Ford in Talks With Verstappen for Future Le Mans Hypercar Seat

Photo: Philippe Nanchino/MPS Agency

Ford would seize the opportunity to have Max Verstappen as part of its lineup in its FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar program at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the future according to Ford Racing global director Mark Rushbrook, who admitted a “a lot of things need to align” to make it happen.

The four-time Formula 1 world champion, who is set for his Nürburgring 24 debut next weekend at the wheel of a Winward Racing-run Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, has long expressed his desire to one day also take part in the French endurance classic.

With Verstappen driving for Red Bull Racing in F1, which has Red Bull Ford powertrains from this season, Rushbrook said they would like to see the Dutchman involved in its sports car racing efforts as well.

“We would love to see that, yes,” Rushbrook said to an assembled group of reporters at this weekend’s WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.

“But a lot of things need to align for that to happen. Of course that would be incredible for us, for the sport, we’d love to see it.”

When asked by Sportscar365 if there have been discussions for next year’s Le Mans event, in the debut of the Ford Hypercar program, Rushbrook said: “Not for 2027. Depending on the schedules and what’s going on, it could be during [his F1 career].”

It’s understood that Verstappen’s current F1 contract with Red Bull runs through the end of the 2028 season an exit clause is set to open up if he’s not in the top-two in the points standings at some point this summer, which currently appears unlikely.

Verstappen has been extremely vocal against F1’s new engine rules this year, although a tweak has been recently announced for next year.

Rushbrook, meanwhile, revealed that discussions with the 28-year-old dates back several years and indicated Verstappen would be keen to take on Hypercar “with the right program.”

“Most discussions go back three-plus years, it’s just looking for the right opportunity for thing to align,” he said.

While Verstappen is lining up in a Mercedes-AMG at the Nordschleife next weekend, Rushbrook hopes that could also one day change.

Sportscar365 understands there had been a significant push from Ford to get Verstappen to compete in a Mustang GT3 EVO, both at the N24 as well as his Verstappen Racing team in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS, this year.

“We prefer our Ford drivers to stay in Ford,” said Rushbrook. “We understand why he did that. We love his passion.

“We love what he does for us in Formula 1. We love who he is as a person. We love that he’s a race, whether it’s sim racing or that, it only makes him better.

“That’s the right program for him right now. But obviously we’d love to him in a Ford in the sports car world.”

Ford “Pretty Close” to Finalizing Full 2027 Hypercar Lineup

Rushbrook said the ‘Blue Oval’ is close to finalizing its full driver lineup for next year’s Hypercar debut.

So far, Logan Sargeant, Seb Priaulx and Mike Rockenfeller have been announced, while an additional driver is expected to be announced next month at Le Mans.

Sportscar365 understands that Porsche star Matt Campbell is likely one of the new signings, along with rumors of Toyota WEC ace Mike Conway also being on Ford’s radar.

“Not everything is signed but we have our target and our discussions and are close to having everything signed,” added Rushbrook.

“Even before we announced the program, and including this weekend, [the interest has been big]. But we’re pretty focused at this point.”

When asked by Sportscar365 if they would sign six drivers and a reserve, Rushbrook revealed they aim to take a wider approach in having its factory sports car drivers pooled together.

“We’re looking it as, as you’ve seen with Seb and Rocky coming from our GT3 program to Hypercar, we’re looking at it not just as a set of Hypercar drivers, a set of GT3 drivers, we look at it as a total arsenal of driver that we could move if we needed,” he said.

Rushbrook said members of Ford Racing’s Driver Development Team, which has been expanded to 14 drivers this year, could also one day be in the Hypercar effort.

“We love the Mustang Challenge,” he said. “What you saw with Robert Noaker, who dominated Mustang Challenge [last year]. Now he and Nate Cicero are driving together in Mustang GT4.

“We hope to continue developing those. Maybe we’ll see one of those guys in Hypercar in a couple of years but we’re looking at that whole [driver development] system together.”

Stephen Lickorish contributed to this report

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John