Jorge Lorenzo believes Ducati would not have “evolved” in “some areas” with its Desmosedici without his input, following the conclusion of his time with the team.
Lorenzo will join Repsol Honda next season on a two-year deal, and ended his farewell outing with Ducati in the rain-hit Valencia Grand Prix 12th.
The Spaniard scored three podiums in his first year with Ducati last season, and tallied up three victories in 2018 before his campaign was curtailed by injury in the latter races.
Speaking after his final race with the team, Lorenzo believes without his arrival Ducati would not have been able to “make the evolution” in certain areas as fast as it did, and that the Italian marque “discovered” part of the bike which did not work prior to his signing.
“Yeah, obviously, it's not nice to say, but probably without my coming to the team they wouldn't have [been able to] make the evolution of the bike so fast in some areas,” he said.
“I believe they discovered some areas they didn't work on so much before my arrival.
"Tthis makes me happy, but obviously it was a matter of time before [General Manager] Gigi Dall'Igna and the engineers got more victories than the past years and [were able to] fight for the championship, because when you are so tough in your head and you have a goal finally good things arrive.
“Obviously, with me probably things arrived a little bit quicker, and this made me proud, obviously.
“They are a nice group of people, you will see in the future they will make very good results, as now.”
Lorenzo finished the 2018 championship at the foot of the top 10, though had been in contention for the runner-up spot in the standings until a spate of crashes and injuries derailed his prospects through recent months.
“Well, honestly, in the bad points this year [it] has been worse than last year,” said Lorenzo.
“I finished in 10th place, [with] less points than last year, more zeros than points, most of the races were very inconsistent, but also very unlucky.
“If I didn't crash in Aragon, and also in Thailand, I could ride in these last four or five races and get some more podiums and probably some victories. [I was] very unlucky at the end of the championship.
“I was very unlucky at the beginning of the championship with some crashes that I didn't deserve probably, like Qatar, Jerez, etc.
“But when the good moments arrived, they arrived in [a period of] five weeks, six weeks, a lot of good moments, brilliant moments that we enjoyed a lot, and we demonstrated to ourselves, especially myself and my group; with hard work and determination, anything is possible.
“I won with Ducati, I didn't win the championship, that probably was – even if it was very difficult and tough – my real challenge.
“But three victories, three very special victories, we can be proud and can be happy with our work."
Lorenzo is to climb aboard Honda's RC213V for the first time during Tuesday's post-season test at Valencia.
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