Jun.16 (GMM) Max Verstappen admits he fully intends to take his racing skills into the world of sports cars.
While the quadruple world champion and the Formula 1 world raced in Canada at the weekend, across the Atlantic the fabled 24 hours of Le Mans was taking place.
The Ferrari-affiliated team centred around former F1 driver Robert Kubica emerged victorious – and Verstappen admitted he watched as much of the event on TV as he could.
The quadruple world champion famously set record-breaking pace in a recent GT3 test at the notorious Nordschleife, and Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko admits Verstappen intends to make his race debut sooner rather than later.
“If you want to make Max smile, you have to talk about GT,” he said.
“There are calendar gaps in the autumn, and I assume Max has already taken a close look at that.”
On Sunday, Verstappen admitted he is eyeing not only GT events, but even the premier Hypercar category.
“On the Nordschleife you can only drive GT3,” the Dutchman told Viaplay. “If you do Le Mans, you normally want to drive the Hypercar.
“If you win, you want to win the highest class. On the Nordschleife that is with the GT3. So it is different (to Le Mans), but they are also completely different circuits.
“It is all very special,” Verstappen added.
He already has his own Verstappen.com Racing-branded GT3 team, with Thierry Vermeulen – the son of his manager Raymond – in the cockpit.
“I am working on it step by step to participate,” said the 27-year-old, who recently applied to the FIA for sports car classification and was handed highest-level Platinum status.
“At the moment I prefer to race myself, of course,” Verstappen admitted. “When I get a bit older and slower, I’ll watch from the pitlane.
“Then, as team boss, I can really criticise everyone who is in the car,” he laughed.
For now, he admits he spends time thinking about who would be his Le Mans teammates. “I already have a lot of friends who are already competing,” said Verstappen. “We talk about it more and more often.
“I know that I am one of the heavier drivers, so I need at least two lighter drivers next to me.”
Fernando Alonso has been mentioned as one potential candidate, with Verstappen adding: “Nyck (de Vries) is quite light, of course.
“Nyck always goes fast, whether it’s Le Mans or anywhere else. That’s nice to have as a teammate. There are a lot of possibilities and I can only put three in the car, so that will be difficult.
“It’s very difficult to decide now, but fantasising is allowed,” he smiled again. “Once the plans are a bit clearer, it will be easier to work things out.”
