The longer I'm here on Earth, the more I realize that there are basically two types of people in the world: Those who ask few if any questions, and those who ask all the questions and have to constantly soak up all the information they can, like a sponge.
Often, you find out which type of person you are when you're a kid. In fact, you may even drive the adults around you mad because you insist on asking so many questions. Any guesses which kind of kid I was?
If you, like me, are the type of person whose day is easily made when you get to learn something new and cool, then you may want to take a few minutes out of your busy day to watch this interview video. Earlier in 2025, I had the opportunity to sit down (well, stand up) with one of Brembo Racing's dedicated MotoGP racing engineers, Mattia Tombolan.
In a previous piece, I talked about some of what we discussed, and you're more than welcome to read that as an accompaniment to the interview video I'm about to show you here.
For some contemporaneous context, this interview was conducted during the Mugello race weekend, when things weren't nearly as certain as they eventually became. Although the very heated battle between the brothers Márquez was already well underway, it still wasn't certain who would come out on top by the end. And of course, at Mugello, a large portion of the crowd was cheering for hometown favorite Pecco Bagnaia.
Still, even all the fan goodwill and wishes in the world can't change race results. Ultimately, it was Marc who won the race, with Álex just under two seconds behind. Fabio Di Giannantonio rounded out the podium in third for that race, taking the honor of being the top-finishing Italian racer at his home race.
But regardless of where each racer finished in the race, it's impossible to confidently go around Mugello (or anywhere else) at the insane speeds they do if you don't have brakes you can rely on. One really kind of mind-blowing thing is that it really is Brembo all the way down, and not because it's some type of spec mandate or contract the company has signed with MotoGP.
As Tombolan sees it, MotoGP teams choose Brembo for two reasons: Reliability in even the most extreme circumstances, and the fact that Brembo is the only one using the proprietary technologies they do to create the state-of-the-art braking systems they do for the top tier of motorcycle racing.
Teams could technically be free to choose something else, if they wanted. But right now, why would they want to?
