Starting at the very back of a pack of 100 opponents at Silverstone, Max Verstappen took on a completely crazy challenge organized by Red Bull.
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Max Verstappen clearly doesn’t need Formula 1 to showcase his talent. The four-time world champion took on a particularly original challenge on Wednesday at Silverstone, where Red Bull had gathered no less than 100 opponents for a massive karting race.
The concept was as simple as it was spectacular: Verstappen had to start behind the entire pack and progressively eliminate each of his competitors. As soon as the Dutchman overtook a driver, that driver had to leave the race. So all that was left for the Red Bull driver was to climb back up to the first place, but with about a hundred karts on track simultaneously, the first few minutes quickly turned chaotic.
A completely crazy first lap
Verstappen’s 100 opponents were made up of various internet personalities as well as athletes supported by Red Bull. They all found themselves on the same track from the start, with the four-time world champion positioned right at the back.
Unsurprisingly, the first lap was a real mess. With so many drivers simultaneously trying to gain positions, several collisions broke out in front of Verstappen and a significant part of the pack eliminated themselves.
The Dutchman also cut part of the circuit amid this confusion. At the end of the first lap, he was already in 36th position, which meant that nearly two-thirds of his opponents had disappeared from the race in just a few minutes.
Verstappen admits he largely benefited from the sometimes excessive enthusiasm of his competitors.
“I really thought my first lap was going to be catastrophic, but I was a bit helped by all those who were very excited and who crashed.”
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The climb gradually becomes more difficult
Once the chaos of the start was over, the task naturally became more complicated. Verstappen continued to overtake his opponents one after another, but each new position gained brought him closer to the most competitive drivers still on track.
His progress therefore became slower and slower as the number of participants decreased. Where the first dozens of opponents had disappeared very quickly, the last ones put up a much stronger resistance to the Red Bull driver.
Nevertheless, Verstappen kept climbing the pack until he had only one opponent left in front of him. Thirty-five minutes after the start of this rather unusual race, he finally managed to overtake his last rival and complete the challenge.
Verstappen has fun after his last overtake
Just after finishing this crazy climb, the Dutchman celebrated his performance by repeating a phrase made famous on the radio during his Formula 1 victories.
“That was simply magnificent, wasn’t it ?”
Despite the competitive nature of the event, Verstappen seemed to have especially enjoyed the experience and the unpredictable character of this 101-driver race.
“It helped me a bit, but it was really a lot of fun.”
The result obviously had nothing to do with the stakes Verstappen is used to in Formula 1, but the format allowed him to reconnect with a discipline that holds an important place in his journey. Like most drivers on the grid, the Dutchman built a large part of his training in karting before moving up to single-seaters.
This time, no pole position or complex strategy was necessary: Verstappen simply had to overtake 100 opponents starting from the back. Despite a chaotic first lap and increasing resistance as he climbed the rankings, 35 minutes were ultimately enough for him to overcome the entire pack.
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