MotoGP champion Fabio Quartararo lined up for Mercedes F1 test
Potentially following in the footsteps of nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi who drove a Ferrari F1 car on several occasions whilst still competing in MotoGP - most notably in 2006 - Quartararo could be the next to swap two-wheels for four in a private test with Mercedes.
In attendance for the French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard, a race in which Max Verstappen took a commanding victory after Charles Leclerc dramatically crashed out from the lead, Quartararo made no secret of his ambition to drive an F1 car in the near future.
"We are working to be able to get on a Formula 1 at the end of the year, so we cross our fingers," Quartararo told DAZN on the starting grid. "Formula 1 is very different from MotoGP, but I like it a lot. I hope to be able to get into a car one day."
Long-time Sky Sports F1 pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz claimed on Sky: “Quartararo is doing a Mercedes test at the end of the year, so watch out for that, which should be good."
The current championship leader over Aleix Espargaro, has again been in scintillating form for much of the 2022 MotoGP campaign.
However, a first mistake of the year in Assen, the final race before the summer break, allowed Espargaro and eventual race winner Francesco Bagnaia to regain the momentum ahead of next month’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Quartararo, who is a big admirer of seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton and vice versa, would likely step into the #44 car which he already did on Sunday.
If Quartararo does indeed step into an F1 car with Mercedes, then it will be the second time in four years that a factory Yamaha rider has done so.
In 2019, Hamilton and his motorcycle hero Rossi exchanged their respective W08 and M1 machines around Valencia.
