Max Verstappen needed 14 laps and 35 minutes to overtake 100 amateur drivers during a demonstration kart race at Silverstone. The four-time Formula 1 world champion had a maximum of 35 laps and 75 minutes to overtake all his rivals on a specially adapted track within the Grand Prix circuit. The Red Bull driver moved up to 37th position at the end of a chaotic first lap, characterized by numerous accidents and spins which led to a brief suspension of the race.
VIDEO | Verstappen overtakes 100 amateur kart drivers in 14 laps #ANSA pic.twitter.com/KuzseCJ7Tm
— ANSA Agency (@Agenzia_Ansa) September 17, 2026
“When I arrived on the grid and saw where I had to start from, with 100 karts in front of me, I was a bit worried – admitted the Dutchman -. After the first lap, with all that chaos, I thought: ‘Ok, the situation is under control’. From that moment on, I really enjoyed trying to catch them all. Once I found the rhythm, when I started to overtake them one after the other and saw the gap closing, it was really exciting.”
Verstappen – who had warned participants via radio that “this is not a charity event” – moved up to tenth position at the start of the sixth lap and fourth by the tenth, with every driver overtaken forced to retire. At that point, the group of participants – made up of TV, sports and social media personalities, without any professional drivers – included only Dutch F1 journalist Jacky Martens, Red Bull motorsport engineer Lewis Osler and YouTuber Zac Alsop. All three were given an extra “fast lap”, during which they could cut a bend in the track to try to hold off Verstappen for longer. But he still reached and surpassed them.