Porsche needs Max Verstappen after a week of bad news

The WEC, too, is reluctantly watching Porsche bow out of the championship’s premier class next year. While McLaren and Ford (in part for the sake of prestige) are choosing to compete with hypercars in the world’s foremost endurance series, one of the sport’s true icons has decided to walk away. It’s rather like Ferrari deciding to leave Formula 1.

Porsche’s decision to withdraw is most likely linked to the financial pressures faced by both the marque itself and its parent company, Volkswagen.

Porsche has been grappling with a decline in sales and, consequently, revenue for some time. A profit warning has already been issued for 2025.

The withdrawal from the WEC is nothing short of a loss of face for a marque that has long embodied motorsport in all its forms. However, Porsche’s hypercar remains active in the smaller and less-followed IMSA Championship - the American counterpart to the WEC. Porsches will also continue to compete in the GT class of the WEC, though only through customer teams.

Should Max Verstappen decide to race for Verstappen.com Racing with Porsche, he would do so as a customer. Yet for the German marque, having Max Verstappen behind the wheel of a Porsche 911 GT3-R would mean far more than that.

The Formula 1 world champion driving this car would be a PR dream for Porsche, as all eyes would be on the German brand if Verstappen were to contest, for instance, the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring.

The Porsche 911 GT3-R is widely regarded as the best car in its class, and in Verstappen’s hands, it could easily prove unbeatable.

Victory in the most prestigious race at the Nordschleife, and on home soil, no less, would be an enormous boost for Porsche in 2026, a year that might otherwise appear somewhat lacklustre for the marque’s endurance efforts.

Porsche is undoubtedly keen to bring Verstappen in as a customer, and a closer look suggests that such a partnership would be a win-win for both sides.

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