First person / comment
by Michael Goggis
“I can say that we had a very interesting discussion with the management. It’s no secret that Lewis Hamilton is interested in MotoGP and thinks about his own team. There are substantive discussions here as well. Pete Beyer, KTM Motorsport Director, in an interview published on Speediweek.com on December 24, 2024.
Rumors have been swirling for months that seven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton wants to buy a MotoGP team. So far, there have been no credible sources attached to the rumours. Bayer’s comments are the strongest – and perhaps the first credible – to suggest that Hamilton may be actively seeking an ownership role in the MotoGP paddock.
KTM’s financial problems were widely known by this time, and the company went bankrupt in 2010. While favoring Grand Prix racing in 2025, the agency representing the company’s creditors said it plans to release “MotoGP Moto2/Moto3”. There is no timeline and other details regarding the approval given by the lending agency.
Racing needs money, and KTM is actively seeking investors to help the company’s racing efforts. Bearer specifically chose the terms “partner” and “investor” in Speedwick’s article, because he views them differently than a sponsor. “An investor is different from a sponsor,” he said. “When you have partners at the table to give money to such a great project, then they participate. So it’s clear that such people will have some opinion.
So what does Hamilton bring to the KTM racing project? And is it a Hamilton seeker that will save KTM’s road racing efforts? Hamilton loves performance bikes. He also fielded Valentino Rossi’s factory Yamaha YZR-M1 MotoGP machine and Yamaha’s factory-spec World Superbike YZF-R1s on the track. Fast owns a set of Italian two-wheelers.
Start with the basics. Hamilton has money. Britain’s Richest List, published earlier in December by The Mirror, put Hamilton’s net worth at $375 million. Enough to fund KTM’s Grand Prix road racing efforts in the future. The annual interest of that amount — if it’s in my credit union certificate — would generate significantly more than the reported $11 million or so Red Bull has invested in KTM’s MotoGP effort.
But at the level of finance that Hamilton does, the game doesn’t work that way. Hamilton has private sponsors who throw money at any project he’s involved with. When basketball player Michael Jordan ran the AMA Pro Superbike team, most of the funding came not from himself but from his personal sponsors and others who wanted the attention he was getting – the US National Guard being one of them. And while researching an article on the Target/Ganassi IndyCar program for the Business Journal, I found that Target has offered nothing in the way of sponsorship. All companies with logos on Target Racing cars paid the bills as part of their overall business relationship with the retail giant.
The bottom line is that Hamilton doesn’t act like a wealthy businessman throwing personal money at a frontline pet project. If he participates, it will be a complex project involving several large international corporations. KTM may end up with all the money it reasonably needs to compete in MotoGP.
But having bosses to report to powerful financial authorities who demand results comes at a cost.
And one of those bosses would be one of the most famous and successful runners in history. Hamilton is like Marc Marquez, in which the record books are filled with their name. Watching Hamilton drive so well is like watching Marquez ride – you know you’re watching something otherworldly. (If you need proof, look at the 2008 British Formula One Grand Prix at Silverstone. In a twisted, mixed, treacherous situation, Hamilton won by 68 seconds.)
Hamilton knows how to overcome pressure unimaginable to motorcycle road racers. The money involved in F1 is in MotoGP. The pressure and publicity that comes with winning so many titles in F1 makes Valentino Rossi’s public life resemble that of a supporting actor on a mildly successful 1990s TV sitcom.
When Team Rahal announced Supersport racing at Moto America, I wrote that the team would bring a level of professionalism to the series as it is a racing organization with a history of success in the most popular and high-profile international competition. Series. If you consider a potential Hamilton/KTM collaboration, it would be quite right to see the Hamilton organization rise to the already impressive KTM/Red Bull status. This could be good, because Hamilton and company know what it takes to win. Trackhouse Racing Team Principal David Brivio said it’s good to have NASCAR race winner Justin Marks as the head of the Trackhouse because Marks understands what it takes to win. So did Hamilton.
Someone like Hamilton doesn’t just participate for fun. Again, the team was reasonably successful when Jordan competed in AMA Pro Superbike racing but was unable to consistently challenge the riders on the factory Yoshimura Suzukis. Jordan said one of his biggest frustrations was not being able to get factory-specific parts from Suzuki for his team’s bikes. Jordan didn’t just want to be good, he wanted to win. If Hamilton is involved with KTM, it will be at factory level. Hamilton wants results, and the factory team needs to develop a bike and attract and retain riders capable of beating rivals on the all-conquering Ducatis.
That, ultimately, is the downside of engaging the Hamilton firm in a competitive program. KTM’s progress has stalled in recent years, with the team going even longer than Honda without a race win in MotoGP. RC16 On any given Sunday, the latest special Ducati Desmosedici could be as good as any. But Hamilton’s interest in the sport isn’t just about being “the best,” and it’s certainly not about ROI. He needs no further notice. And there are far better ways to invest money than in MotoGP racing, unless one considers the dramatic increase in the value of the MotoGP team owned by Liberty Media. And even that takeover is now delayed.
No, Hamilton comes into the game to win. And the challenge of working with Aliens is that they want Alien-like results. Again, we can draw comparisons with Marc Marquez, who walked away from an incredibly lucrative contract with Honda as he is unlikely to win on the RC213V. Marquez took a strong financial hit and moved to the satellite Gresini team because the champagne of victory had lost its taste. Standing at the top of the podium – or at least being on track – with a realistic chance of winning – is what motivates foreigners like Marquez and Hamilton. And if KTM can’t deliver on that, there could be awkward discussions between the team and the angel investor(s).
