Lewis Hamilton could be moving into the MotoGP paddock soon, as reports suggest he’s looking to purchase the satellite Ducati team, Gresini Racing.
The rumour first started, according to The Race, at the beginning of the Dutch TT weekend at Assen, and while nothing official has been communicated, The Race has claimed the whispers have been “confirmed by multiple people with knowledge of the team's workings”.
The website goes on to claim that a member of Hamilton’s “inner circle” was in attendance at the event, potentially with the sole intention of looking at the team and the viability of scooping it up.
Gresini Racing is based in Faenza, Italy, and is currently led by Nadia Padovani, the widow of the team's founder, Fausto Gresini. Gresini passed away in 2021 following complications as a result of Covid-19. He founded the team in 1991, pushing it to the forefront of the MotoE, Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP grids.
The timing of the rumour comes during a period of strong results for Gresini, with teammates and brothers Alex and Marc Marquez becoming mainstays at the front of the grid. It’s this stability in the team, and the obvious commercial opportunities that could be raising the F1 driver’s interest in the move.
Lewis Hamilton Riding With Valentino Rossi for a Monster Energy Promotion
On the commercial side, Hamilton already has links to several brands that sponsor him and other riders and teams within the MotoGP paddock. Given the power that ‘Brand Hamilton’ possesses, persuading some or all of those names to move to his own MotoGP would be a fairly simple move for Hamilton and his team, and a sensible one for the brands. There is also the link between MotoGP and Formula 1 that comes from F1 commercial rights holder, Liberty Media, being in the process of buying the MotoGP rights from Dorna. Owning those rights and having one of the most famous and successful racing drivers of all time as a team owner in MotoGP must be an appealing thought.
