"I will persuade him” - Mario Andretti convinced Max Verstappen will race in the Indy 500 after he wins his 8th F1 championship

Former F1 world champion and American motorsport legend Mario Andretti revealed that he will persuade Max Verstappen to join the Indy500.

Part of the 'Triple Crown' of motorsport, the Indy500 is one of the iconic races held on the same weekend as the Monaco GP. The Red Bull driver, who is the reigning double world champion and on his way to the third, had earlier spoken about not wanting to race in Indy500.

As per Ziggo Sport, Andretti said:

"One of these days, I’m going to speak with Max Verstappen after he wins 8 world championships to come here and win the 500. I will persuade him."

Speaking to ESPN, Max Verstappen had previously claimed that he has no interest in racing in IndyCar:

"I've no desire to chase the Triple Crown. At least, not Indy. I don't need to risk my life there. I appreciate what they do. It's insane, these drivers. ... I have a lot of respect for what they achieve there, but for me, especially being in F1 for such a long time already, I don't need to risk my life there and potentially injure myself, your legs, whatever. It's just not worth it anymore, let's say like that."

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“It’s super nice to win" - Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen

The Dutch driver won for the second time in the streets of Monaco on Sunday, after he served up another masterclass in changeable conditions.

In his post-race interview, Max Verstappen said:

“It’s super nice to win. It’s also super nice to win in the way we did today, with the weather and everything, to stay calm and to bring it home. Again, a lot of points for the team as well, so it’s great. It was quite a difficult one because we were on the medium initially and Fernando was on the hard tire. We didn’t want to go that long, but we had too. The rain was coming, and we didn’t know really what was going on.

“The tyres were graining and then took a few laps to get through that graining phase and the pace picked up a little bit, but it was still very tricky to drive. Then it started to rain lap by lap, and then we had to make the call to go on to the inters."

It will be interesting to see how quickly Verstappen wraps up the title in the 2023 season. No one seems even close to challenging the Dutchman for the title this season.