Marquez and Dovizioso have dominated the second half of the 2018 season, fighting for the victory alongside Jorge Lorenzo in every race since Brno.

The duo are again two of the favourites to win the Thailand Grand Prix, with Dovizioso topping three practice sessions and Marquez taking second behind him in FP4, as well as pole position in qualifying.

Iannone, who qualified sixth, reckons such is the aforementioned duo's advantage that they could beat the rest of the field by half a lap.

"If they want, Dovizioso and Marquez can leave us half a lap behind because they have three or four tenths more than the rest," he said.

However, Dovizioso reckons a big group will form early in the race: "Is very difficult to know because a lot of riders have really good pace, a lot of riders were able to make [1m]31[s] low.

"But you know, like always, make laptime is one thing, make that laptime in an intelligent way is a different story.

"So it's difficult to know from the TV and the paper the details about that. But I can expect a lot of fast riders for the first half part of the race, for sure.

"I think the two Yamaha, two Suzuki for sure will be there, [Cal] Crutchlow I think has a really good pace. I expect a big group."

Pole-sitter Marquez feels Dovizioso has an edge in race pace heading into Sunday.

"On paper now, Dovizioso looks very strong, looks like he's the fastest one," Marquez sid.

"We are very very close, and then both Yamaha are also very fast in FP4, they were able to ride in 31 middle-low consistently, so will be tough.

"The last 10 laps in the race will be crucial because the tyre drop a little bit."

Additional reporting by Oriol Puigdemont