Ecstar Suzuki's Andrea Iannone may have been at the sharp end of proceedings before a bug wiped out his participation on the third day of MotoGP testing in Qatar but he says some of the problems that affected his speed in 2017 are still present.

The Italian is still suffering with tyre problems over a race distance as the GSX-RR gets 'nervous' when the initial grip of the rear Michelin drops a level. He is also worried about the bike's top speed as the Suzuki tops out around 337kph at Losail where Andrea Dovizioso's Ducati ploughed on to 343kph.

“I'm calm because at the moment I can ride the bike pretty well, but in the race simulation we can't hide – we suffer too much, like we did in 2017," said Iannone.

“This is because the bike gets nervous when the tyre drops, especially at the front. This is why we still have to work on some aspects. I am happy with our speed, but not 100 percent satisfied.

“We have limits, on the straights we have a lot of trouble overtaking, for example. We are slow. This is something we need to fix ahead of the race.”