Jorge Lorenzo discussing movement of his MotoGP crew to Ducati

The three-time MotoGP champion is expected to continue the trend of leading riders not switching teams alone, with crew chiefs and key mechanics also moving to help maintain a level of familiarity.

Valentino Rossi's former crew chief Jeremy Burgess is the highest-profile example of the modern era, having followed the Italian from Honda to Yamaha and then to Ducati.

Lorenzo's move to Ducati on a two-year-deal was announced in late April, and one month on he said the process of working out who might switch with him had started but acknowledged that some may prefer to stay with Yamaha.

"For the moment, we will start speaking with some members of the team," he said.

"We are not in a hurry, in Yamaha the atmosphere of the team is very good.

"The members that work at Yamaha, they are in a team that gives them quietness and safety to do their work, so for them it's difficult.

"For me as a rider, it's more easy - at this point of my career - to make this challenge to go to another team, another factory such as Ducati, but I understand that maybe for some of them the risk is too big.

"Anyway I would like to keep a small number of team members if possible."

Ducati sporting director Pablo Ciabatti said in April that he was open to Lorenzo bringing some of his own people, but not at the expense of too many who "know very well the working method of Ducati".

Lorenzo agrees that his 2017 crew will ultimately be a mix of crew members he knows and crew members who know the Desmosedici.

"From the point of Ducati, I don't think they will give me the opportunity to take 100 per cent of my team," he said.

"They want to keep some of their team from this year also, to be my team next year."