F1 News
Liberty Media confirm rumour: Hamilton interested in buying MotoGP team
Following Liberty Media's recent success with Formula One, the corporation will also become MotoGP's commercial rightsholder next season. According to President and CEO of Liberty Media, Greg Maffei, a driver on the F1 grid could follow motorsport legend Valentino Rossi to own a team on the MotoGP grid.
In April, Liberty Media announced their intention to acquire a majority stake in MotoGP for €4.2 billion. The deal should be complete by the end of this year, once the European Commission have given their approval and the deal complies with antitrust rules.
Maffei attended the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference this week, where he talked about potential investors into the competition. "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," said the 64-year-old American.
One name on the aforemention list does stand out in the world of motorsport: Lewis Hamilton. "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," Maffei confirmed previous rumours of Hamilton wanting to buy a team in the competition.
Hamilton's previous answer
Previously, the Briton was rumoured that he would be interested in taking over the Gresini Racing team, that has won the previous two MotoGP Grands Prix these last two weekends with Marc Marquez. "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 is possible," Hamilton said earlier this year. The driver himself has already invested in the Denver Broncos that play in the NFL.
Co-Author: Corwin Kunst
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16 September 2024
