Lewis Hamilton would relish the opportunity to face MotoGP star Marc Marquez in a head-to-head battle following a playful challenge from the Spaniard.
Like Hamilton, Marquez has won five world titles at the pinnacle of his profession, and looks set to add another to his name this season. Ahead of Moto GP’s race at Silverstone at the weekend Marquez, who tested Toro Rosso’s F1 car last year, said he would love to do something with Hamilton.
“Of course! It would be interesting,’ Marquez told the Daily Mail when asked about the prospect of doing something with the reigning F1 champion. “Face-to-face, first an F1 car and then a motorbike because I know he is riding.
“I speak to him by social media sometimes and I know he rides a bike and rides really well. So I look forward to, at a minimum, meeting him. We were very close last year but we had compromises and couldn’t make it work.”
Hamilton responded to the challenge on Instagram, posting a screengrab of the headline with his own caption: “@marcmarquez93 let’s go bro! Can’t wait to meet and ride together sometime.”
Hamilton has shown a keen interest in motorbikes previously, conducting a Superbike test with Yamaha last year and attending this year’s season-opening Moto GP race in Qatar. At that event Hamilton joked he would have to let Mercedes’ F1 title sponsor, Petronas, let him a ride on one of its MotoGP bikes. He also owns a custom MV Augusta which he often rides into the paddock on F1 race weekends.
Hamilton might well have several options for any kind of MotoGP demos. The Yamaha Moto GP team this year confirmed it has looked into how to get the British driver into a ride swap with one of motorbike racing’s biggest icons, Valentino Rossi, in the near future.