Kyle Larson set for McLaren F1 test after ‘better than Max Verstappen’ comments

Kyle Larson made a splash during the 2024 Indianapolis 500.

Kyle Larson made headlines earlier this year when he claimed that he was a better all-around driver than three-time Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen. Now, he may get a chance to prove his mettle behind the wheel of an F1 car.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown is all about the idea, telling Kevin Harvick on the Happy Hour podcast that he’s already looking into ways to get Larson behind the wheel of an F1 machine.

Kyle Larson’s pending McLaren F1 test

After winning the Knoxville Nationals back in August, Kyle Larson quickly became the talk of the Formula 1 world when he proclaimed he felt he was a better all-around driver than Max Verstappen.

“There’s no way [Verstappen] can get into a Sprint Car and win the Knoxville Nationals. There’s no way he can go win the Chili Bowl. There’s no way he can go win a Cup race at Bristol,” Larson said.

“There’s probably no way I can go win a Formula 1 race at Monaco, but I think I’d have a better shot at him just because of the car element.

“That’s what gives me ease and confidence that, like, I know I’m better than him. Maybe not in an open-wheel IndyCar or Formula 1 car, but that’s one discipline.

“I think I would beat him in everything else. You can quote that.”

They were bold words that instantly saw the motorsport world up in arms either defending Larson’s comments or tearing them down. But McLaren CEO Zak Brown heard those statements and wondered what he could do to get the NASCAR champion behind the wheel in a test session.

“We’ve been chatting about it,” Brown told former NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick on his Happy Hour podcast.

“Kyle, as you can imagine, definitely wants to do it between our schedule, which goes from February to December, and NASCAR’s schedule, which is February to November.

“We need to find that window — which we did with Jimmie Johnson and Fernando [Alonso] in Bahrain with Hendrick Motorsports [in 2018]. That was a lot of fun.

“I’d love to see Kyle in an F1 car. It is something that we’ve discussed and something I think will happen down the road.”

Get to know Kyle Larson:

 Meet Kyle Larson: The non-F1 driver you must watch as he attempts insane historic double

 F1 vs NASCAR: Is Kyle Larson a better all-around racer than Max Verstappen?

Larson already has strong ties with Zak Brown and McLaren. This year, the NASCAR driver attempted “double duty” on Memorial Day weekend, which means he attempted to complete the Indianapolis 500, then jet off to Charlotte to compete in NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600. Larson partnered with Arrow McLaren in IndyCar for the Indy 500 portion of the Double.

As Brown alluded to, F1 and NASCAR drivers have swapped rides several times in the past. Lewis Hamilton and Tony Stewart swapped rides at Watkins Glen in 2011, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jeff Gordon did the same at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2003, and Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen both had a chance at taking laps in a Haas NASCAR Cup car back in 2022.

While it’s not clear if Larson’s test would be just that — a test — or if he would be interested in a seat swap with a current McLaren F1 driver, Brown says there’s an opportunity for both.

“Oscar [Piastri] knocked on my door a little bit about his excitement around NASCAR,” Brown told Harvick. “So I think if we were to do something with Kyle and one of our Formula 1 drivers, it would probably most likely be Oscar.”

Logistics, timing, and weather will make for a scheduling challenge, but if Brown could manage to organize a test for Larson — or a Larson/Piastri seat swap — then we might get one step closer to determining who really is the best driver in the world.

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