After switching from Yamaha over the winter, Lorenzo has endured a tough first three races for Ducati, with his ninth-place finish last weekend at Austin being his best result so far.

The Spaniard has admitted that adapting his riding style has taken him longer than he initially anticipated, and revealed in Argentina that a problem with his seating position had led to him "throwing away" his pre-season testing.

But for Capirossi, who was one of Ducati's riders when it first joined MotoGP in 2003 and took six victories for the Italian marque, Lorenzo's trademark smooth style is incompatible with the nature of the Desmosedici bike, which he says requires a "wild" rider to unlock its potential.

"In my opinion, Lorenzo undoubtedly expected to find a different Ducati, he didn't expect the Ducati that he found," Capirossi told Italy's Radio 24.

"The Ducati is a competitive bike, which has its strong points and weak points. In recent years we have seen them being competitive on some tracks and not on others.

"On the tracks where the Ducati suffers, you have to ride it with a certain wickedness, and Lorenzo doesn't have this wickedness.

"Lorenzo is a very fast rider, a very clean rider, but the Ducati needs a 'wild' rider. [Andrea] Dovizioso is partly 'wild', but Lorenzo is not."

Rossi needs to avoid errors of 2016

Capirossi also believes his compatriot and former rival Valentino Rossi – who leads the standings after three podium finishes in the first three races of 2017 – can fight for his eighth premier class title, as long he avoids the crashes that blunted his challenge last year.

The 44-year-old underlined consistency would be critical to allow the Yamaha man to fight on level terms with teammate Maverick Vinales and Honda's Marc Marquez.

"This year [Rossi] probably lacks a bit of speed to really get himself in the fight between Marquez and Vinales," said Capirossi.

"But on some occasions he will be there together with them to fight for the win, he will be able to win some races. What's important is that he doesn't make the errors he made last year.

"He must be consistent and finish all the races, and then we'll see how many points he has at the end of the year."