Max Verstappen will attempt to overtake 100 drivers at Silverstone next month in what Red Bull says will be one of the world’s biggest ever go-kart races.
Dubbed ‘Max vs. 100’, Verstappen will start last on a 101-driver grid at a purpose-built karting course at Silverstone designed specifically to handle the unusually large number of entrants.
The full list of competitors has yet to be announced, but among those confirmed are Red Bull athletes Arda Saatçi, the German ultrarunner; Chris Matthews, the sharpshooting basketball coach better known as ‘Lethal Shooter’; and Matt Jones, the British freestyle mountain biker.
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They will join influencers, content creators and fans invited by Red Bull from around the world.
The race will take place on 16 September.
Verstappen enjoyed an extremely well decorated karting career, winning in domestic competitions in the Netherlands and Belgium before dominating European and world karting championship.
He won six individual titles in 2013, after which he moved directly to the European Formula 3 championship for his first full season in cars, bypassing more minor categories.
He finished the year third in the championship and was promoted to Red Bull’s Toro Rosso Formula 1 team the following season.
“In go-karts you learn all the basics: starts, defending, overtaking,” he said. “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. I will be looking forward to just seeing the carnage unfold in front of me.”
The Kart Silverstone circuit, parallel to the Wellington Straight and in what had been the grand prix circuit infield prior to the 2010 track changes, will take on a special layout for the event designed by race director and kart designer David Terrien.
“Creating a track for 100 drivers at the same time has never been done, never been seen,” he said. “It’s very exciting.
“When you have Max Verstappen chasing everyone, I think that’s going to be the experience of a lifetime for all the drivers.
“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.”
Though many of Verstappen’s competitors will not be professional drivers, the nature of the layout will not make overtaking easy for the four-time Formula 1 world champion.
“I think to overtake 100 cars is going to be extremely difficult,” said Sebastian Job, the iRacing world champion who participated in a shakedown of the circuit layout. “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.”
Red Bull says the broadcast of the event will include live raced data and statistical insights, including kart radio, with Verstappen unusually able to communicate directly with his on-track rivals during the race.
Lando praises himself for winning move | 00:32
MONCACO PODIUM APPEAL HEARD BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
The FIA International Court of Appeal has heard arguments from McLaren and Red Bull Racing against the decision to reinstate Pierre Gasly to the Monaco Grand Prix podium in a closed-doors session overnight.
Gasly took the chequered flag third in Monte Carlo but was dropped to seventh after serving two post-race penalties for speeding in the pit lane.
However, Alpine successfully appealed both penalties, convincing the stewards that the pit lane speed limited had been incorrectly calibrated.
Pit lane speed is measured using a series of timing loops that calculate average speed. Alpine argued that that distance between the first two loops was 77 cm shorter than had been assumed when setting up the system, which meant drivers were calculated to have been travelling faster than they actually were.
An unusually high 11 speeding penalties were doled out over the weekend, including six in the race. Gasly was the only driver penalised twice.
The stewards rescinded both Gasly’s penalties, moving him up to third place.
However, because only Alpine appealed, only Gasly’s penalties were rescinded. Further, three of the other four drivers pinged for speeding served their penalties during the race, meaning theirs couldn’t be appealed after the fact.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was one of those drivers — he dropped from fourth to fifth after Gasly’s appeal — while Isack Hadjar lost his first Red Bull Racing podium as a result of Gasly’s reinstatement.
Both teams subsequently notified of their intention to take the matter to the International Court of Appeal, the highest tribunal in motorsport.
Strict rules about timelines meant it took until Tuesday night (Australia time) for the hearing to take place, 79 days after the race.
Hearings are ordinarily open to the media and the public, but the court said ahead of the hearing that “upon decision of the judging panel and as requested by the parties involved in this case, for confidentiality reasons the above hearing will be closed to public, media and any person who is not authorised to attend it”.
Though the confidential elements in question have not been revealed, reports suggest it is likely to do with how teams measure the pit lane and calculate pit lane speed.
Formula One Management itself is the sport’s official timekeeper, with F1 responsible for supplying timing data, including the measuring system in pit lane.
The court rules do not stipulate a maximum time for a ruling, but the FIA says the decision “will be published as soon as possible after the hearing.”
‘I had nothing, I don’t know why…’ | 00:51
WILLIAMS DRIVER RETENTION ‘VITALLY IMPORTANT’
Retaining Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon at Williams next season is “vitally important” to team morale and stability, says team boss James Vowles.
Sainz and Albon were both flight risks, coinciding with the historic British team’s parlous slide down the championship table.
Williams had overperformed relative to expectations last year, finishing fifth at the head of the midfield, raising expectations for 2026, which Vowles had already pegged as the team’s chance to step towards the top of the grid.
Instead the team has slumped to ninth in the standings ahead of only newcomer Cadillac and struggler Aston Martin.
Sainz, a race winner with Ferrari, was out of contract and rumoured to have options at other midfield teams. Albon could also have walked despite having a contractual option to continue into next season.
However, in what is fast shaping up to be a fizzer of a silly season, both drivers recommitted to the team last week, with Albon staying for at least another year and Sainz signing up to a “multiyear” deal.
Vowles, whose leadership is being weighed down by the team’s dire results this season, said the importance of the confidence of the drivers was critical to Williams’s recovery.
“It’s vitally important,” he said. “When you’re going through what we’re doing at the moment, which is large transformations, large swathes of big changes, the stability that Carlos and Alex provide is huge.
“Alex has obviously been there since 2022. He wants this project to be successful, but having Carlos there by our side as we go through that is vitally important.
“We give them, obviously, an inside scoop as to what we’re doing, what was going wrong, how we fix it, but I think it clearly demonstrates to the world that their belief in the project is still there.
“It’s been a difficult year, but it’s good in the long term.”
Vowles praised both drivers for being integral to his vision for the team.
“It isn’t just about what they bring on track, it’s about the leaders they are behind the scenes.
“An example of that is when this winter went pretty poor, both flew to the UK and spent time with the team to effectively just support them in every way that they could do — which is unusual, let’s put it that way, but it’s an indication of who they are as characters.”
Sainz said it wasn’t in his character to walk out of a struggling team at the first sign of trouble.
“I’m not going to leave in a project that I believe the driver is a fundamental part of, showing commitment to all the workers, all the 1000 people behind the scenes,” he said. “I didn’t want to leave anyone hanging and commit to the project.
“I don’t think it’s part of my character to jump ships when the situation is also at its worst.
“I don’t think it’s part of my way of being, my character, to jump ships at the first possible opportunity.”
Albon, who became the longest tenured Williams driver in history earlier this season, said his one-year extension should be read as a challenge to the team to lift.
“I want to see a reaction,” he said. “I want to see what the team can deliver, I want to see a strong bounce back from this year.”
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