Ford Performance has gone on the record about its long-running interest in Max Verstappen, with global director Mark Rushbrook confirming the American manufacturer has held conversations with the four-time world champion about a future drive in its LMDh-class Le Mans Hypercar.
Rushbrook, who oversees Ford's motorsport portfolio from NASCAR through to its Red Bull Powertrains tie-up, told reporters that Verstappen has been 'interested' in the idea of contesting the Le Mans 24 Hours but is currently boxed in by the Formula 1 calendar.
Ford launches its hypercar programme as part of a broader sportscar push that has reshaped the World Endurance Championship grid. Pulling in Verstappen, even for a one-off Le Mans entry, would be a marketing coup few endurance manufacturers could match.
For now, the Dutch driver's day job remains the obstacle. The 2026 F1 calendar runs the Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve directly across the Le Mans race weekend in mid-June, and Red Bull's contractual hold on Verstappen runs through the end of 2028. Rushbrook was keen to stress Ford has no intention of pulling Verstappen out of single-seaters.
Rushbrook indicated that Ford is not formally announcing anything but acknowledged the dialogue is real, and the Dutchman's pull toward sportscar racing is genuine. The framing matches Verstappen's own remarks over the past 18 months, where he has repeatedly said Le Mans is on his post-F1 wish list and that he could see himself contesting the French classic before he turns 35.
The Verstappen-Le Mans link is not theoretical. The Red Bull driver is already preparing to contest the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring on May 17, racing a Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Emil Frey Racing in the SP9 Pro class. He completed his Nordschleife permit earlier this year via NLS endurance rounds, putting him among the few active F1 drivers cleared to race the full 24-kilometre Green Hell layout. That permit was the missing piece that opened the door to a future Le Mans entry, where prototype experience can be banked relatively quickly via test days and the official rookie test.
The political wrinkle is that Verstappen's current parallel-programme partner is Mercedes, not Ford. Rival Juan Pablo Montoya argued this week that Ford's bosses 'shouldn't be happy' with Verstappen promoting Mercedes hardware while running on Ford's own Red Bull Powertrains-supplied engines from 2026 onwards. Whether that pressure changes the Nurburgring picture or accelerates a Ford GT3 deal for 2027 remains to be seen, but Rushbrook's public confirmation of contact is the strongest indication yet that Ford intends to make Verstappen part of its endurance future.
What is clear is that the conversation has moved beyond paddock rumour. Ford has named the driver, named the project category and laid out the obstacle. The question now is whether F1's title leader, Red Bull and Ford can engineer a calendar window before Verstappen's F1 contract expires, or whether the most decorated driver of his generation will instead make his Le Mans debut in red and white some time after 2028.
Source: youtube.com