McLaren's astonishing bid to sign seven-time world champion for 2026 revealed

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Indy 500

McLaren's astonishing bid to sign seven-time world champion for 2026 revealed

McLaren almost pulling off a major signing

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Friday 14 November 2025 19:06 Updated: 19:17

McLaren CEO Zak Brown hinted earlier this year that the team were trying to shock the world with their fourth driver for the 2026 Indy 500, after running newly-minted two-time NASCAR champion Kyle Larson for the last two years.

The team announced this week that Ryan Hunter-Reay is the driver who has actually secured the seat, but the AP's Jenna Fryer has revealed that the driver Brown was talking about earlier in the year was MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi.

Hunter-Reay, nicknamed ‘Captain America’, won the race with Andretti in 2014, a highlight of a successful career in the series that has spanned two decades.

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However, the 44-year-old was not the only driver in Brown’s sights, and according to motorsport journalist Jenna Fryer a major name was also the target of the McLaren boss.

In a social media post on X, Fryer simply wrote: “Now that it didn’t happen, the ‘huge’ Indy 500 one-off entry that Zak Brown was pursuing was….”

McLaren’s Indy 500 bid for Rossi

“We’ve got a trick up our sleeves, and it would be so cool if it happens. This one would be unreal,” Brown said at the time.

While this signing evidently has not materialised, it would have been a marvellous coup to acquire one of the biggest names in motorsport and one of the calibre of Rossi.

The Italian MotoGP rider, nicknamed ‘The Doctor’, is widely considered one of the greatest racers of all time and altogether is a nine-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing world champion.

Rossi remains the only rider to win world championships in 125cc, 250cc, 500cc and MotoGP, and has won four MotoGP titles in a row between 2002-2005.

In recent years, Rossi has turned his attention to sportscar racing, competing in the World Endurance Championship in 2024 and 2025 in the LMGT3 class, where he has picked up four podiums with Team WRT.

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