Max Verstappen has admitted he is unsure what to expect from his return to karting, as the Red Bull driver prepares to take on 100 fellow karters in an event organised by his current team.
Verstappen has perhaps garnered more publicity from his racing side hustles this year, rather than his Formula 1 exploits, which have so far been winless.
F1’s new regulations and the subsequent struggles the Milton Keynes-based squad has had with its debut in-house engine – built with Ford – have left the four-time World Champion on the periphery of on the podium, or on the lower two steps.
Verstappen has been competing in in endurances races as well this season, including the 24 Hours of Nurburgring in a Red Bull-backed Mercedes AMG.
The live event at Silverstone, where he will start in 101st place and attempt to pass every kart ahead of him in 30 laps, is the latest extracarricular activity.
And the 28-year-old Dutchman, who last competed in a “proper go-kart” in 2016, told ESPN he awaits a chaotic race despite reassurances over the track layout.
“A hundred is a lot, you know, but I think how they’ve set up the track from what they’ve shown me, I think it will be good,” Verstappen said. “But it’s still going to be hectic, for sure.”
Max Verstappen hopeful ‘to be faster than most’
Asked how he plans to approach the race itself, Verstappen said his focus will first be on reading the level of competition around him.
“I think I first need to understand and see the level between drivers,” he said. “I also don’t like to overthink the situation. I just need to go with the flow and try to make the best of it.”
Despite the uncertainty, Verstappen said he is backing his karting pedigree to carry him through the field.
“I’m hoping that with my background, I should be faster than most. I hope!” he said. “I mean, it would be quite embarrassing if they’re faster than me!”
Verstappen karted competitively from age four until he was fifteen, but says the physical toll of returning to a kart now feels markedly different from when he was racing GT machinery.
“I don’t miss it,” he said. “Also, with go-karting, because I’ve done it from when I was four years old until like 15, to go back now, your ribs are hurting. It’s very different in that sense. You can get arm pump and stuff in a shifter [kart], and I just feel like I enjoy more just being on a big track with a GT car.”
In Red Bull’s official preview, Verstappen described the race as a chance to revisit his roots in the sport.
“I have driven in karts from the ages of four to fifteen years old, so this is a nice opportunity to go back to basics and revisit how I got into the sport in the first place,” he said.
He added that data gathered from qualifying sessions would help him adjust quickly once on track.
“When we get to the track, it will be about learning the circuit itself and getting comfortable with the grip of the kart,” Verstappen said. “I think I should quite naturally get back into things but it is good to know I have help from the data simulations that we managed to get from the qualifying sessions.”
Overtaking 100 karts will ‘require patience’
Verstappen said he expects a highly competitive field and admitted the scale of the event will make it a demanding trial of patience.
“I know some of them will be very fast and I think everyone there will be quite competitive, so it is going to be quite interesting and very hectic to see the carnage unfold in front of me,” he said. “Trying to race 100 people will be very tough and will require patience to get through the field as quickly as possible.”
The four-time world champion said he was looking forward to an event only his current team would put together.
“I’m looking forward to it and this is, of course, something only Red Bull would do,” Verstappen said. “I haven’t driven in go karting in quite a few years so it will be fun to go back and see how I go, but there are a lot of people to overtake so let’s see!”
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