“It will be there all my life”

In recent months, Jorge Martín has regularly spoken about his work around his mind, which may have been a weakness in the past. In 2023, he sometimes wanted to do too much, like when he continued to attack excessively despite a comfortable lead in Indonesia, which led to a crash, or when he took the soft tire to open up a significant gap in Australia, a choice which ultimately caused him to tumble in the rankings at the very end of the race.

Before the start of the season, the Spaniard admitted having suffered “a lot of pressure” and having been too “obsessed” by the quest for the title in 2023. An awareness which pushed him to work on his mental health and his approach as a whole, with success since this summer, he considered that the help of a psychologist allowed him to better manage the tension inherent in the title.

The Pramac pilot thus saw himself “more mature on the bike”. If certain errors remain, such as his decision to change bike when a few drops of rain appeared in Misano, his fall during the Mandalika sprint or that in Q2 at Motegi, he has acquired a certain consistency which contributes to his first place in the championship . The person concerned nevertheless recognizes the need to remain constantly alert when the intensity of the competition is felt.

“In the end, theory is useless”explained the Pramac driver to the Spanish sports daily Marca, confiding that he has always had difficulty remaining fully concentrated when the stakes are high: “The weekends are very difficult, there is a lot of pressure. I notice that sometimes we make concentration errors just because of the pressure.”

“I have to visualize a lot, be very prepared before the qualifying sessions because in the end they are the key for Sunday. I know I’m strong on Sunday, I know I can start 11th, but it’s a lot simpler if we fight at the front.”

“This nervousness, this discomfort, which I have had all my life, since my childhood, is normal and it will be there all my life”added Martin. “You have to know how to live with it, so that it doesn’t get the better of me.”

Martín recognizes that he is “complicated” to deal with anxiety, his priority being above all to free himself from it when he is on the track: “I really try to concentrate on how I feel on the bike. Off the bike there is a lot of noise, thoughts, headaches, but the moment you hit the track, that pressure disappears. That’s what matters. If that pressure gets to you, or those thoughts get to you, it blocks you and you don’t know how to ride the bike, but that’s what matters.”

In any case, Jorge Martín manages not to suffer this weight in his daily life, while remaining aware that this pressure will be unavoidable as soon as the competition becomes more intense: “I leave the circuit and it stays there. As soon as I finish the race, I’m much more relaxed. That pressure will come back on Saturday or Sunday in Australia.”