Formula One’s owners have confirmed that Lewis Hamilton was among the figures interested in buying a MotoGP team this year.
Seven-time F1 world champion Hamilton is in the twilight of his glittering motorsport career and is already investing in his future.
The 39-year-old Brit is in the final months of his £50million-a-year Mercedes contract before he takes a slight pay-cut to join Ferrari.
Hamilton, who boasts an incredible property portfolio, has been looking to expand his business investments into sport for some time.
The Stevenage-born racer joined tennis icon Serena Williams in pledging millions to help back an unsuccessful Chelsea bid in 2022 prior to Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital’s takeover.
Later that same year, Hamilton headed to the NFL to join three-time Super Bowl champions, the Denver Broncos, as a co-owner.
He has now looked closer to home by considering a motorsport opportunity – although in bike racing, not cars.
In April, Liberty Media, who bought F1 from CVC Capital Partners in 2017, successfully completed a 86 per cent takeover of MotoGP.
The deal was valued at £3.2billion ($4.2bn), shy of the £3.5bn ($4.6bn) F1 takeover, with the series’ management retaining the remaining 14 per cent stake.
Liberty Media’s CEO has now confirmed that Hamilton has already reached out over a potential ownership deal.
Speaking at a technology conference Greg 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.
“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 they 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.”
Hamilton is the world’s most famous car racer but a proposed switch to MotoGP wouldn’t be the first time he’s jumped across to bikes.
The Briton, who is also involved in the production of Brad Pitt’s F1 movie, rode Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha M1 at an event in 2019.
He was reported to have held talks with Gresini Racing about purchasing the satellite Ducati MotoGP squad this summer.
Following his sponsored Yahama ride in Valencia, Hamilton admitted: “I have always loved bikes.
“When I was younger I wanted to race bikes, not cars but my dad wouldn’t let me, he said they were too dangerous.
“He got me into four wheels rather than two. It was the right choice because if I was racing during the time Vale was there, I wouldn’t have been so successful.
“Since I have been in Formula 1, I have a superbike and I like to do some track days. It is fascinating. It gives a different perspective.”
When asked about the prospect of owning a team ahead of his victory at the British Grand Prix, Hamilton added: “I’ve always loved MotoGP.
“I’m interested in the potential growth of the sport, but I haven’t looked that far into it just yet.
“But anything’s possible. I’m definitely interested in, as I said before, about equity and already with the Broncos, it was already a first step in team ownership.
“And so, yeah, I think over the next five to 10 years, there’ll be hopefully more. We’ll see where.”
