Ford will make its Hypercar debut in the World Endurance Championship next year, and the company's racing chief Mark Rushbrook would love to see Max Verstappen race the car one day.
Ford has returned to Formula 1 this year thanks to its partnership with Red Bull Racing. The two parties have joined forces for the development and production of power units for Red Bull and its sister team Racing Bulls.
Ford itself is already active in other championships, including the WEC. This year, its participation is limited to customer entries with the Mustang in the LMGT3 class, but from 2027 onwards the brand will also compete in the top class of endurance racing with an LMDh prototype.
Red Bull driver Verstappen has already shown significant interest in endurance racing and will even take part in next week's Nurburgring 24 Hours in a Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Given Verstappen’s interest in various motorsport disciplines, the question arises whether Ford has already held talks with the four-time F1 world champion about driving its future LMDh.
“Yes, of course,” said Ford Performance director Rushbrook in an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com Netherlands. “We love Max. 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.
Verstappen himself has also shown interest. “He’s a racer. He wants to race," according to Rushbrook.
No concrete plans yet
For now, Verstappen is under contract with Red Bull until the end of 2028, meaning his schedule remains full in the coming years. Rushbrook therefore indicates that there is “nothing” planned for the near future. “We’re not announcing anything,” he said with a smile.
According to Rushbrook, any potential Hypercar outing for Verstappen depends on many factors. “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.”
Ford voert
Ford voert
Verstappen’s potential value
If the moment ever comes when Verstappen steps into Ford’s hypercar, which is set to hit the track later this year for its test programme, Rushbrook expects him to be of great value to the project.
“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?”, said Rushbrook. “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.”
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