Moto GP star Jorge Lorenzo drives Mercedes F1 car

2016 F1 season

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Moto GP star Jorge Lorenzo tested a Mercedes Formula One car today.

The three-times champion of world motorcycle racing drove a 2014-specification Mercedes W05, as used by Lewis Hamilton to win the world championship that year.

Lorenzo described the run as a “dream come true”. He drove the car at Silverstone, which hosts Britain’s Moto GP round as well as F1’s British Grand Prix.

Lorenzo’s Moto GP rival Valentino Rossi has previously tested a Formula One car. He had his first run in a Ferrari in 2008 and also tested for them again in 2010.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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11 comments on “Moto GP star Jorge Lorenzo drives Mercedes F1 car”

  1. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
    6th October 2016, 19:29

    “Spanish driver in a WDC winning car – done”
    Alonso might feel envy.

  2. Haha. How fast was he?

    1. You know you’re a racing fan when the first thing that comes to mind was “What’s his laptime!”..haha

      This the exact same question I had when I saw this head line.

  3. That’s my favourite GP car.

    2 seconds a lap faster than the field in Bahrain race conditions when they cranked it up after the safety car. Unreal.

  4. I wonder how it felt. That is the most or 2nd dominant car in f1 history. In terms of pace, I think that must be the most dominant car. Martin Brundle was saying during the Malaysia GP that the current car, w07, is just a perfect race car and when he tested last year’s car, and he was stunned by it even though it was wet. Surely, the W07 is the best among the trio, but the W05 was the most dominant among them…

    1. I bet it felt good, but lets not kid, its not as fast as F2004 nor corner like a blown RB6…

    2. And Lorenzo has nothing to compare it to that comes even close. I bet if he had been allowed to drive the 2010 HRT car he would feel exactly the same.

  5. He’d be thinking “this doesn’t feel very fast.”

    A Moto-GP bike would leave it down a straight….

    1. there are some fun tests, anf f1 cars lap them within about 4-5 laps i think

  6. How fantastic it would be for a two-wheel grand prix racer to make the move to F1.

  7. He drove on the Silverstone International Circuit. Why would they do that? What does a time of 50.42 seconds mean on this circuit?

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