Dovizioso disappointed with 2009 form

Although the Italian scored his maiden victory at Donington Park and is fifth in the championship, he has generally been out-performed by team-mate Dani Pedrosa. His British Grand Prix win is his only podium of the year so far.

He said he had yet to feel totally confident on the works bike, but hopes changes planned for the winter will mean he is stronger in 2010.

"I'm not so happy about my results this year," Dovizioso conceded. "It's really difficult. My feeling with the package is not perfect, but we're working on that.

"We have a lot of work to do. We need to concentrate, to always push 100 per cent to improve the package.

"I hope next year will be different. I think there is a lot changing about the package for next year and a lot of ideas, so I'm confident for next year, but we need to still be working for the last four races to be a little bit faster."

Dovizioso switched from Honda's usual Showa suspension to Ohlins equipment before the last race at Misano - a move he expects to pay off in the longer term.

"Our target is to improve our speed, and especially to understand which parts we can improve for next year," he said. "[At Misano] we had new suspension that we only had for one week and it was not enough to make a perfect set-up.

"After the experience in the race at Misano, I think it will be really important to try a different set-up here. We have a lot of ideas."

He is optimistic that he will fare better at Estoril this weekend, having been very competitive at the track last year on the JiR Scot Honda.

"I think we can improve our speed and our target is to fight for the podium, but especially to finish as close as we can to the leaders," Dovizioso said.

"I always had good results here. Last year before the crash I was in the first group, I think I was behind Valentino [Rossi]. Also the track is really slow, and I think that can be a little bit better for us."