Ford Racing enters race to sign F1 champ Max Verstappen

Photo: © IMAGO

Max Verstappen

Ford Racing enters race to sign Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen loves his GT3 racing as well as F1

Originally written by Sam Cook. This version is a translation.

Sunday 10 May 2026 19:02

Ford Racing chief Mark Rushbrook has hinted that discussions are underway with Max Verstappen about a potential team up.

Four-time world champion Verstappen is clearly not a fan of the new regulations that have swept into F1 in 2026, describing the new cars as 'not fun' to drive, and he is said to be 'seriously considering' his involvement in the sport.

Instead, he has been enjoying other racing series, including GT3 racing with his own GT3 team, Verstappen Racing.

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Next weekend, Verstappen will once again take to the Nurburgring Norschleife for the 24 Hours of Nurburgring race alongside team-mates Jules Gounon, Dani Juncadella and Lucas Auer.

And one team boss has clearly seen quite how much the Dutchman has been enjoying racing outside of F1, dropping a hint that he wants Verstappen to join his World Endurance Championship (WEC) project.

Ford have a good relationship with Red Bull's F1 team, with the pair having entered a power unit partnership at the start of this year.

"We love Max," Rushbrook told Motorsport.com. "We love what he does in the Formula 1 car, on the track.

"We love him off the track. He's a great person, as much as he's a great driver. We love his passion to be racing GT3, like he is, and what he does with developing drivers through sim racing and getting them on the track.

"So, of course, we have regular discussions with him about what are the opportunities to do more in sportscar, including Hypercar. He’s a racer. He wants to race.

"We’re not announcing anything," Rushbrook continued. "He wants to go race Le Mans and race for the overall win, but most years the schedule doesn't allow it, right? While he's a committed Formula 1 driver, most years now it's a conflict.

"I think we're just talking about what the opportunity is and if and when it makes sense, and everybody wants to do it, then great.

"One of the great things about Max, is drivers like him don't come along that often, in terms of what he accomplishes on track, right? But it's how he accomplishes it.

"Especially this year when we were in Barcelona [for the F1 shakedown]. Hearing his feedback on the radio while he's out on track, testing his brand new car, and then he would come back in after doing, depending on the stint, 30, 40, 50 laps.

"The amount of detail that he's able to give feedback to the engineers that is so much more valuable than all the data that the engineers have.

"It's complimentary, it's got to go together. Just the mental capacity and the bandwidth that he has for developing a car, for racing a car, for tuning a car. To have a driver like that in your programme, at some point, even if it's only for one race, is pretty meaningful."

How long will Verstappen stay in F1?

Rushbrook's proposal was not for Verstappen to become a full-time WEC driver in place of F1, but there is every reason to suggest that he might be a full-time racer in a different series in years to come.

Verstappen is clearly enjoying his other racing exploits more at this moment in time, and may just be starting to think he could be a full-time GT3 racer while he is still in the peak of his career, at just 28 years of age.

An interview from 2021 recently resurfaced in which Verstappen claimed that he will stop racing if race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase stops working with him. Lambiase has recently been confirmed to be leaving Red Bull and instead joining McLaren, although that move is not likely to happen until 2028.

Time will tell whether Verstappen starts doing more racing series such as WEC, IMSA and GT3 rather than having a continued presence in F1.

F1 Red Bull Max Verstappen