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Jump onboard with Lewis Hamilton and Valentino Rossi to get an exclusive insight into the pair making motorsport history with the ultimate race-machinery swap.
Monster had organised the test event, which was initially dubbed as the 'invisible swap' since not a single social media post or any videos had been posted online of the six-times Formula 1 champion on Rossi's Yamaha M1 bike or of the latter in Hamilton's Mercedes 745kW F1 car on the day. But images have been released since, and now we have the onboard footage of the two motorsport icons.
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It seems like a seamless transition for the pair as they look comfortable behind the wheel of their opposite weapons of choice.
Lin Jarvis, Team Principal – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP said, speaking of Lewis Hamilton: "I was very impressed by Lewis’ performance because how many champions of cars could come here and get on an M1, go out there and do themselves proud?
"The techniques of driving the car and riding the bike are so different but obviously the human skill set of being able to deal with racing and speed, lines and reactions and so forth is common so it’s fantastic to watch."
Image: Monster Energy
James Vowles – Motorsports Strategy Director, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport said of Valentino’s performance in the car: "Valentino's approach was very meticulous. He got the fundamentals right first in terms of getting the car to where he wanted it to be on track and controlling it, and then just intuitively braking later and carrying more speed into the corner, almost like I imagine he does with a MotoGP bike, and it's very impressive to watch."
Image: Monster Energy
"It is really the sign of a true master that he's not out of control and progressively finding performance. Throughout the day, he had areas of strengths. One of them was braking late and carrying speed into the corner, he's really good at that," he said.
Image: Monster Energy
"Give him another day or two in the car, and he will then be on top of the fundamentals plus the tuning of all of that. There is a lot of performance to come. In slow-speed corners, as in the exits onto the start-finish straight, there he was very good. Where he was a little bit behind Lewis - and it doesn't surprise me too much - is high speed," Vowles added.
Watch the videos of both Hamilton and Rossi below: