Max Verstappen easily passed 100 competitors to win an event dubbed “Max Vs. 100” at a modified karting track at Britain’s Silverstone circuit on Wednesday (Sept. 16). Verstappen had 30 laps, or 75 minutes, to vanquish the field; he only needed 13 laps and 35 minutes to do so.
Verstappen zipped past a number of YouTubers, social media celebrities, athletes, and content creators such as Supercar Blondie, Mini Skrrrt, Lethal Shooter, ExtraEmily, Chet Fistpump, TechnoGamerz, DipStic Figure, Pieface, Chaotic Jake, Wirtual, Modified Hot Shot, No. 7 Hotbox, and Nathan Lust on his way to an easy win (six of those names are fictional; ask the nearest 13 to 22-year-old to identity those for you).
“My first lap was quite incredible,” Verstappen said afterwards. “There was a lot happening and actually a few cars got stuck and I always managed to be on the other side, so didn’t get stuck.
“And that made me get like 60 people in the first lap. So that just helps a lot, getting through to the front.”
The Red Bull had a blazing start, and appeared to be Fred Flintstoning-it at lights out to maximize his launch. The Red Bull driver overtook 64 competitors during the chaotic first lap, looking like a knife going through hot butter, if that hot butter was mired in wet cement. Rules mandated that once Verstappen overtook a driver, that driver was eliminated from the race. His ascent was buoyed by a multi-car pileup on lap 1 that resulted in a full-course yellow for nearly two laps.
Verstappen was mic’d up for the event and able to speak to the competitors. The Dutchman engaged in some moderate trash talk and kept it clean, ostensibly not to offend an audience watching live on Disney+.
If anyone had any doubts that Verstappen would be able to easily overtake 100 amateurs in 30 laps hasn’t been paying attention. In the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix, Verstappen started 14th on the grid and needed only 14 laps to take the lead against F1’s best.
Verstappen was 24th at the end of lap 4 and well on his way to ending the race before the 30-lap limit. Two laps later Verstappen was 10th.
Fifteen minutes into the race, Verstappen was up to seventh, with his clear competition the three drivers well ahead: F1 journalist Jackie Martens, YouTuber Zac Alsop, and a familiar “Lewis,” Red Bull power train technician Lewis Osler. Verstappen trailed that group by 14 seconds, but in clean air was able to trim three seconds per lap, and took the lead on lap 13 to end the competition.
The success of the race is sure to spawn a rematch. The start of the race was easily the most entertaining of the race, so future events, if they happen, should feature as many competitors as possible.
What a competition like this really needs is a number of deterrents to slow Verstappen down and give these professional non-drivers a chance. One such deterrent could be the “reverse rabbit,” which is the opposite of a “rabbit” used in some track races to encourage faster races. Perhaps that role could be filled by two-time F1 world champion Fernando Alonso, who is notorious for being difficult to pass.
Asked where the win ranks in his career victories, Verstappen cheekily said: “I think this is the best one yet!”
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