Lewis Hamilton says he'd like to race the Daytona 500 one day
Three-time Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton says he would like to race the Daytona 500 one day.
Heading into this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, most of the talk in the paddock has been centered around Fernando Alonso’s decision to miss the Monaco Grand Prix to race in the Indianapolis 500.
Asked on Thursday if he would like to race elsewhere other than F1, Hamilton replied: “I wouldn’t miss out any of the races in Formula One. I’d definitely continue to do all the races, but I’d like to do MotoGP. I’d like to ride a MotoGP [bike]. Is there another race? Probably a NASCAR race, like the Daytona 500 maybe.”
Hamilton drove a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series car when he did a ride swap with Tony Stewart at the Watkins Glen International road course in New York in 2011. Hamilton was also on hand for the 2015 Cup series finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida when Kyle Busch won the Championship.
However, Hamilton is aware that every series poses different challenges, and admits that there will be some new obstacles for Alonso to overcome in this year’s Indianapolis 500.
“It’s a completely different category; it’s a lot, lot different,” said Hamilton. “I’ve never driven one of those tracks, but it would so much different for us to go and do that – how a car’s set up, because it’s asymmetric, I think.
“The banking, how much you lift, how you use the tires. It takes us guys forever through these test days to learn how to operate these tires in the right window, so I would imagine it’s not an easy thing to do in one go, so it’s definitely a tall order in a short space of time.
“But you’ve got one of the best drivers in the world going there. For sure, [Alonso] will be the best driver in the paddock, but he won’t have the experience any of them have. So I think it will be a very exciting challenge for him, to see how strong he can fare against those who have all that experience.”
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