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Lewis Hamilton and Valentino Rossi Trading Places

13.12.2019

With the motorsport season all but done, F1 drivers and Moto GP riders often get up to all form of activity to keep their teams’ PR machines churning out a readable matter.  

This week however saw a far more entertaining get together than the usual tiddlywinks, cooking, snow and jet-skiing as six-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton and MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi came together to swap rides at Valencia.

Rossi drove a 2017 Mercedes W08, while Hamilton rode the 2019 Yamaha MotoGP YZR-M1 that Valentino had raced in this year’s Valencia season finale in November, and while the two men were rapt by the opportunity, the ultimate outcome of the project remains to be seen if the results of similar, previous ride swaps are anything to go by...

It was an awe inspiring experience for Rossi. “I made some laps in the simulator at Mercedes before,” he told Hamilton. “I was very nervous to drive the car and then to drive some laps with Lewis on the bike, but the weather was good and we really enjoyed a special day.”

“It’s so awesome to see a legend like Valentino in the car,”  Hamilton added. “I was so excited for him, for discovering the car for the first time. “Watching him getting in reminded me of my first time in a Formula 1 car — even if he’s driven an F1 car before — when you see all the team around you, it’s so different — just a different animal.”

“I felt like a real F1 driver for a day,” Rossi admitted after taking his spin. "I didn’t want it to end! “It was difficult in the beginning — you don't see much out the car, but after a while you get used to it and it gets a little better, you sit so low in the car…"

As the day progressed, Hamilton had his chance on the YZR-M1 alone at first, before venturing out for a few laps together with Rossi: “That was perfect,” Lewis conceded. “Thank you so much — it was such an honour to be out there with you — so special to see the legend ahead of me — so cool!”  

The two multiple world champions were clearly delighted to teach and learn from each other in a day of smiles. “The wind in turn thirteen — it makes it wobble away — is it the wind?” Lewis asked about the buffering after he clearly pushed the Yamaha hard. “Yes it’s the wind,” Rossi confirmed — also in the first corner, into the second.”

“It was a proud moment for the team to share our passion with Lewis,” Rossi concluded. “Technically, Valencia is a difficult track and today was windy so, at one point, I thought it would be tricky for Lewis to continue, but I also rode the YZR-M1 on track with Lewis and he was brilliant on the bike and his position on the M1 was great.

“I was a big fan of Lewis’ before but now I am even more,” Vale concluded. “We had a fantastic day, where the two top classes of motorsports not only met but worked together. “Lewis also had loads of fun, which is the main thing.”

It remains interesting to observe the ultimate upshot of this swapping exercise on the two world champions. Hamilton is an avid bike fan can and clearly an accomplished rider, while race fans will remember that Rossi enjoyed several car and bike swaps with the great Michael Schumacher, with Michael even going on to race in German Superbike races in his sabbatical years between his Ferrari and Mercedes years…

Rossi was tipped to swap to Formula 1 in the early 2000s, before opting to stay in Moto GP, where he continues to defy the odds to still race most competitively today. Valentino competes in the Monza rally every year, where he has won on several occasions and will race a GT Ferrari again soon too. It thus remains an intriguing poser where he may crop up to satisfy his clearly voracious racing lust once he finally does hang up his leathers... (Report by Michele Lupini; Photo by Monster)

 
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