The Spaniard holds a lead in the championship after the opening two rounds of the season of 18 points, marking the first time ever he has headed the standings for more than 24 hours.
Prior to Portugal, he led the championship on two occasions: once after the sprint race in Indonesia last year, before crashing while dominantly leading in the grand prix, and again after the Qatar GP sprint in 2024 before Francesco Bagnaia won on Sunday.
Branding his Portugal GP win as “really mature”, that maturity was borne out in the way he managed the race and was a key lesson he had learned from last year in action.
He reflected on his Indonesia defeat in 2023 as altering his approach to the Portuguese GP three weeks ago, two races that in many ways were identical.
In both, Martin was utterly dominant as the leader, controlling the pace and keeping enough in hand to stave off any assault the riders behind may have threatened.
In Indonesia, this gained him a lead of over three seconds before he crashed out in the latter stages – handing a crucial 25 points to title rival Bagnaia at the time.
There was no repeat of this in Portugal at the end of March this year, with Martin managing things better to inflict maximum damage on reigning champion Bagnaia after his controversial tangle with Marc Marquez.
Source: Autosport