Ford wants to bring Red Bull Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen into its sportscar racing programme and has teased that Daniel Ricciardo could be tempted to compete in one of its off-road vehicles.

Four-time world champion Verstappen has sampled some of Ford's racing machinery for the first time now that the American manufacturer is a partner in Red Bull’s F1 engine project.

He made his Nurburgring 24 Hours debut last month racing for his own team, which is running a Mercedes in 2026 - putting him up against Ford's own Mustang GT3 cars on the Nordschleife.

Verstappen has also made clear his desire to contest the Le Mans 24 Hours one day, and Ford will also be present in the top class of the famous French race again from 2027 when it enters the Hypercar class.

Mark Rushbrook, Ford Racing's global director, said at an exclusive Monaco Grand Prix event hosted by The Race and Axios that the company's hope is to eventually bring Verstappen into its sportscar programme.

"We love the fact that Max is just an out-and-out racer," Rushbrook said when asked by The Race co-founder Darren Cox if there are conversations with Verstappen about driving Ford's cars in the future.

"That's all he wants to do is get in and compete and win, whether it's virtual racing or Formula 1 or sportscar racing like that.

"I was there at the 24 hours of Nurburgring. It was great to see him there. He put on an incredible display. It was heartbreaking, honestly, even though he was not in a Ford! It was still heartbreaking to see what happened to his car.

"But of course we do [have conversations], right? We have that ladder from a spec racing car to a Mustang GT4 to a Mustang GT3, and now a hypercar coming.

"So we'd love, when it's right for him and right for us, to have that relationship in sportscar racing as well."

Verstappen's former F1 team-mate Daniel Ricciardo is also tentatively on Ford's radar for a competitive outing in the future.

Following his F1 exit, Ricciardo became a Ford global racing ambassador last year, which was sparked by his own personal history with its Raptor truck line.

He visited the Raptor Rally in 2025 where in addition to jumping his own car off-road he got to sample Ford's M-Sport Raptor T1+ which is used in rally raid competition including the Dakar Rally and Baja 1000.

Afterwards, Ricciardo said "the itch for Baja is there, but I've got a lot to learn" - and Rushbrook has also teased the possibility of that kind of competition with Ricciardo.

"When we first met Dan, all he wanted to talk about when we first met him was Raptors,” said Rushbrook. "He owned a Raptor before he had a partnership with us.

"Once he stepped out of the car and he was thinking about the next steps of what he could do and what he wanted to do, and what we were trying to do with Raptors - to sell Raptors through Formula 1, it may not make sense, right, these incredible off-road trucks that we're selling to Formula 1 fans - [but] Daniel was 100% into that.

"It's just genuine passion. We had him at Raptor Rally, jumping trucks. The smile on his face - I know he's always smiling - but it got even bigger.

"I don't know if he's ready to compete yet, but hopefully someday."