Pramac Ducati MotoGP rookie Pecco Baganaia looked like a shoo-in for the 2019 Rookie of the Year title when he put in some astounding lap-times in winter testing but his debut season has been a hard road so far.

The youngster has so far had more crashes than in his last three seasons combined but the Italian believes it is better to struggle now as he is learning what it takes to wrestle the Desmosedici now before he gets a works bike next season.

“It was not the start I expect as I want to finish all the races but I learned to always give 100 per cent. When you work hard for something and you don’t have the easy way, you have to adapt to the situation,” said Bagnaia.

I’m happy now that I am struggling. It’s not easy but it is better like this. The first objective is to finish all the races from here.”

Bagnaia jumped quickly through the ranks, finishing last season as Moto2 champion with VR46 and getting the Pramac ride as his reward but he learned fast the Ducati is not as easy to ride for a rookie as the Suzuki and Yamaha.

“Braking, tyres and acceleration are the hardest things. I also think Yamaha and Suzuki are a good bike for a rookie as they have a good chassis but they don’t have engine - I have the engine and maybe Ducati is more complicated to adapt.”

Rival Fabio Quartararo has got his head around the more user-friendly Yamaha M1 quicker than Bagnaia and is headed for the rookie trophy as he leads Joan Mir by 29 points and Bagnaia by 42 points.