F1 fans are well aware that Max Verstappen is a big fan of getting some extracurricular racing into his schedule, but they might still have to wait a while for him to enter the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Ears pricked up this week when it was revealed that there will be no F1 race clashing with the iconic endurance event this year, leaving the door theoretically open for the Dutchman to cross over.

Verstappen entered his first 24hr race earlier this year at the Nurburgring, with his team being robbed of a potential victory when technical issues struck with just a few hours remaining.

Unfortunately for his prospects of a 2027 Le Mans drive, Ford have told GPFans that there are no plans for Verstappen to jump into their brand new hypercar for the mid-June race next year, severely lessening his chances of entry.

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“I mean, look at Fernando. He’s 45 and he’s still flying. Especially for Le Mans, with his experience, it could be a good option. It needs to fit our schedules. It needs to make sense. It needs to be on my terms. And there needs to be a real chance to go there and win it.”

Spa a more likely Verstappen landing spot

A much more likely candidate for a Verstappen endurance race next year would by the 24 Hours of Spa, set for late June on the weekend between F1 races in Portugal and Great Britain.

“I wish that I could race in Spa as well,” the four-time F1 champion said earlier this summer.

“I told them already for next year. It would be ideal if they could schedule it outside of a Formula 1 weekend, so let’s see.”

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A member of F1 star Alex Albon’s famous menagerie passed away on Thursday morning, it was announced on Friday.

The Williams driver is well known for the sheer number of animals who are part of the ‘Albon Zoo’, which now consists of 15 cats, two horses, a dog and a deer (…sort of – the deer is local and pops around every now and then).

Sadly, the Albon Pets Instagram account announced the death of one of the family’s cats this week, with 15-year-old Moomoo passing away.

The emotional post paid tribute to the furry critter at length, promising to look after his twin brother Gucci in his absence.

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Lewis Hamilton has hit back at claims he has been trying to replace personnel inside Ferrari as his and the team’s season continue to implode.

For much of this campaign, Hamilton and Ferrari have been considered as chief challengers to Kimi Antonelli and Mercedes in the drivers’ and constructors’ championships respectively.

But having been 32 points behind Antonelli after landing a Silverstone podium in July, Hamilton hasn’t finished in the top three since, retiring at the most recent event in Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix, his first DNF of the season.

Now Hamilton is 101 points behind the Italian, leaving him and Ferrari’s hopes of ending the team’s championship drought stretching back to 2008 all but extinguished.

Basically, it’s that time of the season where Ferrari do some soul searching, a process that had already started following the Italian Grand Prix earlier in September.

A clash between Hamilton and Charles Leclerc led to the 41-year-old saying that the team needed to implement a code-of-conduct between the team’s drivers, something that team boss Fred Vasseur did not act on.

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Hamilton denies replacement claims

That brings us to this week when an Italian publication claimed Hamilton was trying to make changes at Ferrari to get them more in line with the operation he had at Mercedes where he won six world titles.

The publication also noted that Hamilton’s relationship with Vasseur had become more strained and ‘no longer what it once was.’

Many publications have since reported these claims as Hamilton wants people ‘sacked’ at Ferrari, but the seven-time world champion has quickly released a statement claiming otherwise.

Posting a message on his Instagram stories with an image of Ferrari crew, Hamilton has since denied claims he is looking to change personnel at the team.

The Ferrari star said: “I’ve seen some of the stories that have gone out and I want to clear it up here. I’ve never asked for anyone on my team to be replaced.

“Everyone I work with works hard every day, and their dedication is what moves us forward.

“I always try to empower and lift people to be the best versions of themselves or at least see the best in themselves.

“I may not always achieve that but it’s my intention and what I’m here to do. We all work together and that will continue.”

Hamilton’s Ferrari change

Hamilton has already had a crucial change made at Ferrari during his two years at the team.

After a tough first season, a decision was made to move his race engineer Riccardo Adami to another department after the two struggled to communicate and gel with each other during the season.

Since then, Hamilton has been a lot happier with his new race engineer Carlo Santi as he looks to mould Ferrari into a winning team again.

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