Marquez: "Feeling important" at Honda key to new contract

The Spaniard's current deal was set to expire at the end of the 2018 season but it was announced before the Qatar pre-season test that Marquez would stay with Honda until 2020.

Marquez previously stated that staying with the Japanese manufacturer was the "priority", but wanted to wait until the pre-season before signing a new contract.

He added that he "feels important" within Honda.

"Me and Honda agreed, I was really happy with them," said Marquez. "I was waiting little bit how to start the pre-season and then finally I saw that was the correct one, the bike was working well.

"I felt very happy, especially I feel important inside the Honda factory and this is the most important, so I'm happy, and thanks to the team.

"This was a small help for pre-season because everything is quiet and I cana just concentrate on the track."

Marquez added that, with his future already settled, he and Honda started the season "more of less in the best way", and that the team is "in a better way than last year".

He had a poor start to the 2017 season with only one win and two podiums in the first six races.

"We started more or less in the best way because already my future is decided," said the defending champion. "We start in a better way than last year, we have a good base.

"We will see, we know that there will be some tracks difficult for us, some tracks where we can attack but we need to understand this.

"During this pre-season we concentrated a lot on the engine side, I tried a lot to improve. About the chassis area, during the season I think we can improve a few things, electronics area too."