The 'bummer' hurdle to a Verstappen-Ricciardo Le Mans reunion

Max Verstappen has suggested the lack of time to prepare properly is "a little bit of a bummer" and a hurdle against any potential reunion with his ex-Formula 1 team-mate Daniel Ricciardo at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Ricciardo declared his racing days were behind him in September last year when he described himself as having "retired" upon becoming a Global Ford Racing Ambassador.

The eight-time grand prix winner left McLaren a year early at the end of 2022, rejoined Red Bull as a third driver and got back onto the grid in mid-2023 in place of Nyck de Vries at the sister Racing Bulls team.

But instead of using that as a springboard to a dream return to Red Bull Racing, Ricciardo struggled and was dropped by a second F1 team in less than two years before the 2024 season was even finished.

Ricciardo, who now regrets leaving Red Bull at the end of 2018 in the first place to join Renault, has teased a racing return in the form of a dream tie-up with Verstappen again at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Ricciardo told the Beyond The Grid podcast he was starting to feel that "it would be nice to finish a bit more on my terms" and "maybe that's the last bit of closure I need" – but "doing a full championship still doesn't really sound that exciting, [instead] probably a one-off, like a one-off Le Mans".

"I don't want to put pressure on him, but obviously Max is a name that would be high on the list," Ricciardo said.

"I was trying to get back to the team [Red Bull] at the end of my career, so maybe that's a way that we could give the people what they want."

There is an obvious route to the two being paired together at Le Mans. Red Bull's engine partner Ford, with whom Ricciardo is still an ambassador, will soon have a new hypercar project to compete for outright honours at the famous race again.

Ford also loves the idea of getting Verstappen in one of its cars - considering his most prominent early GT racing exploits have come in Mercedes machinery - and is keen for Ricciardo to do something competitive as well.

Verstappen joked of Ricciardo picking him as an ideal Le Mans team-mate: "Yeah, he's a smart man to choose me in the car! But we have to see.

"It just depends on a lot of things. If I want to do it, I want to do it properly, with really good prep, and at the moment I cannot do that.

"I don't have the time, the free time, to dedicate to a Le Mans project with all the other things that I'm also doing outside of Formula 1."

Verstappen contested the Nurburgring 24 Hours on the Nordschleife earlier this year with his GT team in the middle of the F1 season, and a GT World Challenge race at Portimao.

A full-on Le Mans bid would be an altogether different undertaking, though, regardless of whether a clash with F1 is avoided - which it at least will be in 2027.

"He [Ricciardo] said it himself, he doesn't see himself coming back for a whole season, but the one-off can also interest him," Verstappen said.

"And I mean, why not? But again, I think, if we do something like that, he will for sure agree that it needs to be proper.

"It needs to be for a chance to win, and for a chance to win against people that do it a whole season you need to be prepared really well.

"You just need to find the right timings. Maybe that's a little bit of a bummer."

Ricciardo, who also liked the idea of another former team-mate and Red Bull legend Sebastian Vettel getting in on the act, said the prospect of "companionship" in sharing a car would really appeal to him.

But, as Verstappen indicated, Ricciardo would not just go to Le Mans to scratch an itch. He would want to compete properly, although he admits potentially getting seriously drawn back into the competitive desire of racing is why he is cautious about a comeback.

He said: "Would it open the box? I don't think it will. I'm much more at peace with everything.

"But then, who am I kidding? Would I go to Le Mans just to go and compete and just be happy to be there, or would I go there to try and win?

"As much as I want to say, 'Oh, just be happy, just soaking in the experience', we all know once the helmet's on it's different.

"I can't deny that I would want to go and do it properly. And that's maybe something I need to understand as well – is my heart in it?"