MotoGP Chief Medical Officer Charte: “If I didn’t switch off, I’d be dead!”

In the fourth part of the interview by SPEEDWEEK.com writer Manuel Pecino with MotoGP Chief Medical Officer Dr Angel Charte, the doctor explains the relationship he has with the riders and how he copes with difficult experiences.

Angel, do you feel that the medical team, together with the physiotherapists and the entire medical set-up of the World Championship, gives the riders a special sense of security? I think so. You spend the whole year with them and a direct relationship develops, which is sometimes personal, familial and professional.

The other day, when Bezzecchi crashed, he didn’t want to be examined by the Dutch doctors. He said to me: ‘You’re the one who should examine me.’ And Bezzecchi is a man of strong character. But you see it with Binder, Bagnaia and other riders too … I think they feel very safe with us.

I’m not infallible, but I have a set of guidelines and protocols that I follow. I worked in a hospital for 40 years and always did things the same way.

Do you need to be cut from a special cloth, both medically and professionally, to cope with an immediate intervention that can sometimes be brutal? I’m not saying that every doctor is cut out for it. We intensive care doctors are different. When a patient arrives at a hospital’s A&E department, you’re dealing with a situation that, whilst serious, is nevertheless different. Here, I drive out to accident scenes completely calm. Very, very calmly. Because if I weren’t, I’d pass that tension on to the team. And it’s not the same to be tense as it is to remain calm.

Topic of the week

Topic of the week: Aprilia comeback? The truth is: Aprilia never went away!

Four weeks ago, Aprilia headed into the summer break from Germany with a badly injured Marco Bezzecchi. The response came from the heart of British motor racing: ‘Together we are strong!’

Read more

TV program

Live

Aragon: International Livestream

MotoGP World Championship

28.08.2026 - 08:55

When I’m told: ‘Turn 12, driver unconscious’, I don’t know exactly what to expect. But I can imagine it: he might have an internal injury, a broken thigh bone, an open fracture, bruised lungs, a concussion or severe traumatic brain injury. That’s why you mustn’t hesitate.

What is the first thing a doctor must do in that moment? This might sound like a defence of our work, but it is not our job to make a diagnosis when there is no time for it. Our job is to save his life. There is no room for hesitation here. You know there is something you have to do, and you have to do it seriously, responsibly and professionally. If you are not capable of doing that, you are not cut out for this job. Nor would you be suited to working in a hospital’s intensive care unit.

My brother is a surgeon and, after working in A&E for ten years, he eventually needed psychological support because he felt he sometimes had to take on the role of God – that he could save some patients but not others. How do you manage to switch off after a serious accident? I,too , have to deal with my frustrations. If I were to take every seriously ill patient to heart, I would have died 30 years ago. When I get home, I try to carry out a brief analysis of what has happened. I have my team in the intensive care unit and the A&E department, and I go through the things that might have been overlooked. If necessary, I ring them up and ask: ‘Hey, can you have a closer look at this?’

But I try to switch off. If I didn’t switch off, I’d be dead. You can’t go to bed with all that on your mind.

Don’t you ever take one of those particularly difficult cases home with you? Especially when it involves young people? Sometimes I do. Especially when it involves young people or children. People who really grow on you.

And how many years have you been working in this field? I’ve been here at the ‘Mundial’ for a very long time. I started when I was 23, in 1979 or 1980.

And all that time without a psychologist? Well , everyone’s life is complicated on a personal, family and professional level. I’ve actually tried seeing a psychologist myself.