Team not putting pressure on Nakano

Nakano joined the team from Kawasaki this season but has struggled to adapt to the Honda and its Michelin tyres.

Although he looked set for a breakthrough after qualifying sixth at Jerez, Nakano then slipped to 10th in the race after losing confidence following a warm-up crash.

Montiron denied that the team was putting pressure on Nakano to get up to speed.

"In our team everybody knows their responsibility and nobody puts any pressure on Shinya," he told the official MotoGP website.

"He is a professional rider and professional riders put pressure on themselves to get the results. For sure he knows when it is the right moment to take a risk.

"My feeling is that our rider pushes hard without having the results on the stopwatch, this is why he has to learn more how to use the bike and technical package at his disposal better."

With the leading teams very closely matched in the opening rounds of the championship, Montiron feels that Nakano's uncertainty on the Honda is proving particularly costly.

"I think our rider has to adapt his riding style a little bit more to the Honda machine on Michelin tyres, which are new to him," he said.

"From the technical point of view the bikes' performances are very similar and the difference will be determined by his riding style.

"The team have to better understand Shinya's needs in order to be faster right from the first day of practice. From Turkey we'll try to approach practice sessions in a different way to see if results will change."