Shanghai, April 9 (IANS): Ahead of this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, Formula 1 racer Daniel Ricciardo tried his hand at martial arts here on Thursday.

The Red Bull driver was at Guyi Gardens in Nanxiang where he completed a light martial arts workout with local expert Yang. Ricciardo went through various stretching exercises, followed by high kicks and flat palm exercises in front of a gathering crowd.

“I really enjoy martial arts from both the sporting perspective and also the movement of the body. It’s very cool to see the human body flow the way it does in these routines. I’ve got a lot of respect for the practitioners and enjoy watching what they do," said the Australian.

"It’s pretty far removed from what we do as we’re strapped down in the car and don’t have much in the way of a range of movements. But a lot of the stuff we can learn from martial arts exponents can be employed in our training.”

Meanwhile, Ricciardo's teammate Daniil Kvyat headed to MTR Plaza here to pit his virtual racing skills up against some champion Chinese computer gamers.

However, the Russian is totally focussed on the season's third GP to be held at the Shanghai International Circuit.

“We’re definitely looking to make some progress. We want to start making big steps forward and this race here in China is the one where I hope things start to get better for us,” said Kvyat.