Jorge Martin felt ‘so superior’ in title fight, wanted to ‘humiliate opponents’

The Pramac rider was in dominant form for large parts of the season, particularly the second half of the year where 10 of his 13 wins were amassed - that includes MotoGP sprint races.

In fact, after winning the sprint in Mandalika Martin took over the series lead for the first time in his career, only to lose it 24 hours later when he crashed out of the race lead.

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And it’s that race that still haunts Martin, who believes he lost the title because of that mistake. 

Speaking on Spanish TV network Antena3, Martin said: “In the last few races the pressure was through the roof and whatever went wrong, I was on them [the team]. It wasn’t a happy period and my nervousness was reflected on the team. 

“I understood that that attitude couldn’t work. It was an important lesson. I don’t think I lost the title in Valencia. 

“What still hurts me is the race in Indonesia. I was leading with a lead of three seconds and with that result, perhaps I would have won the world championship. 

“Feeling so superior at that moment and wanting to humiliate my opponents so to speak, made me fail. I learned that you can win a race by a second or two tenths, the points remain the same.”

Despite being part of the Ducati family, it was clear that Martin was in no mood to settle for second against Bagnaia and the factory team.

Discussing his relationship with other riders, Martin said only one rider is different to him when it comes to how he races them. 

Martin stated: “I only really get on with Aleix [Espargaro]. It’s almost a brotherly relationship between us. 

“He’s taken care of me since I was 16. I don’t pretend to be friends with the others, they’re my rivals. 

“It's not the same to overtake Aleix as it is to overtake others, I'm going to go full throttle, but I’m still respectful because we are risking our lives, it’s a dangerous sport, even if I’m the first to never back down from a challenge.”