Jorge Lorenzo says the 'huge crashes' an🥂d injuries he has suffered this season prove how hard he has been pushing at Repsol Honda.

The triple premier-class champion is yet to take a t🍸op ten finish on the RCV and some recent quotes f✃rom team manager Alberto Puig (in Spanish) suggested Lorenzo has to take more risks and that it's not a question of technique, but courage and willingness.

"Well, he's the boss and a persꦇon that I have a lot of respect for because I think he knows about bikes and this [MotoGP] world," responded Lorenzo, speaking in the Misano paddock on Thursday.

"But [how] anybody 🎃can tell that I didn't try and didn't take risks with this bike - because I have had huge crashes, always because I wanted to try to get good results.

"Probably that was the problem. I pushed may👍be too much before knowing exactly the bike and thaꦆt's why I crashed and I got injured and this made everything much more difficult.

"Because everything comes from the injuries. Without the injuries, I'm sure I would be ab﷽le to, maybe not win races, but finish sometimes on the podium and in the top five."

Lorenzo's most recent injury was 🔯also his mosꦜt severe since joining Honda; the Spaniard being sidelined for two months after fractures to his vertebrae at Assen.

Asked to compare his current situation♕ wi𒅌th that of his first season at Ducati, Lorenzo replied:

"I struggled also in the first year at Ducati, but I've struggled more this time because before the season started, I had two big injuries last year, in Aragon in the foot and 🍒Thailand with the wrist.

"Then in the pre-season I broke my scaphoid. In Qat💯ar I broke some ribs🅷 and the big one was in Assen.

"I've never been 100% fit to ride the Honda, so I could never push to my maximum. Like this in MotoGP is difficult, even more ﷽so when you don’t feel completely comfortable on the bike. 

"That's the feeling I've got with the Honda for the moment. I've never felt reꦉally safe, especially in the front part of the bike. It's all the circumstances together, especially the injuries, that make my situation or my results so bad."

Lorenzo qualified 21st and finished 14th oꦏn his return to action at Silverstone, the🐭n withdrew after just half-a-day of the Misano test due to pain from the injury.

"I could have sta𓆏yed and finished the test, it was a possibility," he said. "But after the Silverstone race, the injury was inflamed and I felt even more pain than before Silverstone.

"So there was no meaning to keep pushing the injury because it was just a test. I was riding about three-seconds slower th🃏an the fastest times and for the team and for me there was no meaning to keep testing. That's why we decided not to push the injury more and recover as much as possible for this weekend."

The good news is that the fractures are "solid, so this gives me calmness to ride. But until I get on the bike and see how I feel I will not know. I'm good, I'm better but not perfect. I think it requires 🌳more time to recover from this 💖injury."

Given the off-pace weekend at Silverstone, did Lorenzo return tღo action t💝oo early?

"That's the rider mentality, no? 🍸We☂ know the history of MotoGP riders and I've done even crazier things in the past," he said. "I was out of competition for two months, sooner or later I needed to come back.

"For me it was too soon at Brno, too soon in Austria, but in (Silverstone) I could ride like I did. Yes, very slow and very far from the fastest, but I felt it was the moment to come back to get some p🎀ace and some rhythm, because three months off the bike would be too much."

Lorenzo༒ set pole position for Ducati at Misano last season, but fell from second place late in the race. It was the last time he ha♉s competed at full fitness, suffering the foot injury next time at Aragon.