Ford had every commercial reason to want Max Verstappen in one of its cars at the Nurburgring 24 Hours. With its new Red Bull power-unit partnership rolling out in Formula 1, the Mustang GT3 Evo on the Nordschleife grid would have been the natural billboard moment. According to reporting that surfaced this week, the Blue Oval did try — and it did not get him.
Verstappen instead lines up in the #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 entered by his own Verstappen.com Racing team, sharing the cockpit with Lucas Auer and Maro Engel. It is an extension of an existing relationship with Mercedes-AMG's customer GT3 programme that has been quietly building over recent seasons — and one that Verstappen, by all indications, has no interest in walking away from for branding convenience.
Ford's response to being passed over has been refreshingly direct. The summary line that has done the rounds among commentary outlets this week: "We prefer our Ford drivers to stay in Fords." Polite, honest, and unmistakeable.
The layered relationship is what makes the situation awkward rather than scandalous. Verstappen is contracted to Red Bull through 2028, and from this season Red Bull's F1 power units are badged as Red Bull Ford Powertrains. That makes him, in a corporate sense, a Ford-aligned driver. But his GT3 racing is run through his own outfit, with its own choices about machinery, and Mercedes-AMG has been the partner there for years.
There is also the on-track logic. The Mercedes-AMG GT3 has a track record at the Nurburgring 24 that the Mustang GT3 Evo, however quickly it is gaining traction in IMSA and selected WEC outings, has not yet matched. For a driver with a realistic chance of joining Niki Lauda as the only active F1 driver to win the race outright, machinery choice is the entire calculation.
The wider takeaway is that Verstappen's motorsport map is now too varied for any single manufacturer to control. Red Bull, Ford and the F1 programme sit in one box. His stated interest in Le Mans, with Ford's Mark Rushbrook publicly confirming Ford would like him in a Mustang for that programme, sits in another. And his Verstappen.com Racing Mercedes-AMG entry — the one actually on the Nordschleife grid this weekend — sits in a third.
For now, the message Ford has sent is gracious and the message Max has sent is clear. When the race genuinely matters, the four-time champion is going to pick the car he thinks can win it. Brand alignment comes second to the trophy.
