Who says car drivers don't make good riders and vice versa? To disprove the myth, Monster Energy put two motorsport titans, Valentino Rossi of MotoGP and Formula 1 World Champion, Lewis Hamilton against each other, switching rides in the process. The historic track day happened in Valencia.
How did it go? The two took to each others' rides fairly well. We were surprised to see Formula One champ, Lewis Hamilton, doing some knee-dragging onboard Valentino Rossi's MotoGP bike. Rossi, on the other hand, droveHamilton's 2017 Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport Formula One championship car.
“It’s so awesome to see a legend like Valentino in the car,” said the 34-year-old Hamilton. Both have explicitly admired each other for their respective achievements. “I’m excited for him, for discovering the car for the first time. Reminds me of my first time in an F1 car. When you see all the team around you, it’s just a different animal.”
Acting as mentors for one another, the pair were able to complete multiple runs on each other’s vehicles and shared insights and learnings about each other’s craft.
“I was a big fan of Lewis’ before, but now I am even more,” said Rossi. He further added that driving a Formula One car was an incredible experience. "We had a fantastic day where the two top classes of motorsports not only met but worked together. I felt like a real F1 driver for a day. I didn’t want the day to end.”
Rossi also lauded Hamilton's riding skills on the track, he even went on to say that Hamilton was a brilliant rider.
“Valencia is a hard track and today was windy so at one point I thought it would be difficult for Lewis to continue, but he was brilliant on the bike and his position on the M1 was great. I think he had loads of fun, which is the main thing.”
