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Max Verstappen will return to his roots next month with a highly unusual racing assignment: starting at the back of the grid and overtaking 100 rivals before time runs out.
The Red Bull driver will compete in ‘Max vs 100’ at a purpose-built karting layout at Silverstone on 16 September. The event, billed as the world’s biggest kart race, will be broadcast live on Disney+ globally and on ESPN in the United States.
The field will bring together Red Bull athletes, celebrities, content creators and fans. Although the complete entry list has not yet been announced, confirmed participants include ultrarunner Arda Saatçi, basketball player Chris Matthews, freestyle mountain biker Matt Jones and streamers TheGrefg, Caedrel and TheDonato.
The format gives Verstappen a very different problem from a conventional Formula 1 grand prix. Rather than managing a race from the front or fighting through a tightly matched F1 field, he must negotiate traffic at every stage while also preventing the leaders from escaping.
Verstappen began karting at four and continued through the junior ranks before making his Formula 1 debut with Toro Rosso, now Racing Bulls, at the age of 17. He said the discipline remains central to a driver’s skill set.
“In go-karts you learn all the basics: starts, defending, overtaking,” Verstappen said. “Of course, I spent a long period of my life go-karting, so it's always nice to return. It’s about understanding the grip of the go-kart. I've done so many years in go-karting that you quite naturally get back into things.”
The event will also place Verstappen in direct radio contact with his rivals, a notable departure from Formula 1, where drivers communicate with their teams or race control. Red Bull said the broadcast will feature game-inspired graphics and cinematic drone footage.
French driver and race director David Terrien designed the Silverstone layout and tested it with two-time iRacing World Champion Sebastian Job. Terrien expects the challenge to showcase Verstappen’s ability to read traffic, plan overtakes and maintain speed while chasing the front of the field.
Job offered a blunt assessment after completing a test with 50 karts: “I think to overtake 100 cars is going to be extremely difficult. Today we did it with 50, and even that was a challenge to do it in the allotted time. He's got his work cut out for him big time.”
The event comes as Verstappen continues to command attention beyond the F1 paddock, including after his recent Dutch Grand Prix weekend, covered in this report on his race-ending crash at Zandvoort.
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.