Montoya: Ford Should Be Leaning On Verstappen Over Mercedes Nurburgring Drive
Formula 1

Montoya: Ford Should Be Leaning On Verstappen Over Mercedes Nurburgring Drive

9 May 2026 2 min readBy F1 Drive Desk (AI-assisted)

Juan Pablo Montoya has reopened his public spat with Max Verstappen, arguing Ford should be pressuring its commercial partner to drop a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Nurburgring entry. Verstappen makes his 24 Hours of the Nurburgring debut on May 17.

Key Takeaways

  • 1.The Dutchman has spent the early part of 2026 quietly stacking the Nordschleife licence points required to start the full 24-hour race, completing NLS endurance rounds at the back end of last winter and the start of this spring.
  • 2.Ford's global motorsport director Mark Rushbrook this week confirmed direct conversations with Verstappen over a future Le Mans Hypercar entry, a discussion currently stalled only by the F1 calendar's clash with the Le Mans race weekend in mid-June.
  • 3.Mercedes-AMG Motorsport, meanwhile, is treating the Nurburgring deal as a marquee victory: an active F1 champion racing under the three-pointed star at the most-watched endurance round on the European calendar.

Juan Pablo Montoya has reopened his ongoing public sparring match with Max Verstappen, this time taking aim at the four-time world champion's choice of weapon for his Nurburgring 24 Hours debut on May 17.

Verstappen will share a Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Emil Frey Racing in this year's Eifel classic, racing in the SP9 Pro class. The Dutchman has spent the early part of 2026 quietly stacking the Nordschleife licence points required to start the full 24-hour race, completing NLS endurance rounds at the back end of last winter and the start of this spring.

Montoya, never one to walk away from a hot mic, used a recent interview to argue Ford should be unhappy with that decision. The Colombian's logic ties to a wider 2026 storyline. Red Bull's new in-house power unit, Red Bull Powertrains, runs in technical partnership with Ford for hybrid expertise on the engine programme that debuted this season. Verstappen, in Montoya's view, should be promoting Ford GT3 hardware if he is going to race outside Formula 1 weekends, and Ford's senior leadership should be making that point to him privately.

The timing makes it awkward. Ford's global motorsport director Mark Rushbrook this week confirmed direct conversations with Verstappen over a future Le Mans Hypercar entry, a discussion currently stalled only by the F1 calendar's clash with the Le Mans race weekend in mid-June. Mercedes-AMG Motorsport, meanwhile, is treating the Nurburgring deal as a marquee victory: an active F1 champion racing under the three-pointed star at the most-watched endurance round on the European calendar.

Montoya has form for needling Verstappen. Earlier this season he waded into the McLaren-Verstappen swap rumour by claiming that Mark Webber 'is not happy' about the speculation around his client Oscar Piastri's seat, and last year described Verstappen as the man with the 'most attitude' on the grid. Verstappen has been notably restrained in response.

For Ford, Montoya has supplied a flag to plant for the next round of media availability. The American giant has confirmed it wants Verstappen for Le Mans. Whether it would extend that into a parallel Ford GT3 deal for the Nurburgring, or whether Verstappen as a racer first and a brand ambassador second simply gets to choose his own car, is now the next front in the Verstappen-Montoya skirmish.