The Back-of-Grid Spectacle at Silverstone
Red Bull turned Silverstone into a proving ground on Wednesday. A four-time world champion started at the very back of a 100-driver field. The question was simple: how quickly could Max Verstappen clear a grid ten times the size of a normal Formula 1 field?
The 28-year-old faced amateur karters, content creators, motorsport staff and athletes drawn from well beyond the paddock. Organisers built a bespoke track for the “Max vs 100” challenge. It combined Silverstone’s karting venue with sections of the Grand Prix circuit, including the fast Brooklands corner. Verstappen had 30 laps to work through the entire field.
Even he admitted the scale of the task looked daunting once he reached his grid slot.
“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.
That reaction set the tone for the afternoon. This was a stunt built for spectacle, not serious competition. It still demanded real racecraft once the lights went out. Verstappen’s recent Grand Prix form has given supporters plenty to debate this year. A challenge like this offered a rare look at him working in isolation, away from strategy calls and championship pressure.
How Verstappen Dispatched 100 Drivers in 14 Laps
The opening lap told most of the story. Verstappen carved through 64 of the 100 karts before completing a single circuit. He read gaps as they opened and refused to wait for cleaner air. By his own account, the picture became clear almost immediately.
“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,” Verstappen said.
He described the process as instinctive rather than planned. He trusted that a grid of enthusiastic amateurs would hold their lines rather than risk a collision with an F1 champion.
“You just act on instinct whatever happens,” he added. “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. So they didn’t need to crash into me or whatever.
“But you just act really quickly when you see everything unfold in front of you.”
That trust mattered. One lapse from a nervous karter could have ended the challenge, or Verstappen’s afternoon. Instead, the field largely raced among itself. He sliced past on the outside and inside of corners. The Brooklands section’s width gave him room a tighter karting layout would never have offered.
By lap five he had passed 84 competitors. Only 16 karts remained ahead of him, with 25 laps still notionally available. The remaining overtakes came in smaller, calculated bursts. It resembled how he manages a Grand Prix stint rather than a frantic opening dash. It is the same decision-making that shaped some of Red Bull’s tactical decisions in this year’s championship, applied here to a very different kind of track.
The Numbers Behind the 37-Minute Charge
Verstappen finished the job in 14 laps, well inside the 30-lap limit. The entire challenge lasted 37 minutes from lights out to the final pass. That works out to more than seven overtakes per lap on average. The true distribution, though, was heavily front-loaded.
Sixty-four of his passes came on the opening lap alone. Almost two-thirds of the field was behind him before he crossed the line for the first time. A further 20 passes followed across the next four laps, taking his total to 84 by lap five. Just 16 competitors remained across the final nine laps he needed. That phase rewarded patience over raw aggression once the easy gains had been banked.
According to Motorsport.com’s event report, those figures reflect timing and positional data gathered on the day. They are not official competitive results, since “Max vs 100” was never an FIA-sanctioned event. The 100 rivals were not professional karting racers either. The field was made up of content creators, motorsport personnel and athletes rather than dedicated circuit specialists. That mix shaped both the pace of the race and the gaps Verstappen found to exploit.
Red Bull’s Stunts and the Limits of Exhibition Racing
Wednesday’s challenge fits a pattern stretching back to Verstappen’s debut with the team in 2016. He has tested GT machinery for Red Bull’s wider motorsport programme. He once raced a caravan against former team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. Both were part of a long run of promotional events built around his willingness to try almost anything on wheels.
Verstappen was open about how much that history shapes his enthusiasm for these projects. He also spoke about the effort required to stage something on this scale.
“With Red Bull, they always come up with some crazy, fun things – it suits me.
“I can really be myself. The way it was organised today, I know that it requires a lot of effort to be able to do something like this and inviting so many people over, but it’s a lot of fun to be a part of that.
“Sometimes I get reminded of what I actually did in the past and I’m like, ‘oh my god, did I really do that?’. It’s fun and it’s definitely one of the best one out there.
“How many times do you have the opportunity to create something like this? Racing against a hundred other people. I think it’s very cool, only Red Bull can do something like this.”
Asked, half in jest, about scaling the concept up further, Verstappen did not rule it out.
“Maybe 200,” he said.
Nothing about Wednesday should be mistaken for a competitive record or a serious karting championship result. The field was assembled for entertainment, not to test Verstappen against professional peers. Red Bull has not presented it as anything more than that.
The challenge did confirm something supporters already know from watching him on Sunday afternoons. His first-lap reading of gaps and traffic defines his Grand Prix starts. That same instinct translated directly onto a crowded karting grid. The stakes here were nothing more than bragging rights and a good story to tell.
