There’s a sense of pride that’s associated with motorcycle racers in terms of ultimate racing ability. Most MotoGP riders could rip around the track in a racing car—we’ve seen Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez look very competent driving F1 cars. Rossi has gone on to claim three victories in the GT World Challenge Europe since 2022, but we’ve never seen an F1 driver make the switch to motorcycle racing, and we might never get to. \
But it looks like F1 Champion, Lando Norris, might throw a leg over a factory KTM MotoGP bike soon.
Former Hass F1 team principal and current Tech3 KTM team owner, Guenther Steiner, extended an invitation to Norris to try out a KTM MotoGP bike. It’s not a ridiculous idea because before Norris was winning races on four wheels, he was winning them on two.
Norris recently stated, “You know what, I would love to do motorbike stuff. That’s actually where I started. “So I did horse riding – I hated that. Quad biking – my dad sold it, he said it got stolen, he just sold it because it was too dangerous for me. Then I went to motocross. So I love dirt motorsport – motorbikes, motocross, quad bikes, I loved all of that before I ever watched Formula 1, before I ever saw road racing, or anything.”
The only F1 driver we’ve ever seen on a MotoGP bike was Lewis Hamilton, when he jumped aboard Rossi’s Yamaha M1, and Rossi got behind the wheel of Hamilton’s Mercedes-AMG F1 W08 EQ Power+. Hamilton did well and surprised more than a few folks with his ability on two wheels, but then he should be good, as he’s a track-day lover and rides motorcycles frequently, which you’ll see below.
Seeing the two icons of modern racing swap machinery was great publicity for both sports and Steiner has been outspoken about is want to bring more eyeballs to MotoGP, so getting Lando on a KTM would be a dream come true for Liberty Media, the new owners of MotoGP. However, the offer isn’t set in stone, yet.
When Steiner was speaking on the Red Flags podcast, he said, “He is welcome to ride our bike next year. It has the same colour [of the McLaren], papaya… Ok, it’s orange, but they are very similar. It would be something nice for him, although I don’t know if Zak Brown would be happy to see him ride a MotoGP bike.”
If Lando can get the green light from Zac Brown, McLaren Racing’s CEO, it’s hard to imagine him turning down the oppertunity.
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