Jorge Martín became the MotoGP World Champion last year, but he went through very tough moments less than a year before achieving the title – to the point where he didn’t even want to take part in the tests.
The year 2023 was mentally challenging for the new Aprilia rider, even though he was in the title fight, as he shared in the Tengo un Plan podcast: ‘I realized that I had a very large margin to handle the pressure. In 2023, I fought for the World Championship, I couldn’t sleep, I felt the pressure, I felt the fear of losing. I was obsessed with winning, and I didn’t enjoy any of the end of the season, even though I was fast and won races’.
So, Martín sought help from a psychologist during a time when he even became afraid of getting back on the bike: ‘We started looking for a psychologist, with my agent Albert [Valera], and we found someone. I had a session, and the truth is, I had a good connection. And since many things were happening in my life personally as well, I started being afraid of the tests, I didn’t want to be on the bike, I didn’t feel like it, I didn’t have the will’.
The reigning champion then revealed that the beginning of the year was tough: ‘The hardest moment mentally was in January. I said, «I don’t want to go to Malaysia, I don’t feel like it. Why should I go there again? I’m not fast, I can’t fight for the title again». And it was tough. I went to the tests and thought the same: I would be first, second, validating myself with the result, but I wasn’t enjoying it’.
After everything he went through and had to overcome in 2024, Martín drew two particularly important lessons for himself: ‘Live in the present, which is very important – because my mind is a factory that thinks too far ahead into the future. Learn from what happened before, live the moment, and the future will come. That’s crucial. […]. And then, focus on what I can control. […]. Trying to control everything made me very, very nervous, and I would go to the races quite nervous. So now, it’s, «We will see, what can I control? How am I? Physically perfect, I’m ready, and I’m fast»’.