As part of the larger Kyle Larson versus Max Verstappen ‘best driver in the world’ discourse, there is one relationship that could go a long way towards adding another significant data point.
Larson will once again compete in the Indianapolis 500 next season under the Arrow McLaren banner and for CEO Zak Brown, which also oversees the McLaren F1 team.
In a conversation in the FOX Sports Happy Hour YouTube show, Brown tells Kevin Harvick that getting Larson in a Formula 1 car in some capacity is on the itinerary.
“Yeah, we’ve been chatting about it,” Brown told Harvick. “Kyle, as you can imagine, definitely wants to do it in between our schedule, which goes from February to December, and NASCAR’s schedule, which I think is what, February to November. Finding that window. We did that with Jimmie Johnson and Fernando in Bahrain with Hendrick Motorsport. That must have been about four to five years ago, and that was a lot of fun.
“So I’d like to see Kyle in an F1 car. It is something that we’ve discussed and something that I do think will happen down the road.”
To wit, Johnson and Alonso traded cars for a track day in 2018 at Bahrain International Circuit.
Lewis Hamilton and Tony Stewart swapped cars at Watkins Glen in 2011. In 2003, Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya swapped cars at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are McLaren’s F1 drivers, for the record.
Larson previously stated that he felt he was a better race car driver holistically than Verstappen after winning his third Knoxville Nationals.
“I know in my mind I am better than him as an all-around driver,” Kyle Larson said, putting it bluntly when asked by FloRacing if he would have to race and beat Verstappen to feel like the world’s best driver. “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.
“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 (doing what he does than him doing what I do) 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.”