Lorenzo: I'll help improve Honda like Ducati

While Ducati have faced plenty of criticism over Jorge Lorenzo's 2019 MotoGP departure, the Spaniard must also come to terms with leaving a bike now widely regarded as the best on the grid.

Although Lorenzo's future Honda team-mate Marc Marquez is still comfortably on course to claim the MotoGP title, Ducati riders Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso have won a combined six races so far this season, including the last three in a row.

That means the Desmosedici is now tied with Honda for race wins this season, while the Italian factory is also heaping pressure on its Japanese rival in the constructors' and teams' championships.

Such success must be bittersweet for Lorenzo, knowing he will not only leave such a competitive package but also have to race against it next season.

However the triple MotoGP champion is confident the knowledge gained while helping improve the weak points of the Ducati will transfer over to his new Honda ride.

"You know, I think the important thing is in the brain and I think we can work well in the next years," Lorenzo said.

"I don’t know how long it will take to be competitive and to win with my next bike, but it will arrive because the important thing is the mind.

"For sure, now the Ducati bike is very complete.

"I think I helped them to improve the weaker points that they have, but also I will help my next team to improve the bike in the future."

Lorenzo suffered a costly fall from second place on the penultimate lap of the recent Misano round, leaving him fourth in the championship, 91 points from Marquez and 24 from new runner-up Dovizioso.

Meanwhile, victory in this weekend's Aragon round could come down to whether Lorenzo can make the soft tyres work over a race distance.

"I struggle a lot more with medium tyres. With softer tyres I have something more, like two or three tenths than him [Dovizioso]," Lorenzo said at Misano. "But with the medium tyres we were very equal, I just lost time behind Marc."

Dovizioso said of Lorenzo: "Our styles are a bit different. Jorge brakes a little bit softer at the beginning and much harder in the last part of braking. This is the reason why it’s very difficult to overtake him. Also when he enters, he stays very close to the inside of the corners. It's the opposite way than his 'normal' style, from last year and with the Yamaha."