Lewis Hamilton “Only four seconds slower than MotoGP pilots” on a Superbike.

In 2019, Lewis Hamilton and Valentino Rossi exchanged their vehicles for a day: the Formula 1 pilot led the Yamaha MotoGP to Dottore, while Rossi took the wheel of the British Mercedes.

However, Hamilton's connection to motorcycles goes back further, because in 2018, he secretly tested a Yamaha Yzf-R1… without informing Mercedes. 'They didn't tell me. He went with the director of the strategy and one of his engineers, who was particularly obsessed with motorcycles. During these two days, there was no way to contact them'recalled the CEO of Mercedes F1, Toto Wolff, on the Podcast Armchair Expert.

According to Austrian, when he was finally able to contact the Hamilton engineer, it was assured that everything was fine … although it was not without incident: 'When I asked him to explain it, he told me that Hamilton had an accident’.

Wolff also learned about Hamilton's skill on a Motorcycle: 'They told me that Lewis was only four seconds from MotoGP pilots. It is an incredible result. This sensitivity to speed is the secret that makes Lewis a natural talent and, therefore, a champion’.