Max vs 100 Sends Max Verstappen From Last on a 101 Kart Silverstone Grid to First in 35 Minutes

Red Bull staged Max vs 100 on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, as the largest go-kart race ever run, lining 101 identical karts on a purpose-built layout at Silverstone designed by race director David Terrien. Max Verstappen started 101st with a simple brief: catch and pass every driver ahead of him inside 30 laps or 75 minutes. Once the rear of his kart drew level with the front of another, that driver was out for good. The 100 people in front of him were athletes, content creators, streamers, journalists, and fans, most of whom had seen the track only in Tuesday practice plus one qualifying lap. Dutch Formula One journalist Jacky Martens took pole. YouTuber Zac Alsop and Red Bull Ford Powertrains technician Lewis Osler sat near the front with him.

Lights went out, mayhem ensued, and the field abruptly collapsed in on itself. Karts collided with each other’s bumpers, pointed in the incorrect direction, and stacked up at the first hairpin. Later, Verstappen claimed that he had no idea what was going on and informed the radio commentator that it was complete carnage. Despite this, he had passed over 10 drivers by the time he reached the start-finish line, and he continued to thread his way through the pack while others lost their confidence. By the completion of lap one, he was in 37th place, while sixty-three drivers had yet to complete a lap. When asked, he gave the number over the radio and stated it wasn’t a bad start. Yellow flags appeared briefly, freezing the rest of the pack.

He’d bounced in the seat before the start, giving the kart an additional amount of roll as he launched off the line, and then braked a fraction of a second before everyone else to make way for the inevitable spinning. Open radios picked up the remainder of the pack reacting as he approached, and one driver begged him not to pass, while others were terrified, and he warned at least one of them he was coming for them. By lap five, the majority of the grid had gone. By lap six, he was inside the top 10, and by lap ten, he was in fourth place, gaining nearly three seconds each lap on the leaders while passing every 21 seconds. His quickest lap was 2:20.673, more than two and a half seconds faster than Martens’ 2:23.327.

Martens, Alsop, and Osler had created a 12-second lead, and the race director saw fit to allow them an extra fast-lap shortcut with time remaining on the clock. On lap 12, they used it together before abandoning caution and concentrated on defending rather than racing. Verstappen managed to past Alsop and Osler in a single circuit on lap 13 before carving up Martens to secure the victory. Overall, it only took him 14 laps. 35 minutes. There were 21 laps and 40 minutes remaining. As he raised the flag, he described the afternoon as simply magnificent, before joking that it was his first win of the year, so he’d accept it. He also stated that it was one of his favorite days in a kart, the type of session that reminded him of how he used to race before getting into Formula One all those years ago.

Martens finished second, with Osler, a mechanic from Verstappen’s own powertrain group, coming in third. Alsop finished fourth, followed by off-road racer Pol Tarrés in fifth, Paky TWC, RDJavi, photographer Larry Chen, mountain biker Bernard Kerr, and actor Neo Yau. A four-time world champion started last in a 101-kart field designed for this type of turmoil and finished in less than half the time. That was the most surprising part, but thankfully it was a good one.
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