Why surviving Turn 1 at the Sachsenring is so difficult for MotoGP riders

Three years ago at the German Grand Prix, Francesco Bagnaia went down at the Sachsenring’s first corner. The spill lost him second place in the race and his championship challenge looked to be over. (Fun fact: It wasn’t.)

Even as he was still sliding on the tarmac, Bagnaia launched a theatrical remonstration with his Ducati; a tirade of gestures which continued in the gravel trap. In hindsight, he was wrong to have a go at his GP22. His ire should have been aimed at the corner itself.

Consider last year, when Jorge Martin lost a grand prix victory at the same bend with just under two laps left in the race. And now, of course, the 2025 German GP, when Turn 1 really bit hard. No fewer than six riders went down at the right-hander on Sunday.

If it didn’t have one already, Turn 1 at the Sachsenring certainly has a reputation now. It’s up there with Turn 3 at Jerez, the corner that stung both Mick Doohan and Marc Marquez. Or the final chicane at Montreal’s Formula 1 circuit, where the ‘Wall of Champions’ caught out so many a great name in the past. What they lack in inspiring names, these corners make up for with an air of menace.

What is it that makes the opening right-hander at the Sachsenring so tough for bikes? Well, a big part of the answer is nestled in that last sentence: the turn goes right. At a strange little anti-clockwise track where nearly all the other corners go left, it’s hard to keep temperature in the right side of the tyre. And with that right side of the tyre your only contact patch with the track as you tip it into the corner, you have a motorcycle-specific problem.

Then there’s the fact that you’re trying to negotiate it downhill – and on a slope that begins in an awkward spot. The crest lies just where you’re trying to brake from over 300kph to around 70kph, which makes the front end go light at exactly the wrong moment.

And while the bend may not be fast, it’s technically challenging. The apex kerb you’re aiming for doesn’t come until the very end, leaving you searching around for a line as you descend, banked over, towards it. Accidents typically come early in the piece, but it’s no picnic near the apex either – see Bagnaia’s 2022 accident once again. In races, the trickiness is complicated by the fact that Turn 1 is one of the few overtaking spots on the track. That entry line, in particular, will probably need to be flexible at some point in the contest.

Those are the factors that make the corner difficult at the best of times. But the circumstances of the 2025 German GP added another layer. With hindsight – such a wonderful thing! – we should perhaps have seen Turn 1’s flurry of late-race accidents coming.

Even though the sun emerged just before the start on Sunday, temperatures were cool at the Sachsenring. That made it a particularly tough day to keep the right side of the tyre warm enough to handle the demands of Turn 1. Also, following a rainy Saturday, the grand prix went ahead on a ‘green’ circuit offering very little grip.

“I think I felt a drop in the front tyre in Turn 1. Maybe the front tyre pressure was rising or [it was the] temperature. I said, ‘OK, now [this] is the limit. We need to brake deeper and straighter and then go in a little bit slower’” Luca Marini

The loss of dry running on Saturday had also cost teams the chance to get a further feel for how the tyres might behave at the trouble spot in the second half of the grand prix – which is when all the crashes happened.

A dry race with a grid set in the wet was probably also a factor, as out-of-place riders slotting into their ‘true’ positions meant more traffic. This meant more time running in other people’s dirty air, leading to the perils of high front tyre pressure.

Finally, as if somebody had turned the Schadenfreude dial up to the maximum at the Sachsenring, there was a tailwind pushing the bikes into the first corner.

Di Giannantonio walks away from a crash that lost him a certain podium

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

Two riders, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi, lost podium positions due to mistakes at the right-hander. Others to explore its gravel trap at close quarters were Johann Zarco, Lorenzo Savadori, Ai Ogura and Joan Mir – the latter admittedly skittled out by the Japanese rookie. If you want to know how to survive Turn 1 over a race distance on such a tricky day, then, don’t ask those guys.

Turn instead to one of the mere 10 who made it to the end – a level of attrition that equalled the MotoGP era record. Ask someone like Luca Marini, who brought his factory Honda home a morale-boosting sixth on his return from injury.

“I think I felt a drop in the front tyre in Turn 1,” said the analytical Italian afterwards, referring to two consecutive laps when he felt a change under braking. “Maybe the front tyre pressure was rising or [it was the] temperature or something like this. I said, ‘OK, now [this] is the limit. We need to brake deeper and straighter and then go in a little bit slower’.”

Marini’s views are interesting on a day like this, when the mere feat of finishing brought big rewards. Because although he’s no slouch – he scored two poles for VR46 in 2023, remember – he’s certainly good at avoiding crashes. Granted, he’s missed three races, but he remains the only full-time rider not to register a MotoGP fall so far this season.

Asked what his secret to staying upright was, Marini said: “Understanding the bike and putting temperature in the tyres always. Because many times we [MotoGP riders] have crashed because of tyres that are not in the working window. Most of the crashes are caused by this.

“So far, I think I’ve been quite good at understanding this and always trying to put temperature in the tyres. And then, during the races, listening to the bike and listening to the feedback of the tyre. Pushing all the time at the limit but trying not to go over the limit.”

Marini feels understanding the grip limits, but never going over, was the only way to stay upright through Turn 1

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

A similar approach from a far less experienced rider, rookie Fermin Aldeguer, also paid dividends as the Spaniard finished fifth. How did he manage to stay on board yet put Fabio Quartararo under pressure until the end? Simple: he just looked for speed at places other than the obvious danger spot!

Another thing Aldeguer did right was learn the lesson that came with crashing at Turn 1 on Friday. (That’s more than you can say for Zarco, who was the only other to get a painfully clear warning on the practice days.) The Gresini man’s summing-up of the weekend was another reminder of how quickly the MotoGP rookie takes knowledge on board.

“You’re turning left all the time, and when you need the right side, maybe the temperature isn’t 100%,” said Aldeguer. “You have the same confidence as with the left side, but you feel a bit of push from the rear tyre. And so these types of mistakes can happen. I understood that on Friday and today I didn’t take a risk on that part of the track. Today, the risk was in other corners!

Bezzecchi claimed his fall came in spite of him going easy on the brakes – understandable after he’d seen Di Giannantonio’s crash at close quarters

“I’m happy with how I managed the race, because it was difficult to stay on the bike. We saw a lot of crashes in the first corner. When you see other riders crash, you take more care.”

It is easy, of course, to sound wise when you’ve got it right. But given how many stars this corner has caught out over the years, you can certainly argue that luck plays a part in whether or not it scuppers your race. Bezzecchi, for example, claimed his fall came in spite of him going easy on the brakes – understandable after he’d seen Di Giannantonio’s crash at close quarters.

But whether the corner rewards luck, judgment or a mixture of both, we may be sure that savvy MotoGP photographers will be camping out at Turn 1 next year, lenses poised, just waiting for something to happen. And they probably won’t have to wait long until it does.

The MotoGP pack has another 12 months until it needs to face the daunting challenge of Sachsenring’s Turn 1 again

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images