F1's current grid has been urged to stage its own version of Max Verstappen's 'Max vs 100' karting event, but without the cameras rolling.
Verstappen took part in the challenge last week at a made-for-the-event kart track at Silverstone, taking on 100 competitors who ranged from content creators to journalists and presenters.
Starting from P101, the four-time F1 champion was given 30 laps to work his way to the front. Remarkably, Verstappen needed just 14 and 35 minutes to get the job done.
Former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya, speaking on his own show, MontoyAS, was full of praise for the concept behind the event.
"It was really, really cool, both the event itself and the idea behind it," he said.
"Red Bull normally does things in the mountains, in the snow, and on descents. People start at the back and have to overtake as many others as possible. Sometimes they do that with downhill or endurance. It is really, really cool."
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A bigger opportunity
Verstappen had little difficulty dealing with a field that was by no means full of experienced karters, but Montoya argued that was precisely the point of putting the Dutchman up against such a varied group.
"It is interesting to see how a driver handles that," he said. "They can drive fast, of course, but they can't just drive everyone off the track."
Verstappen himself joked after the event that it might be time for a 'Max vs 200'. Montoya, though, sees an even bigger opportunity in gathering the entire current F1 grid for a kart race of their own.
"Personally, I think that would be incredibly fun to see," said the former Williams and McLaren driver.
"It would be very interesting to put all the current drivers in a rental kart and see who would win.
"Just turn off the cameras and don't record anything at all. If you then give them the karts, they would have a huge amount of fun.
"That would be really cool. It would be really great for the drivers. It would be really good for them."
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