Last season's MotoGP runner-up Andrea Dovizioso says he is clear that mid-corner speed is the area in which Ducati must make an improvement for the coming season.

After being the surprise package of 2017 - and winning a couple of one-on-ones with the aggressive eventual champion Marc Marquez - Dovizoso believes that if Ducati can make the GP18 competitive mid-corner then life will be easier for both himself and team-mate Jorge Lorenzo.

"I know very well what we need to be stronger. It is clear what we need to be faster," said Dovizioso, speaking at the team launch in Bologna.

"So if you improve in that point you are faster also in other tracks. Because in Malaysia we are fast, but in the middle of the corner we are not fast like the competitors. The characteristic is always the same.

"In some tracks it becomes not so important, but the characteristic remains the same - of my bike and the bikes of the competitors."