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Jorge Lorenzo's two-year deal with the Factory Ducati team after the end of the 2016 season was not a memorable one as the Spaniard failed to secure a decent place in the championship standings unlike his teammate Andrea Dovizioso.
At the end of his Ducati contract, Lorenzo had very slim chances of securing a seat with a factory team, and he had admitted that he was depressed and had thoughts about retiring from the sport altogether.
"I was like almost in a little depression," Lorenzo told BT Sport.
"When I was seeing the possibility to retire, in my head I was getting depressed. Normally, when I imagine my retirement, in some way I was feeling happy and relieved because I will not feel anymore the pressure and I will not get injured anymore."
"But really, I didn’t expect when I just started feeling this possibility of retirement I would be getting depressed. And it was like this, was very close for the retirement," he added.
However, a shock announcement saw him secure a seat in the Repsol Honda team to ride alongside the current MotoGP champion Marc Marquez. His former teammate Dani Pedrosa, who makes way for Lorenzo, announced his retirement from MotoGP after having spent a long and successful stint with the Japanese manufacturer.
This Repsol Honda move came as a surprise to many as the three-time MotoGP world champion was heavily linked to the newly-formed SIC satellite Yamaha team.
"It’s true I had another possibility to go in the satellite team with Yamaha. It was a good option but not the one I wanted," Lorenzo commented about his possible move.
Also, the Spanish rider emphasised that Ducati had lost faith in him for his poor show in the 2018 season. However, Lorenzo reiterated that he had trained harder the previous season by the results weren't good enough for him to secure a contract extension.
"But the team [Ducati] probably in that moment didn’t believe anymore in Jorge Lorenzo," added the Spaniard.
Jorge Lorenzo finished ninth in the 2018 Grand Prix motorcycle racing with 134 points.
