With second place at the Japan Grand Prix, Marc Márquez secured the MotoGP world championship title 2025. In the press conference after the race, Marquez spoke in detail about how much this great success means to him.
Marc Márquez: “I have an incredibly strange feeling. Of course I’m happy, but at the same time I am not happy because … I don’t know … I just have the feeling that I am at peace with myself.”
“In the past few years I have fought for many, many things. But the most difficult thing was to fight Marc. It was Marc against Marc. One Marc said one, the other Marc said the opposite. One said: ‘Set up!’
“In the end, I tried to follow my instinct, always give 100 percent, never give up and … yes, just try – that is the crucial word: try. We tried and we did it.”
“Now I just want to enjoy the moment. I don’t want to think about what I went through, I just want to enjoy this moment.”
After the sprint on Saturday, Márquez admitted that he felt the pressure of the World Cup decision and became nervous. He described this with “more weight” on his shoulders. Even in the Grand Prix, he did not drive as relaxed as usual in the first rounds.
Marc Márquez:“At the beginning of the race I was a little more careful than usual when I was overtaking.
“When I was in second place, I just checked the distance between ‘Pecco’, Joan and me. But then Joan began to push, and I said to myself: ‘Okay, now I will also push, I want to be second.'”
“Suddenly I saw smoke from ‘Peccos’ motorcycle, and I was afraid – because I was the first driver behind him. When someone falls first, I did it. Fortunately, nothing happened – neither for me nor for ‘Pecco’ or the other drivers.”
Márquez as emotionally than ever before
When the first World Cup celebrations began in the outlet round and Márquez took the helmet, he was seen as emotionally as rarely. Tears and joy mingled with an emotional overall picture. Did that surprise him?
Marc Márquez:“I expected it. I tried to control my feelings, but it was difficult to breathe right before the race – as it is when you are about to cry. I didn’t cried, but I couldn’t breathe normally. I said: ‘Okay, we are coming to an end now.’
“Today I couldn’t control my emotions. Even on the last round I cried in the helmet, and it was difficult to see the brake points at all. But in the end we are all people. I am like you. Everyone has a talent – I have mine. But we are all people and we just try to do our best.”
The most difficult challenge of his life mastered
With his seventh MotoGP world championship title and his ninth world championship title, Marc Márquez has reached the next milestone of his successful career. He is only the sixth driver who became world champion with two different motorcycle brands.
Marc Márquez: “I have already said it: this title is more than just a number. It is more than just a World Cup title. It was the greatest and most difficult challenge of my entire career.”
“If you stand at the top of the mountain, harvest the laurels every weekend and win titles, then the impact is all the harder when you fall. And in my case it wasn’t just a fall on the floor, I fell even deeper – so to speak under the floor.”
“It would have been impossible to get out of there. Many, many people around me helped me. I will not give a name, otherwise we would never be able to cope with this interview.”
“But there were so many people who helped me and gave me the opportunity to go my way. They told me: ‘Follow your instinct, we will still stay your friends.’ This support was very important to me. “
“For me it is beautiful that this circle in Japan closes. Here I also made the decision to take a new way. And today I am on the podium with the entire Ducati team and my former Honda team-it couldn’t have been more perfect.”
This World Cup title is more than a number
“More than a number) can be read on Ducati’s world champion shirts from Ducati. On the Internet, too, #Morethanan stray is the hashtag to his World Cup title. Márquez knew nothing about it until after the race.
Marc Márquez: “I saw this sentence for the first time when it appeared on the screen-just like her. Of course I know that the World Cup title is simply counted as a number in the end. But as I said on Thursday: For me personally, this title is more than just another World Cup title.”
“It was the greatest and most difficult challenge of my career. It is difficult to understand what I did – even now. I will not explain it in detail, but I wish no one. Only my passion gave me the chance to be back here. Without this passion, this comeback would have been impossible.”
One of the greatest comeback in sports history
After the 2019 World Cup title, Marc Márquez had reached the top. The arm injury in Jerez 2020 meant the deep case. Five years later, he fought his way up again and arrived in the Sport Olympus. He is compared to the greatest sports legends ever.
Marc Márquez: “I am not the one who should judge what I have achieved. I know what I went through, but you are those who can classify it. I just made everything, made my decisions and sacrificed a lot to achieve this goal.”
“The most important thing is that my goal was not the World Cup title at first. I didn’t look at the top of the mountain, not for the championship. My goal was to find my passion to enjoy motorcycling again and continue my career.”
“That was the crucial point. Of course it is an honor if my name is mentioned next to big names – not only in the MotoGP, but in the entire sport. But in the end I’m just Marc, and I will go on my way.”
With his next racing victory, Márquez will reach the 100 Grand Prix victory mark. But what comes after that? What will the next big chapter of his successful career as a racing driver look like?
Marc Márquez: “I don’t know. You can’t write the future, even if some try. You just don’t know what will happen tomorrow. At the moment I just want to enjoy the moment.”
“At some point this story will go on, and one day it will end. When the time comes, I will be at peace with myself – that’s the most important thing. That doesn’t mean that my ambitions have changed. I still have the same ambition.”