MotoGP champion Marquez tests F1 car - UPDATED

UPDATE: Marc Marquez's Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa has now also been on track, but rain arrived shortly afterwards...

Four-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez has had his first taste of driving Formula 1 machinery as part of a test organised by Red Bull Racing. 

The Repsol Honda rider switched two wheels for four at Red Bull’s Spielberg circuit - the venue for both the Austrian MotoGP and F1’s Austrian Grand Prix - completing a run in Red Bull’s title-winning 2013 RB8 car, donning Toro Rosso’s current livery including Honda logos. 

Marquez is due to be joined at the private test by teammate and fellow countryman Dani Pedrosa, who is also set to get a run in the V8-powered F1 car. 

Other current MotoGP riders to test F1 machinery include Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi  (Ferrari) and Jorge Lorenzo (Mercedes), who claimed his first win since joining Ducati at Mugello last weekend. 

The Marquez and Pedrosa combined test follows Honda’s previous major MotoGP and F1 crossover, after McLaren’s Fernando Alonso rode Marquez’s MotoGP bike at Motegi in 2015 when the Japanese engine manufacturer still supplied the Woking-based squad.