Why Marquez isn't celebrating a full comeback yet despite Hungarian GP triumph

Marc Marquez says his stunning victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix doesn’t mean he has completed his latest comeback in MotoGP - insisting he is still not performing at his best.

The factory Ducati rider returned to the top step of the podium at the Balaton Park Circuit on Sunday, beating Pedro Acosta in a straight fight to claim his 100th grand prix win.

It followed a week after a positive showing at the Italian Grand Prix, with an additional operation on his right shoulder in May finally putting him on the right track to recovery.

But the nine-time world champion says his result in Hungary doesn’t serve as conclusive evidence of his recovery, especially due to the layout of the track, insisting he is still not back to full fitness after his crash in last October’s Indonesian Grand Prix.

“I’m super happy to come back to the victory, and I hope and I wish that will be my last comeback. But I know and I understand that this comeback is not finished yet,” he said.

“Today, we won but it was a circuit that helped me a lot on the left corners. My physical condition was on the soft side, it was a bit more weak and I was struggling more.

“But I just believed and we did it. We did it again. Come back after Indonesia, win again after the last injury in Indonesia. That was something that was hard on the physical side but more hard on the mental side.

“I feel like I'm still far from my [best] performance, the way I want to ride. But however, I'm still fast.”

Marc Marquez, Ducati Team

Photo by: Ferenc Isza / AFP via Getty Images

Since the beginning of the weekend, Marquez had been playing down his chances of a top result, claiming a repeat of his double win from 2025 was simply not possible.

His opinion didn’t change after he beat Acosta’s KTM to pole or won the sprint on Sunday, insisting he wasn’t physically fit to remain competitive over a grand prix distance.

But Marquez maintained that he wasn’t underplaying his hand, insisting he genuinely believed that he wouldn’t be able to convert his one-lap speed into a race win.

“I'm a believer, but of course [the win] was not on the plan," said the reigning champion. "You can see in the papers that I'm not lying. Just in free practice 2, I gave everything.

“But in Mugello, for example, I didn't have that pace to do it and then I was suffering a lot. But here, I was coming well with my riding style and that helped a lot to save energy.

“It’s true that maybe for the first time in my career that I had a left arm pump problem because I was pushing too much with the left in the race. In the shoulder, I feel empty.

"When I overtook Acosta, I used a lot of energy. It was a nice fight. But then I pushed two laps and I said, ‘OK, now how many laps? And there were still 10 to go’.”

Marc Marquez, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images

Marquez said his victory in Hungary felt “expensive”, having paid such an enormous price to return to the victory lane after his Lombok crash with Aprilia's Marco Bezzecchi.

“We take 37 points. I feel like this victory is maybe too expensive because since Indonesia, I suffered a lot," he said.

“I already understood in 2020 that an athlete’s life can change from one day to the other. It was something hard on the physical side, but more hard on the mental side.

“We worked a lot. The first races were super hard and now I'm just a believer. I try to do my 100%.”