Ducati is trying to make Lorenzo's adaptation to its bike even faster, as the Desmosedici seems demands a different riding style to that of the Yamaha the Spaniard has ridden for the past nine years, especially under braking.

On Monday, the first day of testing at Sepang, Lorenzo finished in 17th position, 1.6 seconds from the fastest rider, a disappointing result after his first ride on the Ducati in 2017.

"I was surprised at being so slow," said Lorenzo of the opening day. "I did not expect it to be so hard. There's still a long way to go, especially in braking. I used to brake much earlier on the Yamaha, so I lose a lot in braking now.

"This bike must be ridden in a different way and at the beginning you don't understand how to take the most of it, so it was hard for me to be among the fastest.

"With this prototype you have to brake later and go into the corner while braking. That's [Andrea] Dovizioso's style now and it's quite different from mine at the start of the test."

One of the keys points to master the Ducati is the rear brake, an aspect that did not have much influence on the Yamaha.

In order to trying to make things easier, Ducati technicians will give Lorenzo an alternative braking system used in the past by teammate Dovizioso.

"Jorge found out yesterday about the need to change his riding style a bit, using the rear brake much more than he has been doing so far," said Ducati team boss Davide Tardozzi at Sepang.

"That's why he was already on track with such complicated weather conditions, as he wanted to continue his learning process."

The Italian confirmed Ducati's intentions of letting Lorenzo test this rear braking solution, a mechanism activated with the left hand.

"We want him to try it, but it will be in Australia," added Tardozzi.

Lorenzo has some experience with alternative braking systems, having already used the thumb-operated system on his Yamaha a couple of years ago during the pre-season Sepang test.

The system, however, goes back much further in time: Mick Doohan was the first to use it after the horrible injuries he suffered in a crash at the 1992 Dutch TT, when he was on the verge of losing his right leg.