Max Verstappen may be a lover of all forms of racing, but it seems that despite his appreciation for NASCAR from afar, he has no plans to tackle an oval any time soon.

Red Bull star Verstappen’s links with NASCAR are well known, having previously raced alongside current Trackhouse Racing driver and three-time Supercars Championship winner, Shane van Gisbergen, during the Covid-19 pandemic-driven iRacing days.

This later led to a dinner with van Gisbergen and soon-to-be Trackhouse teammate, and fellow Red Bull athlete, Connor Zilisch, in 2024. Later that year, the Dutchman’s path crossed with Zilisch again at an event for the energy drink brand, with Zilisch asking Verstappen, “You want to get in?” to which he answered, “Yeah, I mean, I would like to do it.”

Fast forward to 2025, and ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix, the reigning four-time Formula 1 World Champion visited with ex-F1 stars Christian Fittipaldi and Nelson Piquet Jr., along with current rival Gabriel Bortoleto, on the ‘Pelas Pistas’ podcast, where, among a plethora of other subjects, NASCAR was on the menu.

“I like watching all different kinds of racing. For me, it’s just that on an oval, I don’t want to do it just for the risk of injury, you know, when you hit the fence,” the 28-year-old explained.

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“It’s not worth it, also if you have done your stuff in Formula 1, and yeah, I mean maybe you can win more there, and I mean that would be something that I would love, but it’s not worth the risk of having a really bad accident and hurting yourself really badly. 

“And I know in F1 that can happen as well, but they’re hitting the wall at 370 or whatever is not something I am planning to do, but it’s sometimes not even your fault, right? Anything can happen. But to sometimes avoid a little bit of the risk, if you can, I would do that.”

While a venture into NASCAR may not be on Verstappen’s immediate radar, it seems he may yet be tempted to switch four wheels for two, admitting that his favorite racing to watch is MotoGP.

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“If I could choose anything, like let’s say if you couldn’t race on four wheels or race in general, I would say Moto GP…If I had the talent,” he said, later clarifying, “That is if I wouldn’t succeed in anything that I do on four wheels. I mean, you have to do something.”

The 68-time Grand Prix winner noted that he does have some experience racing bikes, recalling, “I raced on these like on mini bikes when I was like 8 to 12 or something. I enjoyed it a lot. I think I quickly realized that I have more talent on four wheels, but I enjoyed it, and now, still, I mean, I really love watching Moto GP. They’re crazy but like good crazy, I really like it.”