Max Verstappen starred in an unusual victory away from the Formula 1 circuits. The Dutch driver started in 101st and overtook the other 100 competitors to win the Kart event, ‘Max vs 100’, held in Silverstone.
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The race, organized by Red Bull Racing and described by the team as the biggest Kart race ever held, brought together 101 karts at the British kart track. Verstappen was tasked with surpassing the entire grid and completed the challenge on the 14th lap, after just 35 minutes of racing, in a race scheduled for 30 laps.
The grid was made up of Red Bull athletes, content creators, streamers, journalists, players, and fans from 40 countries. After a day of practice on Tuesday, the participants had a single qualifying session. Each of Verstappen’s overtakes was considered definitive as soon as the rear of his kart was aligned with the front of the opponent.
In the race, the start was particularly chaotic. Verstappen overtook more than ten drivers even before crossing the starting line, and in the first moves, advanced to 37th position. In total, 63 competitors were overtaken before completing a lap, amid the concentration of 101 karts in the first corners.
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After the initial turmoil subsided, Verstappen found a rhythm to advance over the remaining drivers. The race direction even granted an additional fast lap to the front group to prolong the contest, but the Dutchman completed his mission on the next lap, taking the lead with 35 minutes still available in the race.
The four-time F1 world champion recorded 2min20s673 on his best lap, more than 2.6 seconds ahead of the second-best time, by Martens, with 2min23s327. Verstappen said he was worried when he saw the size of the challenge on the grid, but gained confidence after overcoming the initial chaos: “It started to get really fun, and when I got into the rhythm and managed to overtake them one by one and saw the gap closing, it was very exciting,” concluded the Dutch driver.
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