Stoner not getting carried away

The Australian has won two of the first three races of the campaign and the straightline speed advantage enjoyed by his Ducati GP7 means he is favourite for another win in China this weekend.

But speaking in Shanghai on Thursday, Stoner has made it clear that he is having no difficulty keeping his feet on the ground.

"It is quite easy," he said. "We have raced for a lot of years and know what it involves. Nothing really goes as smoothly as it looks on television sometimes.

"We have to keep our heads, look down the right line and make sure we don't get too confident. We need to put in the hard work and hopefully it will pay off."

Although Stoner acknowledges that the long straights of Shanghai will play into his team's hands, he thinks that the result is still far from a foregone conclusion.

"Everyone is saying that the Ducati is going to be extremely fast on the circuit, and with the top speeds we have it is going to help for sure," he said.

"But we also have to think about other areas of the track. It is tight and twisty and it is going to be difficult. We have to keep our heads straight and see how we go."

Stoner is upbeat about the tyre situation though - thinking that Bridgestone's strong form so far this year, allied to the pace of the Japanese rubber in China last year, is encouraging news.

In particular, the manner in which Bridgestone turned around the issues they had at Istanbul in 2006 to dominate two weeks ago, stands out as an important factor for him.

"Last year the Bridgestones probably had a bit of a problem at that circuit (Istanbul Park)," he explained.

"They worked really, really hard over all the testing we have had, and at every track we have had this year so far they have been extremely competitive - especially at the end of the races.

"This race last year they seemed to have quite a good package so I think we can only improve on last year as well."