As one of the fastest motorbike riders in the world, it is easy to imagine that Andrea Dovizioso has lived and seen it all in motorsport

With 15 wins in the premier class of two-wheeled racing, the three-time MotoGP runner-up, was a guest of BWT Alpine Formula One Team in Austin as he too took to the track at the Circuit of The Americas as part of a MotoGP demonstration run organised alongside Formula One.

Liberty Media now owns both Formula One and MotoGP and took the opportunity to introduce the world of two wheels to four on an epic, action-packed weekend which saw Andrea ride a Yamaha M1 MotoGP bike in the Alpine Cars-sponsored Prima Pramac livery.

“It has been really interesting here in Formula One,” said 40-year-old Andrea. “It’s been strange, but very cool for me to ride laps at a non-MotoGP event. To be here with F1 in front of F1 fans has certainly felt very different. It has been nice to see so many people interested in our sport. It is completely different, MotoGP and F1 but it has been nice to do and a good idea by the organisers to allow us to put on a show.”

Andrea, also known as Dovi, is a legend in Italy. His MotoGP career spanned 14 years where he rode 248 races including stints at the factory teams of Honda, Ducati and Yamaha. He finished P2 in the Championship in three consecutive seasons from 2017-2019 with Ducati.

He rode on track on Friday and Saturday alongside another legend in the sport, Dani Pedrosa, the recently crowned World Superbike Champion Nicolo Bulega and Aprilia man Lorenzo Savadori.

Dovi even had time to pop a wheelie and wave to the stream of onlookers lining the pit wall on the main straight, which included many Alpine team personnel.

On Thursday, it was Franco Colapinto who turned heads in the Paddock as he rode from the entry turnstiles down to Alpine’s Hospitality on board Dovi’s bike, causing a buzz as many personnel watched on.

“I met Franco and he told me he really wanted to ride my bike but he was not allowed to do so,” Dovi said with a smile. “The team forbid him as the bike is very, very challenging to ride! I was happy to hear that he likes bikes and he has a lot of interest. It was nice they let him sit on the bike, give it some revs and kind of steer it a few metres!”

Dovi watched Practice and Qualifying in the team’s garage as Pierre and Franco both reached the second segment of Qualifying on Saturday. He then wondered down to the FIA Garage for Q3 where Dovi was given the honour of presenting the Pirelli Pole Position Award to compatriot Kimi Antonelli.

Earlier in the day, he was given a tour of the garage and had a view of the A526 and its steering wheel, as well as meeting Executive Advisor, Flavio Briatore.

He said: “I met some engineers who explained to me the way they work. I saw the steering wheel and was amazed by the amount of buttons and how many changes drivers have to make every lap. That is crazy for me as a rider, there are so many, but it was very interesting for me to hear about that. "There is a big difference between F1 and MotoGP. There are so many people here both inside the Paddock and outside. It’s really nice to see but I would say there is too much traffic! Thanks to Alpine for the opportunity and I am really looking to seeing Formula One again in the future,” Dovi concluded.