From Olympic champion to Porsche Cup racer: the names that could test Verstappen most in Max vs 100

The 100 competitors include rock climber Janja Garnbret, skateboarder Leticia Bufoni, freediver Molly Carlson, hard-enduro rider Billy Bolt, decathlon world champion Leo Neugebauer, mountain biker Matt Jones and enduro rider Pol Tarrés. That mix is important because karting rewards reflexes and spatial awareness before it rewards racing experience, which is why the action sports names may pose a greater threat than any subscriber count.

Brazilian icon Letícia Bufoni is a five-time X Games gold medalist who represented Brazil at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Unlike the rest of Verstappen's opposition, Bufoni has genuine racing pedigree. She transitioned to GT racing in 2024 after a world-class skateboarding career, completing her rookie Porsche Cup Brasil season with a top-five Sprint Trophy class finish in the finale at Interlagos. Bufoni has begun expanding her career beyond skateboarding by stepping into the world of motorsport, making her one of the few participants who knows what it is like to race wheel-to-wheel for position.

British rider Billy Bolt is another name Verstappen should not underestimate. Bolt has carved his name into the history books with eight world championship titles, storming to victory in the 2018 World Enduro Super Series before making history again in 2021 by becoming the first ever FIM Hard Enduro World Champion.

His dominance in SuperEnduro is unmatched, clinching six consecutive FIM SuperEnduro World Championship titles from 2020 to 2026. A competitor accustomed to navigating chaos at high speed on two wheels may adapt quickly to doing the same on four.

Janja Garnbret is widely regarded as one of the greatest competition climbers of all time, with the Slovenian a two-time Olympic champion who has won 10 world titles and over 50 World Cup gold medals. Leo Neugebauer, meanwhile, won the decathlon world title for Germany in Tokyo in 2025 after previously taking silver at the Paris Olympics. Neither has motorsport experience, but both are Red Bull athletes with elite competitive instincts.

The broader field includes a mix of athletes, creators, personalities and everyday fans, with confirmed names including ultrarunner Arda Saatçi, basketball shooting specialist Chris 'Lethal Shooter' Matthews, freestyle mountain biker Matt Jones, and streamers TheGrefg, Caedrel and TheDonato. Online personalities Supercar Blondie, ExtraEmily, TechnoGamerz, Wirtual and Caedrel are also on the grid. As GPBlog has previously reported, Verstappen himself expects the atmosphere to be "quite hectic" as he attempts to fight through the enormous field.

An inexperienced grid can be harder to pass than a disciplined one: a driver who doesn't know the racing line yet isn't defending it on purpose, they're just occupying it, and unpredictable occupation is much harder to read than a clean defensive block.

With athletes like Bufoni and Bolt possessing both competitive fire and motorsport instincts, Verstappen's path from P101 to the front may not be quite as straightforward as his F1 rivals have suggested.