Story by PAS Staff
Photography by Red Bull Media House
Max Verstappen will trade Formula One machinery for a go-kart on September 16, when the four-time World Champion takes part in Max vs 100 at Silverstone Circuit in England.
The event will place Verstappen at the back of a 101-kart field, with the challenge centred on how many of the 100 drivers ahead of him he can catch and pass. Red Bull says the field will make Max vs 100 the largest go-kart race ever staged.
The grid will include a mix of athletes, content creators, personalities and fans from around the world. Among the confirmed Red Bull athletes are ultrarunner Arda Saatçi, basketball shooting specialist Chris “Lethal Shooter” Matthews and British freestyle mountain biker Matt Jones. Red Bull streamers TheGrefg, Caedrel and TheDonato will also take part.
For Verstappen, the format brings him back to the discipline where his racing career began. He started karting at four years old, entered championships at seven and later collected multiple European and world-level karting titles before moving into Formula One.
“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.”
Silverstone will use a purpose-built karting layout for the event. Race Director David Terrien, a French racing driver, kart designer and former youth karting world champion, was responsible for creating a circuit capable of handling the 101-kart field.
“Creating a track for 101 drivers at the same time has never been done, never been seen,” Terrien said. “So, it’s very exciting.”
Terrien and Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing driver Sebastian Job, a two-time iRacing World Champion, have already tested the concept with a smaller field. Their shakedown involved 50 karts and was used to help develop the elimination-race format.
Job said the reduced-field test was already difficult enough to show how demanding the full event could be.
“I think to overtake 100 cars is going to be extremely difficult,” Job said. “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.”
Verstappen believes his years of karting experience should make the return familiar.
“It’s about understanding the grip of the go-kart,” he said. “I’ve done so many years in go-karting that you quite naturally get back into things.”
The setting is also familiar. Verstappen has twice won Formula One races at Silverstone, although Max vs 100 will present a very different challenge from navigating the British Grand Prix circuit.
Instead of fighting for position among a conventional racing field, he will have to work through heavy traffic while trying to prevent the drivers at the front from getting too far away.
Terrien said that aspect of the event should put Verstappen’s racecraft on full display.
“You’re going to have Max showcasing all these skills of looking through the traffic, trying to prepare and plan where he can overtake people, and going through the traffic at the fastest speed he can because he doesn’t want to let the drivers at the front pull away.”
Asked what he was most looking forward to when 101 karts take to the track, Verstappen had a simple answer:
“Just seeing the carnage unfold in front of me.”
Max vs 100 will stream live globally on Disney+ on September 16, 2026. In the United States, it will also be available live through the ESPN App for ESPN Unlimited subscribers, with a delayed ESPN2 broadcast scheduled for later that day.
