Red Bull athlete and reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez had his first taste of a modern F1 yesterday.

From two to four

The Spaniard was given the chance to drive a Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula One racer at Red Bull Ring in Austria.

The four-time world champion drove for a few hours at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix there later this season. Before being let loose in an F1 car Marquez completed a series of laps in an F1 simulator.

You can read our Monaco F1 GP review by clicking here.

Close scrutiny

The 25-year-old had a trio of F1 big hitters to put him through his paces. Triple world champion Niki Lauda, eight-time grand prix winner Mark Webber and Red Bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko watched from the stands.

Judging by the video a few more people took to the stands to watch the rookie’s debut. He didn’t hang about either. He seemed to getting up to speed, as it were, pretty quickly though no mention was made of his lap times.

Watch an incredible Moto3 save at this link.

Of course, Marquez isn’t the first two-wheel champ to have taken to an F1 car for a blast. Valentino Rossi drove a Ferrari and Jorge Lorenzo drove a Mercedes, while Fernando Alonso made the switch in the other direction to test Marquez’s 2015 bike when his McLaren team still used Honda engines.

In his own words

Hooked after just a few laps, Marquez said: “It’s an incredible feeling to drive in this car especially the downforce and the speed you are able to drive into the turns. However, I’m starting to feel my neck already”.

You can catch some of the MotoGP champion’s on-track F1 antics in the video below: