Marc Marquez Compares Formula One to MotoGP
Rennie Scaysbrook | June 11, 2018
Marc Marquez Compares Formula One to MotoGP—Marc Marquez got to live one of his dreams last week when he drove a 2012 Red Bull Toro Rosso around the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria.
Marc Marquez Compares Formula One to MotoGP
Marquez was under the tutelage of 11-time Formula One Grand Prix winner Mark Webber and adapted brilliantly to his first time in an F1 car. No official times were released. However, unofficial times had Marquez clock a 1:1 14.9 second lap, six seconds off a 2014 time (when the V8 engine was last used). That’s 10 seconds off the current, 1000hp hybrid cars. Not bad for a guy who never sat in an F1 car before.
To put that in perspective, Marquez put in a pole time of 1:23.235 for last year’s MotoGP race at the Red Bull Ring.
In this great little video from renowned British motorsport publication Autosport, Marquez lights up when chatting about the rigors of driving a Formula One car compared to his usual Repsol Honda MotoGP weapon.
Could do what Valentino Rossi knocked back and switch to Formula One? At 25-years-old, he’s got time (just) on his side, however unlikely it may be. Just imagine if the roles were reversed and Lewis Hamilton rode a 2012 Honda RC213V to a time six seconds off what Casey Stoner could do? Wouldn’t that be a sensation…
The only rider to successfully make the switch from Grand Prix motorcycle racing to Formula One and win both premier class championships was the late John Surtees. Surtees claimed seven rider’s titles and the 1964 Formula One World Championship for Ferrari.
Valentino Rossi was seriously considering a switch to car racing between 2004 and 2010, having tested very successfully with Ferrari. Rossi lapped the Valencia circuit only 0.7 seconds off what Michael Schumacher could manage in 2006 but chose to stay in MotoGP.
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