Max Verstappen has revealed that Fernando Alonso would only return to the Le Mans 24 Hours if they were to be team-mates, something the Dutchman believes would be “very cool”.
The three-time World Champion made the comment over the weekend at the annual Honda Thanks Day celebration event at Motegi, where he took part in a go-karting race against the likes of Sergio Perez, Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda.
Ex-F1 driver and two-times Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato was also there and gave a demonstration in his 2020 Indy 500 winning car.
As is the case for the majority of the F1 grid, competing in IndyCar in the future is completely off Verstappen’s radar, with him preferring to just “watch it”.
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“I like to watch it,” Verstappen said, as reported by RaceFans.net. “I have a lot of respect for what they do, but I don’t think I’d be participating.”
Whilst the 26-year-old isn’t keen on racing in IndyCar, the Red Bull driver would like to try riding a MotoGP bike and also give a Super Formula car a go.
However, it’s the Le Mans 24 Hours which Verstappen is desperate to compete in one day, something he’s never kept a secret.
Verstappen is fully intending on competing at Le Mans in the future, with him believing that it’d be a “really cool” experience.
“For sure I would like to try a MotoGP bike, Verstappen said. “I enjoy SuperGT. I got to try one last year, which was very nice. The Super Formula cars, they’re very nice. It’s the fastest car below Formula 1, they look great.
“But Le Mans, I would definitely like to do. I’ve been there already, when my dad used to race in Le Mans. The atmosphere is amazing in endurance – so many people, driving through the night, sunrise… I think it’s really cool.”
It was pondered earlier in the season whether Verstappen and Alonso would attempt Le Mans together, a discussion the duo do appear to have had.
Alonso is, of course, a two-time Le Mans winner and would only return if in a team with Verstappen.
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The reigning World Champion would love to make this happen but recognises that himself and Alonso would need to find another driver to join them.
“I’ve been speaking to Fernando about it,” Verstappen admitted. “He said he would only want to do it with me again. So I said ‘that would be really cool’.
“The only thing is that, for Le Mans, there is not like a minimum weight for the driver. I’m quite a heavy driver, so I’d need to find light team mates to compensate. But 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.”