. So that's definitely one of the reasons I try to keep everything clean and tidy.

“It's just it's one of those things. Right now the most important thing is to finish the races. You know, even in Argentina before the race started, everybody said just see the chequered flag. You learn the most in a race, like 25 laps non-stop, you're gonna learn a lot more than a couple of laps here a couple of laps there. So my main goal is to keep my nose clean and learn as much as I can.”

Binder admits he's ridden with his critics in mind

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

And to his credit, Binder has done just that. In all four races so far in 2022, he has seen the chequered flag. In Qatar, he came from the back of the grid to narrowly miss a point battling with fellow rookie Remy Gardner on the Tech3 KTM over 15th, while in Indonesia he stormed through 23rd to claim 10th in the wet. Argentina and Austin were more difficult, Binder taking 18th and 23rd – although a technical issue forced him to come into pitlane briefly in the latter.

The most noticeable sign of improvement has come in qualifying. Though he is yet to lift himself off the bottom row of the grid in MotoGP, he has steadily been reducing his deficit to the fastest in the Q1 session. In Qatar he was 2.499s off the pace, while in the dry Indonesia Q1 he was 1.080s outside of a Q2 place. And in Argentina he was only 0.879s from getting out of Q1.

Compared to RNF team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, a winner of 15 races and three times a MotoGP title runner-up on the 2022-spec Yamaha, his deficit of 1.767s in Qatar to the Italian shrunk to 0.429s and 0.442s over the next two rounds. Austin ended this trend, as three crashes across Friday and Saturday bruised his confidence sufficiently to keep him from pushing in Q1, leaving him last.

Encouragingly though, his comments about the Yamaha after each session seem to tally with what the marque’s other riders have been saying.

“I think from the beginning, my general comments have been pretty similar to the other riders from what I've been told by the crew,” he adds. “So at least I know then I'm on the right path, I'm not dreaming up something. I'd come in and explain something and they'd tell me that that's quite the general comment, then at least I know that I'm in the right ballpark, more or less.”

Binder also says it’s been a huge boost for him to be able to look at reigning world champion Quartararo’s data from last year and continue to compare himself to the Frenchman on the 2022 bike.

In years gone by, the Yamaha has been famed for being a user-friendly package and one preferred by rookies. Raul Fernandez, for example, felt joining Petronas SRT/RNF on a Yamaha was a better bet for his early MotoGP career than moving to Tech3 with KTM. But Quartararo over the last few seasons has moved to quash the notion that the M1 is an easy bike. While Binder feels it’s more consistent from track to track, he does concede that the bike’s operating window is incredibly narrow.

Binder battles brother Brad on the KTM in Indonesia

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“I have nothing to compare it to, so it's really difficult for me to say what I think,” he said. “But I think it is still maybe a little but more user-friendly than the other bikes. The window is very small when it works really well and when you struggle a little bit, from my personal feeling - from the warm-up [in Argentina] to the race, just the track condition change and how much I struggled in the race compared to in the warm-up. In that area, the window is quite narrow.

“But I still think it is definitely a friendlier bike, in the sense that it's consistent in almost all the tracks. Okay, maybe some tracks you struggle a little bit here or there. But I feel like there's bikes that work really well at certain tracks and really don't, where's our bike seems to be pretty consistent.”

You get the impression that, no matter what Binder does, he will still be judged on his reputation. In Qatar, Gardner called the South African’s riding “a disaster” – though, unsurprisingly, Binder felt he wasn’t out of line. But any blatant incident will lead to another witch hunt.

"I'm expecting everybody to start making steps forward. But I feel like I'm on track to do the same thing" Darryn Binder

“I feel like I have surprised a couple people for sure,” Binder concludes when asked if he feels like he’s doing enough to show he belongs in MotoGP. “I feel like I've been doing quite an alright job considering [I’m] coming from Moto3 especially. So even if you came with the Moto2 guys that have stepped up, I believe that things are going to change obviously now as we all get more and more experienced. I'm expecting everybody to start making steps forward. But I feel like I'm on track to do the same thing. So, I feel like I'm going to follow the other guys, I hope.”

Whether he deserved a place in MotoGP for 2022 is now irrelevant. He has one and he is trying to make the best of the situation – a situation few would envy, given his reputation and his lack of experience.

If it’s enough for him to keep his seat for 2023, that is something hard to judge, not least by the somewhat uncertain nature of RNF Racing, which only has a one-year deal with Yamaha currently. But Binder is hopeful, and if he keeps up the trajectory he has so far shown then he will be well on his way to earning an extended stay in MotoGP.

Binder still has detractors to win over, but is heading in the right direction

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images