Valentino Rossi admits he 'would come to blows' in title fight with Max Verstappen

Valentino Rossi in 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

Racing Superstars

Valentino Rossi admits he 'would come to blows' in title fight with Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen has four world titles, Valentino Rossi nine

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Saturday 1 August 2026 22:30

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Seven-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi has admitted that a championship battle between himself and F1 superstar Max Verstappen would likely see them 'come to blows'.

Rossi won nine motorcycle world championships across his illustrious career between 1996-2021, and is largely regarded as one of the best racers in any motorsport series ever.

Rossi now races cars, competing in the world endurance championship (WEC) in 2024 and 2025, and this year racing in the GT World Challenge Europe, where he regularly comes up against Verstappen's GT3 racing team, Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing.

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The Italian motorsport legend recently revealed that he wants to gain his Nurburgring Nordschleife licence to race in similar events to what Verstappen has in recent years, while he is also interested in a future Le Mans bid, recently teasing that he would team up with Verstappen's F1 rival Lando Norris.

Rossi and Norris were recently together at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, and that is where Rossi confirmed that he would not want to see a title battle in any series between himself and four-time F1 champion Verstappen.

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"I never want to fight with Verstappen for a championship if it's possible," Rossi said in an interview at the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Sky Sports F1's Craig Slater then put to the Italian that he would have 'come to blows' with the Dutchman given both of their racing styles, to which Rossi replied: "Yeah, I don't know if it's the right way but it's a normal way for me."

Norris and Rossi share a good relationship, and it was this latest meet up which led to talk of them competing together one day.

Asked by Karun Chandhok at the Goodwood Festival of Speed whether he would like to team up with Rossi at Le Mans, Norris said: "Hell yeah I would.

"We have too many races but with McLaren now entering Le Mans, then maybe. Maybe not next year but in a couple of years, three or four years, I would love to, it would be an honour for me and I think we'd have a lot of fun for sure."

Rossi then said: "Grazie (thanks), I'll try to wait for Lando," hinting at the fact that he is now 47 years of age.