Image via Oracle Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen picked up his first win of 2026 today. No line in the FIA’s record books — just a go-kart, a field of 100 total strangers, and Max casually reminding everyone why he’s Max.
Let’s be honest about his actual season first: fourteen rounds in, the four-time champion still doesn’t have a single Grand Prix win. Three second-place finishes (Austria, Hungary, Spain), four retirements, and a car that’s spent the year chasing Ferrari’s aero concepts instead of just being fast. Backfire watched it happen live in Austria, when George Russell held off Verstappen to win the 2026 Austrian GP, right after Max had already pitched his car into the wall during a chaotic qualifying session. Throw in a swirl of Verstappen-to-McLaren swap rumors, and 2026 has basically been Max’s villain-arc setup season — talented as ever, just stuck in the wrong movie.
So naturally, Red Bull’s solution was to throw him into a go-kart, dead last, against 100 amateurs, on live TV. And the irony practically wrote the headline itself.
The format: one very unfair go-kart race
“Max vs 100” wasn’t a race so much as a gauntlet. Red Bull built a wild custom Silverstone track just to cram 101 karts onto it at once, and — because apparently regular racing wasn’t dramatic enough — made it an elimination format. The moment Max passed you, you were out. Done. Go sit with the other eliminated amateurs and watch a four-time world champion casually erase your dreams one apex at a time.
To keep it from turning into a ten-minute massacre, Red Bull gave the challengers a shortcut Max wasn’t allowed to use until halfway through. Cute idea. Didn’t matter. The field itself was a fun mixed bag — streamers, sim racers, random athletes, everyday fans — all in identical karts, all about to learn what “generational talent” actually looks like up close.
Why one guy can do this to 100 people
Here’s the fun part: everybody’s kart was exactly the same. Same engine, same tires, same everything. So the gap between Max and the field wasn’t equipment, it was just him — smoother inputs, better braking, and an almost unfair read on which amateur was about to panic-lift mid-corner. As Max put it beforehand, kind of understating the whole thing: “In go-karts you learn all the basics: starts, defending, overtaking.” Everyone else was learning that live, in real time, while getting lapped by him.
He even admitted the number was a little intimidating going in, joking it “would be quite embarrassing” if the amateurs turned out to be quicker. They did not turn out to be quicker. The broadcast graphic said it best: Max sitting up top marked “LEADER” while a growing pile of very average Tuesday drivers got tagged “OUT” behind him.
A real win, wearing a silly costume
No, this doesn’t count for the championship. But after a season of nonstop “so close, yet again,” beating 100 people on live television is still a real result with his name on top of it, streaming to a huge Disney+ and ESPN audience who probably tuned in for the novelty and left reminded that Max Verstappen might just be one of the most naturally gifted drivers to ever strap into anything with four wheels — go-kart or Grand Prix car alike.
If Red Bull can’t hand him a car that wins actual races before 2027, don’t be shocked if “Max vs 100” becomes a yearly tradition. At this rate, it’s already his most reliable win of the season.
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