Max Verstappen talks about plans after his Formula 1 career and setting up his own team

Max Verstappen still has a contract Red Bull Racing up to and including the Formula 1 season of 2028. Yet the three-time world champion is already busy with other plans for not only during, but also after his career as a driver in the premier class of motorsport.

Verstappen has often stated that he would like to participate in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. So he is clearly interested in sportscar and GT racing. He also often races virtually in that branch of motorsport on iRacing with Team Redline. Because the Dutchman spends a lot of time online, he sees all kinds of drivers during sim racing who might do well in real life, but are short on cash and therefore do not get the chance to get behind the wheel of a real racing car. The first steps to set up your own team have already been taken. Thierry Vermeulen, the son of Verstappen’s manager Raymond Vermeulen, is active in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup and the DTM with a Verstappen.com-sponsored Ferrari 296 GT3 from Emil Frey Racing. And with success: Vermeulen scored three podiums in the GT World Challenge together with Albert Costa and had the best average qualifying of the entire competitive field.

Talents help

“Still a lot of racing,” Verstappen replied to the question ESPN about what his life after Formula 1 will be like. “But not necessarily myself. I want to set up my own team and help young talent move up the motorsport ladder. Not necessarily through karting. I spend a lot of time in the virtual world, sim racing. I see a lot of lost talent when it comes to true. They’ve never had the finances to be in a real car. So I want to try to bridge that gap, from the virtual world to a real race car.”

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Step-by-step

“I already have a lot of plans,” he continued. “[Het gaat] step-by-step. It’s also not something you should do in a hurry. Everything must be well planned. We are waiting for the right people and the right talent to come through, and of course we also want to give them a good chance with competitive cars to reach the top. This is not Formula 1 per se, but perhaps more in the direction of endurance racing. But that doesn’t really matter.”