Kyle Larson has recently voiced his want to compete in Formula 1. Speaking on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast, Larson elaborated on his interest and the planning needed to make this potential transition. With integral figures such as McLaren Racing’s CEO, Zak Brown, showing openness to the idea, Larson’s ambitions seem within reach.
He explained:
“I would love to do it, and it sounds like hopefully, I’ll get to it down the road. I think it was an option this year, I just have so much going on. It’s like something that I need to plan probably a year in advance or more.
“I would like to, but, honestly, I would rather do it on one of those open test-style deals like after Abu Dhabi when other drivers are on the track, too. … I think that driver swaps are really cool, but you don’t really have like a bar. You don’t have a gauge of where you stack up to others who do it.
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“It would be fun to do that with Oscar [Piastri] or Lando [Norris] or whoever, but I would love to strap in with 19 other cars out there and really see where you’re at on the speed charts.”
Larson’s diverse racing background includes a multi-faceted experience in dirt tracks, Sprint Car, open-wheel, and stock car racing. Recently, he qualified P5 for his first Indianapolis 500. Despite facing a pit road penalty that derailed his chances of a top-five finish, Larson’s performance remains commendable.
He added:
“Obviously, I don’t think that I would be the best, but I would hope to not be last.
“I think that would show how good American oval racers are and unique, or if I was really bad, then it would just show how bad we are.”
Brown’s willingness to consider Larson for a test in the McLaren F1 car adds to the feasibility of the idea. Brown explained, on a different episode of the Happy Hour podcast:
“We’ve been chatting about it. Kyle, as you can imagine, definitely wants to do it in-between our schedule, which goes from February to December, and NASCAR’s schedule, which is February to November.
“Finding that window — we did that with Jimmie Johnson and Fernando [Alonso] in Bahrain with Hendrick Motorsports. That must have been about four, five years ago and that was a lot of fun. I’d love to see Kyle in an F1 car. It is something that we’ve discussed and something I think will happen down the road.”
