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F1 world champion Max Verstappen revealed that he could be making his Le Mans debut in WEC with Fernando Alonso as his teammate.
Having spent hours racing on his simulator, Max Verstappen is no stranger to the Le Mans circuit. While he has raced in open wheel series up until now, his interest in Endurance races is no secret.
There have been multiple drivers in the history of F1 who have also raced in Le Mans and won it, with Fernando Alonso being one of them. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice in 2018 and 2019 and also won the FIA World Endurance Championship in the 2018-19 season. While Alonso hasn't hinted anything about racing in Le Mans again, Verstappen stated that Alonso expressed interest only if he was racing in it with the Dutchman. Verstappen was quoted as saying by Formu1a.uno:
"I’ve been speaking to Fernando about it. He’s said he would only want to do it again with me."
Max Verstappen feels that he could pair up with Fernando Alonso because he is a "heavy" driver while the latter is "light." According to him, the weight of the driver plays a crucial role in Le Mans.
"So I said it would be really cool. The only thing is that for Le Mans, it is the weight of the driver."
"I’m quite a heavy driver, so I’d need to find light teammates to compensate. Fernando is quite light, so it would be quite good."
While Max Verstappen looks forward to making his Endurance racing debut, Mick Schumacher, who raced in F1 in 2021 and 2022, will be racing for Alpine in WEC in the 2024 season. There is a chance that the two could share a track again.
Max Verstappen reveals his motivation behind racing and winning in F1
Ever since making his Formula 1 debut back in 2015, Max Verstappen has broken multiple records and has been dominating the grid for the past two seasons. He won 19 out of the 22 races in 2023 and was on the podium a whopping 21 times.
This might sound like the limit for an F1 driver; there couldn't be much more left to achieve. This begs the question as to what keeps a driver like Max Verstappen racing. As he revealed, it is the winning itself.
"I love driving, I think that’s – first and foremost – the most important thing to be here,” F1 quoted him. "And, of course, winning is the best thing in F1."
"For me, naturally, the motivation is there, because I know that for most of the races that I go to this year, I have a big chance of winning, so that’s great."
Verstappen has a contract with Red Bull till the 2028 season which keeps him in a neat position given the domination the team has enjoyed recently. They achieved a milestone after Sergio Perez finished second in the championship in 2023, making it a 1 - 2 finish for the team for the first time in their history.
