There was smiles all round for Lewis Hamilton and Valentino Rossi following a remarkable opportunity to test each other’s machinery in Valencia this week.
On Wednesday footage began to emerge after the event showing the two men with a combined 15 championships between them taking to the track, Rossi in the 2017 Mercedes W08 and Hamilton the Yamaha M1.
Initial silence had led to rumours that the F1 champion had crashed the MotoGP bike and Lewis did confirm one small slip up.
“The bike is so hard to ride,” Hamilton explained to Sky Sports. “I did have one little spin with it but I brought it back in one piece.
“I’m step by step learning but it’s a very, very steep learning curve.
Of the experience, he added: Honestly, this has been the best year and this [swap] just tops it off.
“I wasn’t expecting to get to December and have this kind of high.”
Reports indicate Hamilton was a respectable four seconds slower than Rossi and Yamaha chief Lin Jarvis was suitability impressed by his performance.
“It was an exceptional day,” said Jarvis.
“To have Lewis together with us and Valentino, two icons of sport at the same time and place was really amazing. I’m really happy that I could be there to witness it and to enjoy it.
“I was very impressed by Lewis’ performance because how many four-wheel champions could come here and get on an M1, go out there, and do themselves proud?
“It’s very difficult to ride a motorcycle fast on track and even more challenging and demanding to ride a factory MotoGP bike.”
As for Rossi, it is claimed he had three spins in the Mercedes but only finished 1.5s off Hamilton’s best time, perhaps thanks to his previous F1 experience testing at Ferrari in the mid-2000s.
The Italian though admitted the W08 was a much different beast to the Prancing Horse he drove back then.
“I have tried an F1 car before, but much has changed since then,” Rossi said.
“Sincerely, I was impressed with the car and its handling, as well as with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport team, who were great to work with. They were very welcoming and made it easy for me to get familiar with the car.
“At first you get an amazing sensation of speed. The G-forces were not so bad, but it takes some getting used to. Once I got into the rhythm I could really push. It was a great pleasure.
“I really enjoyed sharing this experience with [Lewis], and I think he had loads of fun too, demonstrated by how reluctant he was to stop riding!
“I sincerely hope we will get to have many more experiences like this in the future.”
