Lorenzo feels wet-weather improvement despite qualifying ninth

Jorge Lorenzo feels he has made a step forward with his pace in the wet, despite qualifying only ninth for the British Grand Prix in tricky conditions at Silverstone.

Lorenzo, who has struggled for form in this year's rain-affected races, concluded Saturday's wet qualifying 2.4s off the pace of poleman Cal Crutchlow and will only start from the third row.

However, Lorenzo said he feels he has made improvements in the wet, as he had good pace in a still-wet FP4 and in Q2 before the arrival of more rain in the final minutes of the session.

"In FP4 I was [getting] faster and faster, every time more comfortable, also because our bike was quite good with not so much water on the tarmac," said the reigning champion.

"We were slower, for example, than the Ducatis in the beginning, but much faster in the end, so that means our bike was very good with not so much water."

"That's why in the first lap of the qualifying I was the fastest one, because there was not so much water and I felt strong and confident."

While he could lead in the opening stages of Q2, Lorenzo failed to improve as much as his competitors later in the session when the track became wetter.

"I thought I was very lucky in the first lap, and I couldn't improve my lap time when it started to rain more," he added.

"After a while, finally the others started to improve three or four seconds, and I could only improve seven tenths from my first lap. That was the key today to be so far from pole.

"[It was] not the same when more water arrived; in the rear I did not have enough grip in the middle of the corners, especially in the traction area.

"The bike was very nervous and it looked like the traction control didn't work so much.

"Also because our setting was all the way in the front so this time maybe we have to find a little bit more compromise to have a more normal set-up."