Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton admits he is working towards riding a MotoGP bike in the future.
The Briton spent this past weekend in Qatar for the opening round of the new season, which was won by Andrea Dovizioso who pipped Marc Marquez over the finish line.
There is speculation that Monster Energy, a brand which sponsors Yamaha and Hamilton’s team Mercedes, is considering a swap event, including Valentino Rossi getting back into an F1 car.
However, Lewis admits it will be some time yet before it would be possible.
“100 percent I’m going to ride one, I’m building up to it,” he told the MotoGP website. “I need more days [on a bike] firstly because I’ve only had two-and-a-half kind of days on the track, but eventually I’d love to try a MotoGP bike. That’s the dream.
“I watch it every weekend it’s on. Even when I’m on a Grand Prix weekend, I’m jumping out of my meetings before and after [F1] qualifying so I can watch the qualifying here.”
The two days Hamilton was referring to was a test on a Yamaha YZF-R1 superbike at Jerez a week after the end of last season.
Despite a small crash, regular World Superbike rider Michael van der Mark was impressed by his enthusiasm, claiming he had to slow Lewis down.
“I had to stop him, he’s not afraid at all and he tried to take corners as fast as with his car,” he said. “During the second day, we worked a lot on his style.”
So far only John Surtees has managed to win world championships on two and four wheels, could Hamilton attempt to join him? We’ll see.
