Ford has already re-entered the Formula 1 conversation in 2026 by bolting itself to Red Bull’s programme as technical partner. Now it’s letting something else slip into the open: Max Verstappen is firmly on its radar for Le Mans, and the conversations have been happening for years.
At Spa this weekend for the World Endurance Championship round, Ford Racing boss Mark Rushbrook confirmed the company has discussed the prospect of Verstappen racing the Le Mans 24 Hours in a future Ford hypercar. It’s the sort of line that instantly lights up two paddocks at once, because it’s not just about a guest appearance — it’s about where the sport’s biggest current star might realistically point his ambitions if Formula 1 stops feeding him what he wants.
Rushbrook didn’t dress it up as anything more advanced than talk, but he didn’t pretend it was fantasy either. “We would love to see that,” he said, adding the obvious caveat that “a lot of things need to align” for it to happen. For Ford, the upside is clear: Verstappen in a blue-oval hypercar at La Sarthe would be marketing gold, and a serious statement of intent as it plots a factory-level return to the top of endurance racing.
The timing is what makes it feel more than idle paddock chat. Verstappen is set to make his Nürburgring 24 Hours debut next weekend, a move that speaks to where his head is when he’s not strapped into an F1 cockpit. He’s never been shy about the Le Mans itch, either — and in 2026, that itch comes with a bit more context than before.
Verstappen is contracted to Red Bull through the end of 2028, but earlier this season he openly warned he could walk away from F1 because he’s unhappy with the 2026 rules package. The FIA has since moved to refine the direction of the regulations, most notably with Friday’s announcement that the 50:50 split between internal combustion and electrical power will be removed for 2027. Whether that’s enough to soothe Verstappen’s wider concerns is another question; the point is that, for the first time in years, the idea of him stepping away doesn’t sound like a tabloid dare — it sounds like a driver setting boundaries.
That’s where Ford’s endurance programme starts to look strategically relevant, rather than merely interesting. The manufacturer is targeting the hypercar class of the WEC in 2027, and it’s already started putting pieces in place: former Williams F1 driver Logan Sargeant was signed in January, joining Seb Priaulx and Mike Rockenfeller — the latter a Le Mans winner with Audi in 2010. The project will use an Oreca LMP2 chassis as its base, with a naturally aspirated 5.4-litre V8 designed fully in-house, a significant internal milestone for Ford.
And yet Rushbrook poured cold water on any notion that Verstappen could be fast-tracked into the cockpit for that maiden campaign. A 2027 Le Mans attempt, he suggested, is “highly unlikely” because it would be “taking on too much.”
That matters, because it points to the reality behind the romance. Even if Ford wants Verstappen — and it clearly does — there’s a workload curve here that no amount of star power can erase. A new hypercar programme is already a high-wire act; bolting on a part-time megastar with a complicated calendar and enormous scrutiny can quickly turn “incredible for us” into “why did we do this to ourselves?”
Still, Rushbrook’s most revealing detail was that these talks didn’t begin last month. They stretch back to around the time Ford’s Red Bull deal was announced in early 2023. Three-plus years of conversation doesn’t mean a contract is waiting in a drawer, but it does indicate intent. Ford hasn’t simply been daydreaming about Verstappen; it’s been keeping the door propped open.
Rushbrook also made clear that Verstappen wouldn’t necessarily need to wait until his F1 career is over. “Depending on the schedules, it could be during [his F1 career] or both,” he said — a nod to the modern reality that top drivers are increasingly tempted by crossover programmes if the logistics can be made to work.
There’s precedent, too, and the grid knows it. Nico Hülkenberg won Le Mans with Porsche in 2015 while still an active F1 driver, and Fernando Alonso took two straight wins with Toyota in 2018 and 2019. Alonso’s first came during his final season with McLaren before returning for the second during his sabbatical. The takeaway isn’t that it’s easy — it isn’t — but that the “F1 drivers can’t do that anymore” argument has never been as absolute as it’s made out to be.
Verstappen, for his part, once had a Le Mans plan that sounded like it belonged on a podcast more than a team brief: an assault alongside Alonso and his father, Jos Verstappen. That idea has already shifted, with Verstappen confirming last year that Jos had decided to drop out of a potential attempt. But the desire hasn’t gone anywhere — if anything, it’s become more focused, more realistic, and more aligned with the kind of manufacturer-backed programme that can actually deliver a win.
For Ford, the calculus is simple. Get the 2027 car off the ground, establish credibility, and then — if schedules, contracts and appetite allow — make a serious play for Verstappen when the programme is stable enough to absorb a global superstar without bending out of shape.
For Verstappen, it’s a different kind of leverage. When a manufacturer says, out loud, that it’s been talking to you for years about Le Mans, it reinforces a truth everyone in F1 understands: if the sport wants to keep its best talent fully invested, it can’t assume they’ll stay just because the contract says so. The alternatives are getting sharper, the projects more serious — and the Nürburgring and Le Mans aren’t just bucket-list distractions anymore. They’re options.
