Carlos Sainz pays tribute to Marc Marquez for winning the 2025 MotoGP championship

Williams F1 driver Carlos Sainz wrote a heartfelt message for fellow countryman Marc Marquez, as he congratulated the Spaniard on claiming his seventh MotoGP title. The 31-year-old claimed that he was glad to see Marquez "back where he deserves."

After a six-year wait, Ducati's Marc Marquez finally clinched his seventh MotoGP championship with a second-place finish at the Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix on Sunday, with five rounds of the season to spare. The 32-year-old has won 11 out of the 17 races this year so far, having absolutely dominated the field.

After Marquez secured the 2025 title at the Mobility Resort Motegi circuit on Sunday, his fellow Spaniard and F1 star Carlos Sainz shared a tribute for his countryman in an Instagram story.

Sainz congratulated Marquez on his triumph, as he wrote:

"Congratulations, Marc! An example of effort, improvement, and talent. How nice to see you back where you deserve!" [Translated via Google]

Screen grab of Carlos Sainz's Instagram story [via Instagram/@carlossainz55]

Marquez dominated the MotoGP series from 2013 to 2019, securing six titles in those seven seasons with Honda. However, his career was thrown into chaos in 2020 after a violent crash at the season-opener at Jerez left him with a broken arm that required four surgeries.

This spiraled into years of injuries, infections and even double vision, forcing him to miss numerous races and raising doubts about his future. After 2023, he also walked away from the Honda team to join the smaller Gresini Ducati outfit.

This gamble paid off for Marquez, who rediscovered his winning ways, claiming three victories in 2024, and subsequently earning a seat in the factory Ducati squad. Now, he has completed his comeback, adding a seventh jewel to his MotoGP crown after a wait of 2184 days.

This is the story that seemingly compelled Carlos Sainz to pay tribute to the man who has completed one of sport's greatest comebacks.

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Carlos Sainz returned to the podium at the recently concluded F1 Azerbaijan GP

Carlos Sainz celebrates after his P3 finish at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Carlos Sainz also made a comeback of sorts at the Azerbaijan GP, although of much smaller proportions, as he secured a P3 finish to mark his first podium with the Williams F1 squad. This was his first podium in the sport since he finished third at the 2024 Las Vegas GP with Ferrari.

The Spaniard qualified in second for the race at Baku after a rain-affected qualifying. In the race, Sainz held on to a P3 spot to mark a brilliant podium with the Grove-based outfit.

"Honestly, I cannot describe how happy I am or how good this feels. It tastes even better than the first-ever podium that I did," Sainz said, after the race, via Formula1.com.

During the race, Sainz was only outperformed by two drivers. He was undercut by Mercedes' George Russell, who took home the P2 trophy, and outperformed by pole-sitter Max Verstappen, who dominated on his way to a fourth victory this season.