Max Verstappen set tongues wagging this week by revealing he drove a Supercar.
Then he dropped a bigger bombshell – the four-time F1 world champion is interested in racing in the Bathurst 1000.
The revelation was made in a video asking about his interest in racing in various other categories, including the World Endurance Championship (WEC), World Rally Championship (WRC), NASCAR and IndyCar.
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When asked about Supercars, he said: “I drove it last week, it was a lot of fun … maybe Bathurst”.
Interestingly, Verstappen flat-out refused the prospect of racing not only in NASCAR, but also in IndyCar – in which several former F1 stars now ply their craft.
Max Verstappen at the wheel of a Supercar as part of a Red Bull and Ford promotion in the USA. Red Bull Content Pool
On Thursday morning, the Red Bull Triple Eight Supercars and F1 teams confirmed his drive in separate Instagram posts. Verstappen was among several drivers to strap into Ford race cars from the past century.
Verstappen is far from the only F1 driver to have driven a Supercar, although he is one of only a handful to drive the current Gen3 car. Liam Lawson, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon and Jack Doohan being the others.
Of those on the grid in 2026, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez drove the previous Gen2 car, while Daniel Ricciardo drove Triple Eight’s ‘Sandman’ mule car.
Verstappen’s drive was made possible by Triple Eight’s switch from General Motors to the blue oval for 2026.
Verstappen revealed he was open to racing at the Bathurst 1000. Red Bull Content Pool
While Supercars top brass would no doubt be falling over themselves at the prospect of having Verstappen on the grid at the category’s flagship event, is it a genuine possibility?
The short answer is probably not. At least not while he’s still racing in Formula 1.
Of course, any motorsport fan would love for that educated assumption to be wrong. While the Bathurst 1000 already has a decent international profile, having Verstappen on the grid would arguably be the category’s biggest coup in decades, if not its history.
But long gone are the days when F1 drivers on off weekends would plop their backsides into anything and everything else.
The first hurdle is perhaps the most difficult – the calendar.
The Bathurst 1000 for years clashed with the Japanese Grand Prix. For viewers, it made for a brilliant day on the couch – the chequered flag often waving at Bathurst around the time the lights went out at Suzuka.
Hopes were raised when the 2025 F1 calendar had the Japanese race moved to April, with the Bathurst 1000 falling neatly between Singapore and the USA.
In 2026, Singapore is a week later and there is once again a clash.
So at least for this season, there is more chance I’ll race at Bathurst than Max.
The start of the 2025 Bathurst 1000. Getty
But lets pretend for a moment the calendar gods will smile upon fans and there is no clash next year. Could Verstappen still race?
Still unlikely.
Teams are fiercely protective of their drivers, and given the unforgiving nature of the Mount Panorama circuit, its more than likely Red Bull would deem such a cameo as too risky and block Verstappen from taking part.
After all, he is still human, and should he put the car in the fence, his bones and brain would still rattle inside his body like everyone else’s.
Could you imagine if Verstappen, locked into a close title fight, crashed at the top of the mountain and had to spend a month watching from home? It would be a scandal.
Having said that, Max Verstappen is one of the few drivers on the grid who would have the star power to tell Red Bull he’s doing it, and for them to be forced to let him.
Fernando Alonso did it in 2017 when he raced in the Indianapolis 500, instead of racing at Monaco. Granted, that was more McLaren trying to keep the Spaniard happy and to stop him walking out as they battled their awful engines.
Verstappen has also raced GT3 machinery at the Nurburgring, but the Dutchman isn’t likely to throw himself into something if he’s not going to be competitive.
Supercars is a different animal altogether, and coupled with the unforgiving Mountain, become a beast not even someone as talented as Verstappen could likely tame in a week.
But a fan can dream, right?