Nicole MulderManaging Editor
Nicole Mulder is Managing Editor at GPblog and a specialist in Formula 1 and MotoGP. With years of experience and permanent FIA accreditation at Grands Prix worldwide, she delivers reliable coverage and insights based on direct access to drivers and the F1 paddock.
After Max vs 100, talk has already begun about a new, much bigger challenge for Max Verstappen. Following his successful charge through the field at Silverstone, Red Bull Racing immediately asked whether Max vs 200 should be the next step.
On Wednesday evening, Verstappen needed only fourteen laps to overtake all one hundred participants in Max vs 100. He started 101st and therefore last, but sliced through the entire field like a hot knife through butter in just 35 minutes, with the race lasting just over half of the planned hour. Afterwards, he said that beforehand he didn’t quite know how big his speed advantage would be, but that his opponents’ qualifying laps reassured him.
Max vs 200?
“I had no idea what my pace would be, but then I had two or three laps to prepare and I knew what the qualifying lap time was. That’s when I thought: okay, if we have a good first lap and don’t lose too much time, then we should be fine,” Verstappen explains.
He is immediately presented with a new challenge. “So we’re going to prepare for Max versus 200?” the interviewer suggests with a wink, to which Verstappen replies with a laugh: “Exactly.”
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The first edition initially proved hard for Verstappen to judge. When he looked at the huge line of karts ahead of him before the start, he wondered how easy it would actually be to overtake everyone.
“To be honest: when I walked to the grid and saw where I had to start, I was a little worried. But after my first lap, with all the chaos and the way I got through the incidents, I thought: okay, we’ve got this under control now.”
That opening lap made a big difference right away. Verstappen passed more than sixty participants and moved from 101st to 37th place. At the hairpin, several karts got stuck or ended up sideways or backwards, but Verstappen managed to avoid the chaos and continue on his way. Instead of having to work his way through a compact and chaotic field, Verstappen was increasingly able to drive his own rhythm and pick off the remaining opponents one by one.
An average of 1 overtake every 21 seconds
“Of course lap one was fun, and lap two as well, but once you get into a rhythm, start picking them off one by one and see the gap getting smaller, I think that’s the exciting part. And just getting back in a kart too. It’s actually a really nice track. So yeah, I really enjoyed it,” said Verstappen.
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In the end, Verstappen reached the last remaining participants as early as lap fourteen. His fastest lap of 2:20.673 was more than 2.6 seconds quicker than the best lap time of the other competitors. On average, during his 35-minute charge he overtook someone every 21 seconds.
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