Daniel Ricciardo and Marc Marquez undertake a friendly boat race in Barcelona with the Alinghi Red Bull Racing team.

Ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend, Alinghi Red Bull Racing was joined by two motorsports icons, 8-time Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo and 8-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez. Following Max Verstappen’s visit to the Base last year, this week the two racers took it a step further, not only getting the chance to foil on the Swiss challenger’s two AC40 yachts, but race them on the America’s Cup venue. Swapping wheels for sails, Ricciardo and Marquez went head-to-head along Barcelona’s seafront for a friendly contest, feeling the adrenaline as they reached speeds of almost 90 km/h.

Both boats were quick off the start line, but ultimately the Australian driver got the upper hand, beating the Catalonian MotoGP champion on home ground. Marquez compared his experience in motorsports: “The speed is completely different. Maybe in kilometres per hour it’s slower, but the feeling of the speed was super high. When you’re in it, you don’t feel like you are flying. But then I saw Daniel’s boat flying by our side, and I realised I was too. We were foiling super smoothly.”

Alinghi Red Bull Racing has been working closely with Red Bull Advanced Technologies, the high-performance vehicle engineering division of Red Bull Racing. Despite the apparent difference between the two sports, both Formula One and the America’s Cup share roots in high-performance engineering.

“The way these boats are built and the structure feels a lot like the cockpit of a Formula One car,” Ricciardo commented. “They’re super sensitive with the wind, so aerodynamics has some crossover as well. It’s a lot like what we do, with small movements and everything needs a lot of finesse.”

The Swiss team’s skipper Arnaud Psarofaghis was tasked with getting the two athletes up to speed before the AC40s went out. “Daniel took my seat on the boat, and followed all my directions as I sent them through from the chase boat,” Psarofaghis said. “Both Marc and Daniel were dropped in the deep end today, and they adapted really quickly. Overall, it was a super inspiring day out on the water with these guys.”

Although it was a lower-stakes race for Ricciardo ahead of the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix this Sunday, the friendly competition with his Red Bull colleague might just be the perfect preparation as he gears up for the racetrack.

EXTRA QUOTES

Daniel Ricciardo, F1 driver: “You never know what to expect when you experience something like this, but I had a lot of fun. Also to do it with Marc, it was great for us to spend some time together and do something like this with Alinghi Red Bull Racing. I want to wish the team the absolute best for the America’s Cup. It’s going to be awesome. I’ve seen everything, and we know you’re going to do great, so we’ll be cheering you on.

“When you come out of the water foiling, the boats go so fast, the agility and everything’s really precise. You also feel the wind like we do – and Marc does on his bike – but unless it’s a wet race we don’t really get the water that much. So every now and then you hit a wave and get covered with water.”

Marc Marquez, MotoGP rider: “For me, the most impressive thing is the coordination needed inside the boat. The biggest thing I was asking myself was how they learn and understand what they need to do. Because it was super difficult to feel what’s going on inside the boat because as soon as you are flying, everything is super smooth.

“You need to be super precise. In motorsport, if you make a mistake, you fall down. But here, in a race, I imagine that if you make a small mistake, you drop the speed very quickly, and then it takes a lot of time to reach that speed again.”

Arnaud Psarofaghis, Alinghi Red Bull Racing skipper: “I’m a big fan of both Formula 1 and MotoGP, so to show these guys around our Base was an honour. Daniel and Marc were really interested to learn about our America’s Cup campaign, so before we got on the water I even gave them a behind-the-scenes tour onboard our AC75, BoatOne.

“We’ve been here as a team for two years, getting to know the conditions of Barcelona and how to sail these boats, so seeing both of them quickly learn the ropes was a big inspiration ahead of the racing this summer.”