Andrea Iannone can't understand why some people think he's made a bad start to his first MotoGP season with Apr✤ilia.

A race winner at Ducati and then four-time podium finisher for Suzuki, Iannone says he is feeling 'tranquil' after 14-17-12 places at Aprilia, having res𒊎et his min✨d for the new challenge of bringing the RS-GP steadily to the front.

"Everybody knows we need a better bike, but we also 🍌need time to improve," Iannone said. "It's normal that at the moment we don’t stay in the places that we want. But also I think compared to last year Aprilia made a good step.

"If people expected Iannone would arrive and Aprilia arrive on the podium... I did not exp😼ect this situation.

"Sometimes I read in the newspaper, 'really bad start to the season for Iannone'. What did they expect? Espec⛦ially people in🧜 motorsport who write this, what did they expect?"

Asked w💜hat he himself expected, the Italian replied: "I expected this situation. I arrive here to improve the bike, work a lot and💧 construct a really good situation step-by-step.

"But I'm no🦩t expecting to be at the top immediately. I expect a situation with a good group, good people, good support from Aprilia. And this is what I have.

"I expect a progression during the season. But it's not♓ easy and, in any case, Aprilia has taken more points in these first three races than at this stage in previous years."

Iannone insisted that, despite his past success, he is calm and mentally pꦰrepared to be patient at Aprilia - in contrast to an anxious first season at Suzuki, when the GSX-RR's engine design turned out to be problematic.

"I am muc🧸h🌠 more tranquil than in the last two years, 2017 and 2018," he said.

"Because when I switched from Ducati to Suzuki, I expected a big performance with Suzuki. I didn’t 𒀰have this result because in 201🌟7 we made a mistake and chose something worse for us [the engine] and we lose all of 2017.

"I was really nervous in every race beca𝓡use I want the result an♍d I don’t have the result. I want to fight for the podium and I don’t. And we lose one year.

"This year everything is better because it's ♊like we restart from zero. New team, new bike, new people. I don’t expect to arrive here and for it to be possible to fight for the top five every race. Sometimes we will ꦛarrive tenth, sometimes 20th. We need to find a really good balance and then move forward step-by-step."

Underlining that there is no single problem area with the RS-GP, Iannone's top priority is consistency rather than outright 🐟speed.

"The Aprilia doesn't have one problem in one area. We need to improve a little bit here, here, here. Many things 🌜all together will make the step we need.

"I want Aprilia to make a constant bike first of all. When we get this,🎀 we will start to improve the performance, but first of all we must repeat more-or-less every lap with a very close lap time."

Aꦿprilia, sixth in the last in the constructors' championship f𒈔or the past two seasons, starts the European season one point behind KTM.

Iannone is 18th in the world championship with team-mate Aleix Espargaro 13th, after two top-ten fin🔯ishes were followed by a fall in Austin.

The RS-GP's best result to date is 🌜sixth place, which Espargaro has claimed on three occasions since joining the team in 2017.