“This title was really, really difficult. The start of the year was the most difficult part, maybe the most difficult in my career, because the bike was hard to ride. We had uphill in front, and we must find a way.
“I remember saying to Honda’s engineers: ‘I believe in you, so I will change my mentality for the early races, but in the second part of the season, I need your help.’
“This help arrived. They did a great job with electronics and to improve the acceleration.
“The first two wins [Round 2 in Argentina and 3 in the USA] were really important. Leading the championship, you can approach it in a different way. You can accept second place. Then at Le Mans [Round 5, where he fell and remounted for 13th] I did a mistake, trying to push more than I could feel the bike. So I said: ‘Okay. I must not push more than I can feel.’
“In the second half of the season, I got a bit nervous, but I was waiting for Aragón … the weekend to win again.
“My team was a big help this year. One important thing was to forget about the other riders. They helped me to relax.
“Last year I paid an expensive price to learn that consistency is important.
“This year I crashed many times in practice, because I was using practice to find the limit. I did every practice, from FP1 to warm-up, on the limit. Then in the race, I went back from the limit.
“If nobody pushes me I will not make mistakes, so I pushed [Rossi and Lorenzo] all the time, and they made mistakes.”
Márquez was the only rider to score points in every race this year, and his tally of five wins beats Lorenzo (three) and Rossi (two). As champion, he plans to drive the point home.
“In the last races I will be careful, but I will try to win all three.”
