Lewis Hamilton “secretly” took part in a Superbike test – during which he had an accident, recalls Toto Wolff when recalling his memories of the Briton at Mercedes F1.
The seven-time world champion scared his former boss with two days of radio silence in 2018 when he went to Jerez.
Six years ago, just after winning his fifth F1 crown, Hamilton took part in a two-day test on a YZF-R1 Superbike (pictured above) overseen by World Superbike Championship team Crescent Racing. .
Then-Yamaha WSBK rider Michael van der Mark said at the time that Hamilton had to be told to slow down because he “wasn’t afraid at all”.
Wolff revealed he was unable to contact Hamilton – who took the test in secret – for two days and was unaware he had had an accident.
When asked if he was there for the 2019 mount swap in Valencia between Rossi and Hamilton (pictured below), Wolff said: “No, but I had to give my permission. I gave it and I think they both really appreciated it.”
“Lewis is the annoying kid at school who does everything well and quickly. I’ll tell you a story about the bike. Secretly – they didn’t tell me – they went to Jerez for testing and the one of my strategists was a biker, one of the engineers, and I couldn’t get a hold of him for two days.”
“And then calling Lewis, his engineer picked up and said ‘everything’s fine, everything’s fine, we’ve just finished riding, he’s fine’.”
“I said, ‘What do you mean he’s okay? What happened?’ He had actually fallen and my engineer believed I knew about it!”
“Lewis was only four seconds behind the MotoGP pros. Unbelievable. The physical feel he gets from any machine makes him a champion.”
Related News :