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Verstappen speaks out about the possibility of participating in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Alonso.
Red Bull and its sister team attended the Honda Thanks Day celebration, accompanied by two-time Indy 500 winner, Takuma Sato and eight-time Moto GP champion, Marc Marquez.
During the day, fans got to ask the drivers questions regarding their careers and what the future may hold.
One question which was asked to the three-time F1 champion, Verstappen, was about IndyCar and if one day we would see the Dutchman head off to the American series.
Verstappen, however, was quick to put the prospect to bed saying he doesn’t see himself taking part but appreciates the series:
“I like to watch it. I have a lot of respect for what they do, but I don’t think I’d be participating.”
Alonso and Verstappen future Le Mans teammates?
Although there is little likelihood of the champion tackling an IndyCar, Verstappen expresses interests in other series including one of the triple crown events; the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
This follows his comments from last year, when the driver spoke about wanting to tackle endurance racing in the next couple of years.
“For sure I would like to try a MotoGP bike,” Verstappen started.
“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.”
Alonso has competed in the 24 hours of Daytona and is the only driver to have won both the World Endurance Championship and F1 title. Verstappen’s now perked interest in endurance could see the pair tackle it in the future together. Continuing his answer to the fan question, the Red Bull driver confirms he and Alonso have spoken about the idea of tackling it together:
“I’ve been speaking to Fernando about it,” Verstappen mentioned.
“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.”
Featured image credits: LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA/AFP via Getty Images