Hamilton: MotoGP and F1 shared events would be “epic”

Liberty, which has owned F1’s commercial rights since 2017, announced at the start of April that it had acquired an 86% ownership stake of Dorna Sports and MotoGP in a deal valued at €4.2 billion.

Following this, MotoGP Dorna sporting director Carlos Ezpeleta said his organisation was “not ruling out” the possibly of subsequent future shared race weekends with F1.

At the recent Japanese Grand Prix, Autosport/Motorsport.com asked Mercedes driver Hamilton – famously a MotoGP fan who swapped rides with legendary rider Valentino Rossi during the Italian’s final racing years – if he would welcome combined F1 and MotoGP events.

“I didn't really think a lot about it, [but] obviously I read the headlines about it,” he replied. “I think Liberty has done an amazing job with Formula 1, obviously the value of the thing [rising since 2017]. So, I think they can do a great job with MotoGP.

“It's exciting because I love MotoGP. It would be epic if we can have them on the same weekend.”

Hamilton then joked “maybe I could do a race in MotoGP and race a Formula 1 car on the same weekend – that would be really cool”, before adding that such a situation would be “impossible”.

The idea of shared F1 and MotoGP events are understood to be unlikely in the short term and would only work at larger venues where the two categories already race – such as the Austin track where MotoGP is racing this weekend – rather than F1’s many new street tracks.

Lewis Hamilton, Yamaha MotoGP YZR-M1, Valentino Rossi, MotoGP YZR-M1

Photo by: Monster Energy

In the same session where he faced the media at Suzuka, Hamilton was also asked if his interests away from F1 are now more important to him given the challenges his Mercedes squad is facing as it strives to return to challenging for grand prix victories.

Hamilton insisted his main focus, one that “keeps me up at night”, was on Mercedes and aiming to fight for wins before he leaves to race for Ferrari in 2025.

“I think ultimately if you dwell on difficult times, then there's only one way you're going,” he said.

“I think it's really good to be able to unplug, reset and reset your focus and your goals moving forwards. And so, I have a few of these other things.

“But still the ultimate thing that keeps me up at night is, ‘when are we going to be fighting for wins again?’

“‘What can I do different? What can I do better in the car? How can I improve in qualifying? How can I deliver more for the team? What different set-up things can we take?’

“Those things still keep you up. But we win and we lose as a team. We're very united. Everyone's working incredibly hard, so we just got to continue at it.”