Recently-crowned MotoGP champion Marc Marquez has admitted that he felt under much more pressure this year because he already had one title under his belt.

The 21-year-old Honda rider clinched the 2013 title by four points as a rookie, but won the crown in a more comfortable fashion at the weekend in Japan with three races left to go.

"Maybe this year looked easy to people, but it was more difficult because last year I didn't have pressure," Autosport.com quotes Marquez as saying. "If I did some mistakes, it was okay because I was a rookie rider.

"This year I always looked smiley and happy, but it was really difficult to keep that level and that concentration because people were expecting a lot of things of you."

Marquez, who won the title ahead of teammate Dani Pedrosa on the Motegi track at the weekend, won the first 10 races of the season.