Lewis Hamilton's MotoGP Team Purchase is Getting Closer

Lewis Hamilton is no stranger to being in the headlines, but this time it's because the seven-time Formula 1 world champion is interested in buying a MotoGP team, according to Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei.

Earlier this year we brought you the news that Hamilton was interested in buying the Gresini Ducati, the current team of MotoGP’s biggest star Marc Marquez - the eight-time world champion is moving into the factory Lenovo Ducati team next season - but they were just rumours at the time.

Now, it’s become clear that Hamilton is keen on making waves in the MotoGP world championship. The British driver famously jumped on track with Motorcycle legend Valentino Rossi at Valencia in 2019, with both men riding the Yamaha M1, before Rossi headed out in Hamilton’s title-winning Mercedes F1 car.

Formula 1 and MotoGP have many things in common, such as unique aerodynamic innovations, prototype machines that only a select few are capable of riding/driving and the thrill of high speeds. Both championships push the boundaries in terms of technology and Hamilton is no stranger to being involved in the ever-evolving change.

Liberty Media, current owners of Formula 1, is set to complete its takeover of MotoGP later this year, and will do so by buying 86 per cent of current rights holder Dorna, who will remain a shareholder with the other 14 per cent.

Last month Liberty Media confirmed it had sold F1 shares worth up to $825m to help complete the purchase of MotoGP. Since then huge interest has come its way from manufacturers wanting to be involved in the series.

A lifelong fan, Hamilton rubbished previous rumours of buying Gresini, but Maffei has poured fuel onto the fire by admitting Hamilton came forward about owning a team.

Speaking in a Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference, Maffei said: “I think MotoGP is an unbelievably exciting product. To see people riding motorcycles at 220mph, six inches from each other is wild. And the overtaking there is incredibly impressive. And it’s an exciting product. It’s unfortunately one that is too little known in the United States, and around the world there is interest in Asia and places.

“But the real heart of it has been Spain, Italy, to some degree France. I think there’s an opportunity to expand it. When we announced it, we had immediately people call up and say ‘I want to buy a team’, including people like Lewis Hamilton.

“Why? Because they saw what happened in Formula 1 and they want to follow. We had major distributors call up and say ‘we want to be involved’, and unfortunately I had to tell them ‘we really can’t talk about it until we get EU approval’. We’d love to talk once we get it.”

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