Qatar MotoGP: Jorge Lorenzo accepts blame for crash

The Spaniard had leapt from fifth to take the lead away from the line and set a blistering early pace in an attempt to break from the pack, but lost the front under braking at Turn 15 and crashed out of the race.

It was by no means the only accident - Stefan Bradl also crashed from the lead, while Andrea Iannone, Bradley Smith and Alvaro Bautista all fell while running inside the top five.

Rather than blame the conditions, or renew his pre-season criticism of this year's Bridgestone compounds, Lorenzo said he must shoulder the blame for the fall.

"I made a mistake," he said. "It was a long time ago that I last did that in a race.

"We are not perfect; we are only human and sometimes we make mistakes.

"The tyres were different to last year and the temperature of the Tarmac was a little colder.

"I didn't take these circumstances into account and I was too fast into the corner when the front and rear tyre were not ready yet.

"It's a pity to lose so many points to Marc [Marquez], Valentino [Rossi] and Dani [Pedrosa] who are the favourites."

Lorenzo said Rossi's ride to second, in which he challenged for the lead on numerous occasions, offered a degree of comfort as it proved Yamaha can fight with Honda.

"Valentino demonstrated that the Yamaha can fight even with these tyres," he added.

"The championship is very long, so lets see what happens in Austin."