Bengaluru, April 12: Three-time MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo has struggled since his switch from Yamaha to Ducati in the beginning of the last season.

For the first time in his career, the Spaniard completed a season without victory.
"2017 was quite a difficult year for me, because I didn't even win one race and at the start of the championship I wasn't able to fight for the podium," Lorenzo had said after the season had ended in Valencia in November.

The 2018 FIM MotoGP World Championship has also not started well for the Mallorcan as he crashed out in the season opener under lights at the Losail circuit in Qatar before finishing a poor 15th in the chaotic Argentina GP at the Termas de Rio Hondo.

His Ducati team-mate Andrea Dovizioso has stealed a march over Lorenzo having finished runner-up to Marc Marquez last season.

The Italian won the season opener in Qatar and is already being spoken about as a genuine title contender this season. There are also reports that Lorenzo is not happy playing second fiddle to Dovizioso at Ducati and has even accused the latter of undermining his morale.

Against this backdrop, paddock rumour is strong that Lorenzo may not stay at Ducati once his contract ends after the end of the season as the 30-year-old is being linked to a potential move to Suzuki in 2019.

Suzuki is targeting signing Jorge Lorenzo to replace Andrea Iannone for the 2019 #MotoGP season https://t.co/TEgkI4MEsr

— Autosport (@autosport) April 11, 2018

Suzuki currently has Alex Rins and Andrea Iannone on board. Though Rins has been impressive as gauged by his third-place finish in the Argentina GP, the same cannot be said though of Iannone and the grapevine is that the Japanese manufacturer is not at all happy with the Italian's performance.

Lorenzo has so far remained silent when asked about his future plans, but reports in Spanish media are rife about his move to Suzuki, though he will have to agree for pay cut as the Japanese manufacturer do not have the resources to offer what Ducati is paying him now.

There are reports that the next three races will determine Lorenzo's future in the championship and knowing the Spaniard well, one can expect him to be in the top gear once again as evident from his words, "A good result has to come soon, bad luck isn't going to last forever."

For the time being MotoGP fans can keep their fingers crossed as the next race is at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin on April 22 and one hopes that 'good result' comes there.