Maverick Vinales has just said the last thing Brad Binder wanted to hear with his ‘important’ German Grand Prix warning

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Brad Binder was KTM’s worst rider in the 2025 MotoGP Dutch Grand Prix, so he will head for the German Grand Prix bidding to bounce straight back at the Sachsenring.

The 29-year-old would only manage an 11th-place finish at the TT Circuit Assen two weeks ago, as factory KTM teammate Pedro Acosta led the Austrian crew’s hopes with his P4 in the Dutch GP. Tech3 pair Maverick Vinales and Enea Bastianini also managed to get P5 and P9.

Binder finished a massive 18.167 seconds behind Acosta, and 14.127s behind Vinales, in the Dutch GP, as well. He now sits just 13th in the riders’ standings, too, after the first 10 rounds of the 2025 MotoGP season on 47 points to Acosta in P9 with 98 and Vinales in P10 with 69.

KTM have also seen Binder record only one top-10 finish in the last five rounds ahead of this week’s German GP. The Sachsenring has not always been a happy hunting ground for the South African in MotoGP, too, with an average result of P6 from three finishes in four starts.

Brad Binder will not like Maverick Vinales’ warning about qualifying at the German GP

Binder admitted he did not have the speed at Assen, where the only positive aspect he took away from the weekend was finishing the Dutch GP in the points. He also only managed P10 in the Sprint Race at the Dutch GP and qualified P16 as the third-worst of KTM’s four bikes.

It was also the eighth time through 10 rounds that Binder failed to progress from Q1, having qualified on average down in P14. The only times that the 2016 Moto3 champion has taken part in a Q2 session this year were when Binder qualified P11 in Argentina and P6 at Aragon.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Brad Binder from career stats to wife

So, it will likely not come as music to Binder’s ears that Vinales thinks qualifying will be ‘even more important’ at the German GP, given the tight and twisty layout of the Sachsenring. The Tech3 ace qualified in P10 at Assen last time out, just shy of Acosta as KTM’s top rider in P9.

Vinales has noted ahead of the German GP weekend, via quotes by Paddock-GP: “The main objective is to improve the qualifications and to start from the first two rows.

“It will be even more important at the Sachsenring, which is a very technical track with a lot of tight corners. So, you can easily get caught out if you are in the middle of the pack.”

KTM and Tech3 will fear difficult days at the German GP for Brad Binder and Maverick Vinales

Binder enjoyed his visits to the Sachsenring as a Moto2 rider after winning the intermediate class race at the 2018 German GP and finishing second in 2019. Yet Binder finished fourth in 2021, secured seventh in 2022, retired in 2023 and got ninth in 2024 over his MotoGP visits.

KTM also only saw Binder qualify in P11 last year before taking eighth in the Sprint Race and finishing the 2024 German GP 15.084s off the lead as Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia won. The South African was the second-highest placed KTM rider, with Acosta securing P7 for Tech3.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Maverick Vinales from career stats to net worth

If Binder cannot improve his 2025 MotoGP season qualifying form at the Sachsenring, KTM will likely fear another difficult German GP for the two-time premier class Grand Prix winner. Tech3 may also fear Vinales struggling, having not finished higher than P12 there since 2019.

Vinales came second with Yamaha in the 2019 German GP, before MotoGP did not return to the Sachsenring in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic. He then came 19th in the 2021 meet, before switching to Aprilia and taking P12 in his only German GP finish for the team in 2024.