Binder responds to “sensitive” Rossi after criticism

Rossi took aim at Binder on Thursday ahead of this weekend’s Doha GP, after the South African nudged the Petronas SRT rider slightly wide at Turn 1 late on in last week’s Qatar race.

Binder came in for criticism as Rossi talked about how some of the grid – including the KTM rider – don’t have the same level of “respect” on track as others do.

When asked by Motorsport.com for his response to this, Binder said: “I’ve had two moments with him. So, the one time in Austria [last year] we both went completely off the track, which is understandable.

“I think a second time it’s normal to get a bit upset. But, to be fair, I didn’t touch him at all and I think maybe he is a bit sensitive. But other than that I don’t think I did anything wrong. I went next to him, I started to brake, he released the brake and wanted to close the line.

“So, I released the brake too, end of story.”

KTM appeared more competitive on Friday in Qatar, with Miguel Oliveira just 0.030s outside of a Q2 place in 11th after Friday.

Binder could only manage 18th after encountering an issue with his rear tyres on his time attacks, but feels Friday of the Doha GP is the “first time we’ve really touched my problems”.

“Better in the way that I feel much better with stopping the bike on corner entry and the turning seems a bit better,” he said of his day. “So, it’s the first time I feel we’ve really touched my problems.

“Very not happy about the tyre in FP2, it didn’t work at all. It was like riding on ice and my other tyre had a jump in it. So very weird. It’s definitely a little bit more positive. I think the guys did a good job this week and I feel like my bike is working better and I have a lot more confidence with some of the changes that they’ve made.

“The really annoying thing was I felt like it was ready to do a good job, but we had two issues that were out of our control in the FP2 and I felt that really hurt me, or at least hurt my chance to try to get into the Q2.”