Max Verstappen receives remarkable challenge away | Sports News

Lucas di Grassi has challenged Max Verstappen to attempt his hand in Formula E after the Dutchman praised the new all-electric GEN4 car. Verstappen, a four-time F1 world champion, has been removed from obsessed with F1’s 2026 laws, going as far as to explain them as “Formula E on steroids,” slamming the automobiles as “anti-racing” and never enjoyable to drive.

The 28-year-old claimed that the elevated calls for for vitality management with new hybrid engines are “simply not F1,” fueling hypothesis that he could possibly be headed for an early exit in search of new thrills. In current weeks, Verstappen noticed a GT3 win be stripped for a tire breach.

Verstappen additionally launched a assertion after a seven-car pile-up on the 24 Hours of Nurburgring race in Germany claimed the life of driver Juha Miettinen, with six different drivers taken to the hospital in non-life-threatening circumstances. Now, Verstappen has obtained one other motorsport offer.

Former F1 driver Di Grassi, who made 18 starts in 2010 and has been with Formula E since its inception, has implored Verstappen to try the all-electric open-wheel racing series after the Dutchman praised the GEN4 car. Verstappen hailed the new Formula E car as “cool” when speaking to a friend and fellow driver, Jaguar’s Antonio Felix da Costa.

Addressing Verstappen’s concerns over F1’s 2026 car regulations and comparison to Formula E, Di Grassi has extended a challenge. “Well, Max has the right to say that, especially for the race, because I think the race is very similar,” Di Grassi told Express U.S. Sport at Paul Ricard during Formula E’s GEN4 car launch.

“But we are actually, especially with GEN3 and GEN4, our qualifying, you don’t need to save any energy. So, actually, our qualifying is flat out. Now, F1 has to save energy in qualifying. They have to charge, discharge, and so on. Our qualifying is flat out.

“So Max was right about the race, not right about qualifying. And if he wants to drive the car flat out, he can come and qualify our cars.

“If he’s not happy in F1, it would actually be a great pleasure to have Max here, because in my opinion, he’s the best driver in the world right now. So he should try the Gen 4 and be able to go flat out as he likes.”

‘It will overtake F1’

Di Grassi expects Formula E to overtake F1 at some point. The Brazilian has been driving Formula E cars since the beginning, including “GEN0,” which he was the only one to drive. He has now pushed four different generations of cars to the limit – and says the sky’s the limit for Formula E.

“It will overtake F1. If it depends on me, by Gen 5 the car will be faster and better than F1,” Di Grassi asserted. “Gen 1 car was really the first prototype car; nobody had ever built an electric racing car at that moment. So the car had many compromises: the power was limited to 200 kW, we had two cars, and we had to change cars at the pit stop.

“And then there was a big step to Gen 2 with more power, single car, one battery unit, so a big step. Then Gen 3 was another big step, 4WD, more power, and so on. And now Gen 4 is the biggest step ever, with 600 kW and way more power.

“What gets me excited is that the changes are not becoming marginal changes. It’s not that the next car is slightly better than the previous one. We are looking at exponential gains, so the changes are getting bigger and bigger.

“So I think even the next change, Gen 4 to 5, will be even a bigger step. So we are seeing a huge evolution in the technology, the series, and the fanbase. And that gets me very excited because I bet my career in Formula E 14 years ago, and it paid off to be where it is today.”