06/12/2023
NEWS STORY
Three-time world champion Max Verstappen admits that he would one day love to contest the Le Mans 24-Hours... with Fernando Alonso.
The Dutchman was speaking to fans at Honda Thanks Day at the Twin Ring Motegi at the weekend, and one of the questions he was asked was if he has any outstanding ambitions outside F1.
"For sure I would like to try a MotoGP bike," he admitted. "I enjoy SuperGT. I got to try one last year, which was very nice," he added.
"The Super Formula cars, they're very nice. It's the fastest car below Formula 1, they look great," the Red Bull star continued. "But Le Mans, I would definitely like to do.
"I've been there already, when my dad used to race in Le Mans," he added. "The atmosphere is amazing in endurance, so many people, driving through the night, sunrise. I think it's really cool."
However, rather than partnering his father in the French classic, Verstappen would opt to join two-time world champion - and two-time Le Mans winner - Fernando Alonso.
"I've been speaking to Fernando about it," he revealed. "He said he said he would only want to do it with me again. So I was like, wow, that would be really cool.
"The only thing is that, for Le Mans, there is not like a minimum weight for the driver," he added. "I'm quite a heavy driver, so I'd need to find light team mates to compensate. Fernando is quite light, so it would be quite good. But we'd need to find another one, so I need to have a look."
Alonso raced at Le Mans twice as part of his bid to emulate Graham Hill in achieving the Triple Crown by winning the Monaco Grand Prix,. the Indianapolis 500 and Le Mans.
A two-time winner in the Principality, Alonso contested the Le Mans 24-Hours twice with Toyota, winning on both occasions.
Though he has contested the Indy 500 three times, and actually led the race on his first visit in 2017, his best finish was 5th that same year, while the following year he failed to qualify.
Max and Fernando at Le Mans... yes, we'd be up for that.