Fernando Alonso believes Max Verstappen‘s 24 Hours of Nürburgring debut will help Formula 1 fans “opening the eyes” to other formats of motorsport.
Verstappen took part in his maiden 24 Hours of Nürburgring race, earlier this month.
The Red Bull driver, along with team-mates Jules Gounon, Lucas Auer and Daniel Juncadella, was on course for victory before an errant driveshaft on his Mercedes AMG GT3 gave up in the final legs of the event.
Despite missing out on the win, the 28-year-old’s outing was a success. Verstappen attracted as many as 250,000 simultaneous viewers online to watch him live.
Alonso believes that drivers like Verstappen, therefore, taking part in racing disciplines, other than F1, is overall a great advertisement for motorsport as a whole.
“It’s good that they discover different sports and different categories, different ways of enjoying motorsport,” he said.
“Formula 1 is just one per cent of the whole motorsport environment and I think people enjoy [other series].”
Fernando Alonso urges Max Verstappen-like approach to other “top” F1 drivers
Alonso, who is also a two-time Le Mans winner, referenced his own Indy 500 debut to bang his point home.
“I remember when I did the Indy 500, first test, it was like two million [people] on YouTube, just watching me doing laps around the oval, alone, and then they followed it a bit that season,” he added.
The Aston Martin driver insists that F1 will always remain the pinnacle of motorsport, but if the top drivers of the sport widen their own horizons it will do a world of good for the wider motorsport community.
“There were like two Europeans driving in IndyCar, now they are 80 per cent Europeans driving in IndyCar,” Alonso explained.
“So, hopefully more people will go to the Nürburgring or to Le Mans in the future or whatever.
“If top drivers in Formula 1 [take part], they are just opening the eyes for fans into a new series. Formula 1 is the pinnacle and lovely, but also the other series are just as magic as Formula 1 in a sense.”
Verstappen is keen to come back to endurance racing. He has hinted at a possible return to the Green Hell, next year, and maybe even a dabble at the 2027 24 Hours of Daytona.
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