Marquez: Maybe F1 will be a serious idea

After his first taste of driving a Formula 1 car, Marc Marquez says pulling off a switch to four-wheel racing “will be a serious idea for me in a few years’ time”.

The reigning MotoGP world champion was handed the opportunity to test a Toro Rosso Honda-branded F1 car, Red Bull Racing’s title-winning 2013 RB8 car, at the Red Bull Ring which hosts both the Austrian F1 and MotoGP rounds.

Marquez, who was also joined by Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa, was given driver mentoring by ex-F1 Grand Prix winner Mark Webber while both Red Bull motorsport advisor Dr Helmut Marko and Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda watched on trackside to assess Marquez’s progress.

While Marquez remains committed to MotoGP, having recently re-signed to the factory Honda squad until the end of 2020, he says F1 could be a “serious idea for me” having impressed during his runs while comparing the experience of driving an F1 car to his Honda RC213V MotoGP bike.

“My complete focus in the coming years will remain on MotoGP. I’m part of a fantastic team, and I feel fully motivated,” Marquez said. “Who knows though, maybe Formula 1 will be a serious idea for me in a few years’ time.

“It was always my dream to race the quickest cars in the world. I had great respect for it ahead of today, and I didn’t sleep well. In the end it was an unbelievable experience, and an absolute highlight of my career.

“There is a massive difference to MotoGP. The limited visibility was a great challenge, in particular, to begin with. You feel a lot more constricted in the cockpit.

“The braking distances and timing in turns is completely different. A Formula 1 car has much more downforce, of course, which made for a lot of fun in the part of the circuit with the most turns.”

Marquez and Pedrosa had previously completed laps in Red Bull’s simulator in Milton Keynes as preparation for the F1 car run at the Red Bull Ring.

The Repsol Honda pair become the latest from the current MotoGP grid to drive an F1 car following on from Valentino Rossi with Ferrari and Jorge Lorenzo with Mercedes, while Fernando Alonso went the opposite way to test Marquez’s 2015 MotoGP bike during Honda’s ‘Thanks Day’ at Motegi.

John Surtees remains the only person in history to become a world champion in grand prix racing on both two and four wheels and Marko feels Marquez “has what it takes” to be competitive in F1.

“To put that kind of performance in within such a short time says everything about his huge talent,” Marko said. “In the coming years he is going to break a lot more records in MotoGP. Maybe after that, Formula 1 will actually be a possibility.

“Up to now only a few exceptional talents, such as John Surtees, have managed to compete in both racing series. Marc also has what it takes. Today definitely wasn’t the last time he will sit in a Formula 1 car.”