MotoGP title leader
Jorge Lorenzo believes Factory Yamaha team-mate Ben Spies just needs to stay calm and focused in order to turn around a nightmare opening half to the 2012 season.
Lorenzo has won five races, finished no lower than second on the eight occasions he has reached the flag and leads the championship by 19-points.
However Spies is yet to finish on the podium and has scored just 66 points relative to Lorenzo's 185, leaving him tenth in the championship.
The Texan - who took his first
MotoGP win alongside Lorenzo last season - has suffered a torrid run of problems that have hampered his hopes in almost every race this year (see below).
That continued at Mugello on Sunday, when Spies suffered an illness that left him dizzy and almost physically sick on his way to eleventh.
“I don't think it's a question of talent or speed, because in his first full-time race at Qatar in 2010 he finished only four seconds from the winner with the [satellite] Tech 3 bike,” said Lorenzo, when asked about the difference to Spies so far this year.
“So that means he is able to do it.
“I think he needs to be calm because the [2012] championship is quite unstable, or bad for him. If he is focused and calm he can be on the podium in a very constant way and sometimes win races.”
While Lorenzo has already re-signed for Yamaha, the other 2013 factory ride is yet to be decided.
Tech 3 riders Cal Crutchlow and
Andrea Dovizioso have made no secret of their desire to step-up to the factory team - with Dovizioso already scoring four podiums in his debut Yamaha season.
“I don't have any big problem with either of them,” said Lorenzo, when asked if he would prefer Spies or the on-form Dovizioso as his 2013 team-mate.