Four-time Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen went back to his karting roots in emphatic style, winning a mass-start endurance race at Silverstone that is billed as the biggest go-kart event anywhere in the world.
Lined up dead last on a 101-kart grid made up of fellow Red Bull athletes and online creators, the 28-year-old Dutchman needed just two minutes to hack his way up to 37th, describing the early scrapes over team radio as "carnage". By lap 14 — roughly 35 minutes into the 70-lap contest — he had cleared every rival and hit the front.
Organizers spiced up the closing stages with a bonus speed lap announced with 54 minutes still to run, which threw shortcuts open to the whole field. Verstappen said afterwards that climbing back into a kart felt like returning to basics and recalled his early racing days, praising the circuit's design and the live data streamed to him over the radio.