Verstappen overtakes 100 karting rivals in 14 laps

Max Verstappen completed the ‘Max v 100’ karting challenge in just 14 laps at Silverstone on Wednesday evening.

The four-time Formula 1 world champion was taking on the Red Bull-organized challenge on a special circuit that utilized the entirety of the Silverstone kart track as well as a small part of the F1 layout. With lap times of a little over two minutes, Verstappen had been given up to 30 laps and 75 minutes to try and overtake all 100 karts ahead of him, but took advantage of a chaotic start to clear more than 60 on the opening lap.

The field was largely made up of content creators and social media personalities, and each driver overtaken by Verstappen was eliminated from the race at the end of that lap. Despite drivers having a shortcut available to them to use during the first half of the race – and an extra usage handed out to the top runners in order to try and extend the challenge – Verstappen had cleared the entire field by the halfway point.

“When I went to the grid and I saw where I had to start, with 100 karts in front of me, I was a little bit worried,” Verstappen said. “After my first lap with all the carnage, I did think, ‘Okay we have got this under control!'

“It started to become really fun, and once I started getting into a rhythm and was able to overtake them one by one and saw the gap closing, that was really exciting. It was great to just be in a go-kart again and go back to basics, it reminded me of racing back in the day. It's a really beautiful track, and well-designed, and it was a nice touch to be able to get all the data fed through the radio, too. I had a great day and it was good to come out with the win!” 

The event was streamed live on Disney+ and on a delay on ESPN, with ESPN F1 journalist Nate Saunders qualifying 89th after a spin, and being overtaken by Verstappen before the pair had even reached the first corner.

Another media colleague put on a better showing, with Dutch journalist Jacky Martens starting from pole position and ending up second to Verstappen after the final racing lap, ahead of Red Bull Ford Powertrains technician Lewis Osler and YouTuber Zac Alsop.

Verstappen was able to communicate live with his rivals at times during the race, warning them he was closing in and at one stage reminded the field “it’s not a charity event” as he scythed his way to the front.