Former Mercedes engineer was amazed by what he saw when riding MotoGP bikes with Lewis Hamilton

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Lewis Hamilton is passionate about motorcycles. In the past, he’s trained on some of the world’s fastest racing bikes during breaks in the Formula 1 season.

In fact, Hamilton follows MotoGP, the premier class of two-wheel racing, so closely that he’s considered investing in the sport. He held talks with Gresini last year, and there were also rumours about a deal with KTM during the Austrian brand’s financial crisis.

Hamilton could end up in a bidding war with F1 rival Max Verstappen for one of the teams on the market. The sport has just been purchased by Liberty Media, and the new owners are expected to elevate revenues significantly long term.

The seven-time F1 champion previously swapped machinery with MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi. He rode Rossi’s Yamaha motorcycle in Valencia in 2019, while ‘The Doctor’ climbed into his Mercedes F1 car.

Lewis Hamilton showed no fear when riding a MotoGP bike

Speaking to DAZN, former Mercedes engineer Toni Cuquerella said Hamilton dedicated himself to learning to become a motorcycle specialist during his winter breaks.

Cuquerella says Hamilton ‘quickly got the hang of it’ as his fundamental racing instincts shone through. Despite the risk of injury, ‘he wasn’t afraid of falling’, unlike his Mercedes colleagues.

Hamilton has been known to arrive in the Formula 1 paddock on two wheels. He rode to the Monaco Grand Prix on a personalised MV Agusta and travelled to Spa on a Ducati superbike.

“When the season ends, some people go skiing, others go surfing or whatever, and Hamilton decided he would learn to ride a motorbike very quickly,” Cuquerella explained.

“He had a knack for it; the truth is that he quickly got the hang of riding fast on a motorbike. While I was more accustomed to the technique, he understood much better than I did how to go fast. And one very important thing: he wasn’t afraid of falling, which is not the case for me, so I’m a little more fearful.”

Toto Wolff has already revealed how fast Lewis Hamilton was compared to MotoGP riders

Speaking on a podcast last year, Toto Wolff revealed that Hamilton ‘secretly’ tested a MotoGP bike at Jerez during his time with Mercedes. Wolff received a call telling him that his star driver had fallen, but was fine.

He also discovered that Hamilton was only four seconds off the MotoGP ‘pros’. That was a testament to his champion-level ‘feeling’.

Hamilton certainly isn’t the only F1 driver to thrive in another racing discipline. Verstappen impressed during a GT3 test at the Nurburgring Nordschleife last weekend, completing the training required to take part in an Endurance race.

On the flip side, Rossi extensively tested for Ferrari in the 2000s, and a move to F1 wasn’t entirely out of the question. He opted to stay in MotoGP, where he was dominating, but he switched to car racing after he retired.