Four-time Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen started 101st on the grid and passed every driver ahead of him in just 35 minutes, streamed live from Disney+ and the ESPN App.
Max Verstappen has overtaken all 100 of his challengers in Red Bull’s Max vs 100, the largest go-kart race ever staged, completing the task on lap 14 of 30 at Silverstone tonight. Starting 101st on a grid built specifically for the event, the four-time Formula 1 world champion cleared the field in just 35 minutes, in front of a live global audience on Disney+ and the ESPN App.
Here is all you need to know:
- “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,” Max 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, was able to overtake them one-by-one and saw the gap closing, that was really exciting.
- “It was great to just be back 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 scale of it was clear from the moment the grid formed up. Seen from above, 101 karts stretched back along the Silverstone asphalt in rows, with Max in the very last one. Ahead of him were Red Bull athletes, Red Bull players, content creators, streamers, journalists and fans selected from around the world – most of them driving the track only for the second time after Tuesday’s practice and a single qualifying lap earlier in the day
- The opening lap decided half the race. With 101 karts funneling into the first corners, Max had passed more than 10 drivers before he even reached the start/ finish line and at the hairpin the field folded in on itself, karts running into each other and facing the wrong way. “I have no idea what’s going on – it’s carnage,” he said over the radio. Two minutes in, he was 37th. 63 drivers had been eliminated without completing a lap – more than half the field – and when the number was relayed to him, the reply came back: “Not a bad first lap then!”
- Under the rules, a driver was out of the race the moment the rear of Max’s kart drew level with the front of theirs, so every pass was final and the onboard microphones caught the field coming to terms with that one by one. On Lap 7, motorsport YouTuber Paky TWC, running sixth at the time, could be heard asking Max over the radio not to overtake him. He was passed shortly afterwards.
- By then the race had settled into a chase. Pole-sitter Jacky Martens, YouTuber Zac Alsop and Red Bull Ford Powertrains technician Lewis Osler had built a lead of around 12 seconds while the chaos unfolded behind them, and Max was taking three seconds a lap out of it.
- With 54 minutes still on the clock, the Race Director handed the leading group an extra fast lap. The three of them used their shortcuts together on Lap 12, then stopped fighting for the top sport and started driving defensively. It bought them a little time. On the next lap Max arrived, cleared Alsop and Osler in one corner and then passed Martens to finish the job with 35 minutes still on the clock.
- Martens, a Dutch Formula 1 journalist, had led for most of the race. He and Osler joined Max on the podium, the champion’s own team technician standing one step below him. Very few people have ever stood on a podium alongside Max Verstappen and tonight two everyday racers joined that list. Behind Alsop in fourth, renowned off-road motorcyclist Pol Tarrés was fifth. Livestreamer RDJavi, photographer Larry Chen, mountain biker Bernard Kerr and actor Neo Yau completed the top 10.
- With onboard cameras and microphones on every kart, Max’s exchanges with his challengers went out live on Disney+, presented by BAFTA Award-winning comedian Mo Gilligan. Max’s fastest lap of the race was 2m
- 20.673s, while the next best was Martens’s 2m 23.327s, over 2.6s slower. Across the full 35 minutes, Max passed a driver every 21 seconds on average.
- The circuit, designed by Race Director and track designer David Terrien to accommodate a 100-kart field, was laid out on a temporary configuration at Silverstone for the event. Asked on his victory lap where the win ranks among his others, Max’s answer came with a grin: “I think this is the best one yet!”
- Red Bull’s Max vs 100 is available to watch again on Disney+ globally and on the ESPN App for ESPN Unlimited subscribers in the U.S., with a broadcast on ESPN2 at 19.00 ET.
QUOTES
- Max Verstappen: “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. 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 back 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!
- “It’s something very unique and you never know how it’s gonna go, but the first time went really well. So from there on, I could really have a lot of fun trying to hunt them all down. There was a lot of effort going into it and it was nice that they all had a lot of fun as well, like preparing and participating.”
- David Terrien, track designer and race director: “Going through the traffic of such a big field, no one has done it. There’s never been a karting race with so many karts. So even Max was questioning himself just before the start, how he could go through the traffic. When you look at the replay, he picked the right spots. Every time there was a gap, he went for it. He was on the right side of the track when there was a crash going on the other side. We gave them more fast laps to allow them to compete longer and stay in the game longer. But he was just much faster.
- “I think that’s what makes the difference with Max – his starts, and his reaction time. Even if it’s a fun race, he showed his skills in all aspects. I was talking to Max’s race engineer and we were looking at the replay of the start. And he sees something we don’t see. He sees a gap that’s going to open and it’s not open yet. So I think that’s a race vision, that’s something he has that most of the drivers don’t have.”
- Jacky Martens, F1 journalist and last driver caught: “I tried to stay out of the chaos at the beginning of the race, and luckily enough, three or four of us managed to pull away. You think if we’re gonna tussle in the beginning of the race, he will catch us within a minute. So we tried to collaborate a little bit, but as soon as Max catches you guys, it’s all for one. We all fought to be there as long as possible.”
- “It was so much fun, honestly. I can’t stop smiling. It feels like living in a dream or something. It’s not something that I ever dreamed about, because it’s so surreal to race against Max, and then finishing P2 right behind him, it’s unbelievable, really. We’re both from Limburg, so I don’t know what it is in the water over there. Must be something special. As soon as there’s four wheels involved, we’re just quick with everything. It’s a Limburg thing, I guess!”
- Richard Cooke, Oracle Red Bull Racing Engineer: “Everyone fancies themselves a bit of a driver and thinks that they can maybe compete with these guys. But I think he’s shown today that professional racing drivers, they operate on a completely different level! I think he would have always expected to win it, for sure, but I don’t think we expected so much time left on the board. I think even that shocked him. The nicest thing to see is that he’s really enjoyed it today. He’s just had a smile on his face the whole time.”
- Jack Harington, Partnerships Group Lead, Oracle Red Bull Racing, and one of the 100: “Oracle have been running the simulations for how long it would take Max to overtake everybody, and in the simulations we ran we thought it would take about 40 minutes. Now as I understand it was closer to 30 minutes, so you can have all the data in the world, the best
- Technology in Oracle to predict it, but sometimes you’ve got a Max Verstappen who’s just going to beat the data. I thought maybe I’d challenge Max and show that I should have been a Formula One driver, but I didn’t even expect him to pass me where he did it was like lap four he overtook me on. Although it was earlier than I wanted, the image of Max overtaking me will live in my memory forever. It was a crazy race and to be part of it was just something I’m probably going to talk about to every single person I meet for the next 20 years.”
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