Daniel Ricciardo at the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix, his last full season in F1. Photo: Liauzh / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Daniel Ricciardo told F1’s official Beyond the Grid podcast that a one-off start at Le Mans is the only kind of racing he is weighing, and that it could be “the last bit of closure” he needs after leaving Formula 1. The episode, published October 28 and titled “Refinding Myself After F1” on YouTube, is an interview with host Tom Clarkson.
The Le Mans exchange starts about an hour and 21 minutes in. Ricciardo says that a year ago he would have sworn off putting on a helmet again. Now a full championship still doesn’t sound exciting to him, but a one-off does, and he wants to finish his racing career more on his own terms than F1 allowed. Asked which series, he says it would probably be a one-off Le Mans, then jokes that he and Clarkson should plan it on the spot.
Where Verstappen comes in
Verstappen’s name enters the conversation through Clarkson, not Ricciardo. The host says Sergio Pérez recently said he would like to do Le Mans with Max and Fernando Alonso. Ricciardo replies that it sounds like a popular duo and moves on to what would appeal to him. He doesn’t say he has spoken to Verstappen, and the episode doesn’t say Verstappen has been approached.
We haven’t found a statement from Verstappen or Red Bull about entering Le Mans, and we couldn’t check Pérez’s remark independently; all we have is Clarkson’s description of it. Verstappen’s own plans for the next few years were the subject of our July piece on his Red Bull future.
The other Verstappen reference comes about 21 minutes in, and it concerns F1. Ricciardo says he had wanted a return to Red Bull Racing and a second stint as Verstappen’s teammate. It didn’t happen: he left the paddock after the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, replaced by Liam Lawson, with eight wins and 32 podiums to his name.
What he says he wants
The appeal, as Ricciardo describes it, is the shared car. He calls F1 selfish in a necessary way, with your teammate as your first opponent, and says that sharing a car and data with real teammates would suit him now that the ruthlessness has faded to a degree. He also says he isn’t rushing, doesn’t want to do it for ego or a fairy-tale ending, and that any decision has to be for his own reasons before it is for the fans who hated how his F1 career ended.
What’s missing
None of the usual pieces of a Le Mans program come up: no team, no car, no class, no year. Ricciardo does have a manufacturer tie, which we covered when he joined Ford Racing as a global ambassador in September 2025. Ford is revealing its 2027 Le Mans Hypercar on November 26. Ricciardo doesn’t mention Ford in the Le Mans exchange, and we haven’t seen a Ford statement linking him to the car.
Ford’s Hypercar reveal on November 26 is the next date that touches any of this. If Ricciardo gets his one Le Mans start, which seat do you want him in: a Ford with his ambassador badge on it, or next to Verstappen?
Sources: F1 Beyond the Grid, “Daniel Ricciardo: Refinding Myself After F1” (F1 YouTube channel and F1.com, Oct. 28, 2026); Backfire News reporting on Ford Racing.
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