Newly-crowned MotoGP 2025 champion Marc Marquez admits he will have to be vigilant against a 'championship hangover' - having been exhausted emotionally by getting his title over the line.
While Marquez wrapped up a very dominant title campaign with five rounds to spare at Motegi, he had felt the pressure keenly despite the coronation seeming a foregone conclusion for months.
He now comes to the Indonesian Grand Prix at Mandalika with a weight lifted from his shoulders but "more tired than ever" - and admitting he would've preferred to have some rest now instead of going into more racing right away.
And he said it felt different now to how it had been for him after winning titles early in the past. Marquez's level dipped late on in his dominant 2014 season, and after clinching with three rounds to spare in 2016, but not in 2019 where he continued to dominate even once crowned already.
“You know, when a long time ago I was winning and there remained some races [in the season] it was like 'I want to arrive to the next one and attack and win everything'.
"But right now, it's like, I suffered so much pressure during all those seasons [between then and now], I just want to enjoy it. Let's see - try to do the maximum, and especially the first target is to try not to do stupid mistakes, because when you achieve your main target, adrenaline comes down and then sometimes you don't have the same concentration."
His brother Alex theorised that he will be liberated by being crowned champion and will thus feel free - and willing - to contend in every competitive session.
"In many other situations, when somebody wins the championship, they relax [and slow down] a little bit," said Alex. "But Marc is a little bit the opposite - it's like 'OK, now I want to win the five races, the five sprints, make all the poles'. It will be tough, but it's not our fight there," he added, referencing his main mission of hanging on to second in the championship.
However, Marc himself made it clear that's not necessarily how he saw it - and that he'd be satisfied just to be consistently on the podium.
"If some practice I'm fifth, sixth - we will have another practice in two hours. I had a lot of pressure during all that last seasons, now I just want to enjoy it. I will have time to put pressure on myself and have the same ambition on 2026."
There are milestones for him to check off but they do not hold an outsized importance. There are just two current MotoGP tracks - Mandalika and Portimao (coming up in November) - where he hasn't won a race, but he is not interested in creating "extra pressure" to change that.
Equally, he likes his chances of setting a new record for grand prix wins in a season - he's at 11 currently, and needs to beat his own mark of 13 from 2014 - but says this is primarily due to eyeing up Phillip Island and Valencia, with the other tracks (the aforementioned Mandalika and Portimao, as well as Sepang) not too favourable.
Asked by The Race whether he's now in 2026 preparation mode, he said: "Yeah, this weekend starts already the work for 2026. We need to re-try some things, try to play a bit with the set-up, try to play with the different things we have available."
