Marc Marquez drops new retirement hint after brutal crashes and injury setbacks

Marquez, who won the 2025 championship in Japan with a monumental points advantage over his brother in second place, then suffered another hard crash in Mandalika the next race and withdrew from the remainder of the season.

The Indonesian circuit as long been a 'cursed' track for Marquez, who suffered one of the worst high-sides in MotoGP history there in 2022.

As reported by GP Blog earlier this year, Marquez has dropped several hints about his retirement and has acknowledged that he is in the twilight stages of his career.

At 32 years of age, Marquez has already won a historic seven premier-class titles, putting him equal with Valentino Rossi and just one title behind record-holder Giacomo Agostini.

In a recent interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, Marquez once again reiterated his mindset and the fact that his future is still not entirely certain.

"During those five difficult years, I thought about retiring. It wasn't a constant thought, but in the most difficult moments, when you don't see any progress and each operation seems to prolong the uncertainty, it's inevitable to ask yourself: Is it really worth continuing?"

"After the third operation on my arm and when I got back on the bike for the first time and the pain was still there. Despite everything, retiring never became a real decision. It was an idea, yes, but not a plan. That's normal. As is accepting that one day it will happen."

"At the same time, something inside me told me that I had to keep trying, that as long as there was a chance, however small, I couldn't give up. In the end, hard work and patience paid off."

Speaking on his future goals and aims for the coming season, Marquez offered the following response:

"To keep having fun and feeling competitive. That's my real driving force. I can still compete with the best. I'm also looking for something more personal: to enjoy the journey. I want to keep competing at my best and do it in a way that fulfills me."

Marquez certainly showed that he is able to compete at the top-end of the field in the Thai Grand Prix earlier this month.

An exceptional qualifying lap put him on the front row of the grid, within 0.04 of pole-sitter Bezzecchi. Marc then led much of the Sprint Race before a penalty forced him to concede the win on the final lap to Pedro Acosta.

The Sunday race was slightly different story, as while Marc managed to be competitive agaisnt the likes of Acosta and Jorge Martin, a tyre failure forced the world champion to withdraw, ultimately scoring zero points in the race.