Kyle Larson has openly joined the discussion comparing his driving skills to those of four-time Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen, confidently suggesting he might have the edge. The only definitive way to determine who is the best would be on the track.
In September, McLaren team boss Zak Brown stirred excitement while appearing on Kevin Harvick’s “Happy Hour” podcast, where he revealed talks about Larson potentially driving an F1 car.
“We’ve been having conversations,” Brown said. “Kyle, as expected, is very interested, but coordinating between our schedule, which runs February to December, and NASCAR’s February-to-November calendar is a challenge.
“We made it work a few years ago with Jimmie Johnson and Fernando Alonso in Bahrain alongside Hendrick Motorsports, and that was a great experience. I’d love to see Kyle in an F1 car. It’s something we’ve talked about and something I believe will eventually happen.”
On Friday, during his SiriusXM NASCAR Radio show, veteran broadcaster Dave Moody addressed a fan’s idea that Larson might not just do a one-off driver swap but potentially compete full-time in Formula 1.
“I’ve been praising Kyle Larson for years,” Moody said. “The guy could finish second in a shopping cart. But no one is going to pull Kyle or any NASCAR driver out of a stock car and drop them straight into an F1 ride.
“It would be career suicide for Larson, no matter how talented he is. And it would be equally risky for a team to attempt something like that. If Kyle Larson wants to pursue Formula 1, it’s at least a three-to-five-year process. Whether he’d actually want to go that route is another question. But realistically, it’s not something you can do in a year or two.”
Regardless of whether it takes one, two, or five years, fans remain eager to see the debate settled once and for all.
