Britain's Bradley Smith has confirmed what had been said by both Aleix Espargaro and Scott Redding all season that Aprilia's biggest weakness is getting power to the tarmac.

After two sets of tests in Spain, Smith says the bike is strong on the front but needs work to ensure the rear doesn't spin its nuts off on used rubber.

"The front is already, I feel, a strong point on this bike. It's able to brake late. Aleix has obviously developed it around being able to grab the brakes all the way to the apex. Let's say at the moment the weakness is towards the rear, so that was our main focus," said Smith.

"Putting power to the ground, not having so much wheelie and using the maximum potential of the engine is something you see they maybe struggled with once the tyre has gone off."