Verstappen clears all 100 rivals in 14 laps at Silverstone karting challenge

Max Verstappen swept through all 100 amateur karters in just 14 laps — roughly 37 minutes — at Red Bull’s ‘Max vs 100’ event held at Silverstone on Wednesday, finishing the challenge well ahead of his own expectations.

The four-time world champion started from the back of a 101-kart grid on a purpose-built track that incorporated Silverstone’s karting venue and sections of the full circuit, including Brooklands. He had 30 laps to overtake every competitor; he needed fewer than half of them.

The opening lap proved decisive. Verstappen eliminated 64 rivals on lap one alone and had dispatched 84 by the end of lap five, a pace that left even him taken aback.

“When I was walking to the grid and saw where I had to start, I was like, ‘oof, that’s very far back’,” Verstappen said. “But after my first lap I was like, ‘ah, I think we’re alright, I think we’re good’. It was mainly just depending on the first two laps. If I clear the first two laps well, then, yeah, what can it be, 15 or 20 laps? But the first lap went a bit better than expected, so that helps a lot.”

The gap in reaction speed between an F1 driver and an amateur was visible from the moment the lights went out, with Verstappen picking off around a dozen competitors before the field had even reached Turn 1.

“You just act on instinct whatever happens,” he explained. “When the lights go out, you kind of just see where the gaps are and then you also need to trust the people around you that they don’t do anything crazy. To be honest, they didn’t. They were very excited with each other, but they were actually quite nice to me.”

The field consisted of content creators, motorsport personnel and athletes. Verstappen, 28, has taken part in a string of Red Bull challenges since joining the team in 2016 — from testing GT cars to caravan racing alongside former team-mate Daniel Ricciardo — and suggested the concept could be scaled up further.

“I said before, I was like, ‘maybe 200’” amateurs, he teased, before crediting the organisation behind the event. “With Red Bull, they always come up with some crazy, fun things — it suits me. I can really be myself. How many times do you have the opportunity to create something like this?”