Valentino Rossi reckons if he ever found himself battling Max Verstappen for a championship, things might get a bit spicy. Speaking at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the legendary MotoGP champion admitted he'd never want to fight the four-time F1 world champion for a title if he could help it. When Sky Sports' Craig Slater suggested that given both their aggressive racing styles they'd inevitably come to blows, Rossi didn't exactly disagree.

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The Italian icon, who claimed nine motorcycle world championships across his career from 1996 to 2021, is now mixing it up in car racing. He's been competing in the GT World Challenge Europe this season, where he's regularly racing against Max Verstappen's Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing in GT3 competition. Rossi has also expressed interest in gaining his Nurburgring Nordschleife licence and potentially taking a crack at Le Mans in the future.

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Here's where it gets interesting though. Rossi's been spending time with Lando Norris lately, and the two have been chatting about potentially teaming up at Le Mans down the line. With McLaren now entering the legendary endurance race, Norris seems keen on the idea of partnering with Rossi, calling it an honour and saying they'd have a laugh together. Rossi, being 47 years old now, joked that he'd try to wait for Norris to make it happen, hinting that time's ticking on his racing career.

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The whole conversation highlights just how different the rivalry between Rossi and Verstappen would be compared to what we see in Formula 1 today. Rossi's long history of intense on-track battles and his fiery competitive nature would definitely clash with Verstappen's relentless driving style. Fortunately for F1 fans, we don't have to worry about that particular matchup happening on a Grand Prix circuit anytime soon.

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