Capirossi still struggling with new bike

While Capirossi's teammate Casey Stoner has won three of the four races held so far this year and now has a 15-point advantage over Valentino Rossi in the drivers' standings, Capirossi is 56 points adrift in eighth overall, and has only taken one podium so far in 2007.

"I don't feel 100% good with the bike: I struggle a bit with the engine curve, my way of riding is a bit odd and my lean angle is big," Capirossi told Italia1 television after finishing sixth in China.

"The engine is very good, it has great potential, but it's still not perfect for me."

He added that despite his own problems, he was pleased to see his team doing so well with Stoner.

"Our bike has very good performance, as confirmed by the fact that out of four races we won three times," said Capirossi.

"Casey is in great shape and is going very quick, so I'm happy."

Capirossi's weekend was marred by a crash with Chris Vermeulen that left him 14th on the grid. He was also delayed avoiding Toni Elias' first corner crash.

"Unfortunately yesterday that happened, so I had to start from the back and found myself in the middle of the first lap crash," he said. "On top of that I didn't feel too well either."