American F1 star wants Max Verstappen as his team-mate

Max Verstappen

American F1 star wants Max Verstappen as his team-mate

Max Verstappen is said to be weighing up his future in F1

By Kerry Violet.

Monday 11 May 2026 17:00

Max Verstappen has earned high praise from another racing star, who has backed the four-time F1 champion to line up alongside him as a team-mate.

A decade after joining Red Bull, the 28-year-old is now facing one of the most uncertain spells of his Formula 1 career.

Verstappen has won four drivers’ titles and 71 grands prix with the energy drink-backed squad, but his confidence in Red Bull appears to be slipping, and he has already looked beyond F1 for another route to racing success in 2026.

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Verstappen returned to the Nurburgring in March where he initially stormed to victory with the Winward Mercedes-AMG team before they suffered a disqualification due to a tire rule breach.

Despite being stripped of his race win, Verstappen's foray into the Nurburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS) provided him with valuable track time ahead of his Nurburgring 24 Hours attempt next weekend (May 14-17).

Dutch media claimed earlier this year that Verstappen is 'seriously considering' retirement over his dislike of the new F1 rules, but who's to say an F1 exit would mean a departure from motorsport as a whole?

Verstappen would 'kick everyone's a**' in WEC

Ford Performance director Mark Rushbrook recently revealed that the American company are having 'regular discussions' with Verstappen about getting him more involved in sportscars, including hypercar.

No introductions were needed between the F1 champion and the Ford chief given that Red Bull welcomed Ford into their F1 project ahead of 2026 as part of a long-term strategic technical partnership, a linkup that saw the creation of Red Bull Ford Powertrains.

So a potential WEC debut with Ford would make sense, especially as Verstappen has been far from shy over his ambition to one day compete in the Le Mans 24 Hours, something Rushbrook himself said Ford would 'love to see'.

And it seems they aren't the only ones keen to see Verstappen make the switch to the FIA's endurance racing series.

Ex-F1 driver Logan Sargeant currently competes for Red Bull's F1 partner Ford in WEC, and is the latest racing star to weigh in on a potential partnership with Verstappen.

This year, Sargeant races in the LMGT3 class, but for 2027, it has been confirmed that the ex-Williams F1 driver will join Ford Racing's Hypercar team in WEC.

And the American has certainly welcomed the news of a potential WEC entry for Verstappen in the future, even going as far as to suggest that the four-time champion should join him as a team-mate.

"Well, if he is driving, I hope he’s in my car!” Sargeant said with a laugh during an interview with Motorsport.com.

"That’s for sure. In my opinion, Max is the best to ever do it. So if I could share a car with him, that would be a huge privilege and a huge advantage."

Asked to give further details on said advantage, Sargeant replied: "Well, he’s the quickest driver in the world. He’s going to most likely kick everyone’s a**. I’d rather that be in my car than the other."

Adopting a more serious tone, the 25-year-old then continued: "It goes so much beyond just driving style, seeing what he’s doing with the tools, lap in, lap out, how he’s making adjustments… obviously, he has so much experience from Formula 1.

"For him, it would just be like plug and play. There’s so much you can learn from someone like that.

"You don’t win four world championships without the speed he has. You see it, even when he’s not in the best car, he still finds a way to make it work. That can’t be said for everyone."

F1 Max Verstappen Logan Sargeant World Endurance Championship