Lewis Hamilton to attend Qatar MotoGP?

UPDATE, March 1: Lewis Hamilton confirms he will attend Qatar MotoGP...

The new Petronas Yamaha Sepang MotoGP team could have some star support during its first ever MotoGP event amid rumours that reigning five-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton will visit the team in Qatar!

Crash.net understands that the Petronas Mercedes driver plans to attend part of next weekend's MotoGP season-opener on his way to the first F1 event of the year in Australia.

Hamilton, who frequently praises motorcycle racing and rode a Yamaha R1M superbike alongside WorldSBK stars Michael van der Mark and Alex Lowes at Jerez in December, hasn't visited a MotoGP since Catalunya 2014.

But the mutual Petronas backing saw one of the Englishman's F1 cars present during the Petronas Yamaha MotoGP launch in January, when Sepang CEO Razlan Razali said: "I would not be surprised if sooner rather than later [Petronas] get Lewis Hamilton involved. Let’s wait and see..."

New Petronas riders Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo also told Crash.net they would be happy to offer Hamilton the chance to achieve his dream of trying a MotoGP bike.

Such a test would probably only be possible after the F1 season is over, but it looks like Hamilton will at least get a close-up look at the new Petronas Yamaha next weekend…