Monster trucks and F1 cars are in two very different realms of automotive performance, but as a Red Bull racer, which is a brand known and celebrated for its contribution to sports, stunts, and competition in all things extreme, the opportunity for F1 champion Max Verstappen to get behind the wheel of a monster truck was an interesting prospect. The unorthodox race was set in Austria and served as a warm-up for the Austrian Grand Prix, with the venue being the Erzberg Mines, and Verstappen’s opponent being Yuki Tsunoda, the reigning Unserious Race Series champion. Dethroning Tsunoda was the goal.
The trucks were over 10 feet tall and 16 feet long, boasting 500 horsepower and racing around a recreation of Austria’s Red Bull Ring, with Yuki Tsunoda eventually emerging victorious, largely due to Verstappen’s engine misfiring as soon as the race started, and despite Verstappen qualifying in pole position by a margin of 3 seconds before the race. The victory scored Tsunoda and Scuderia AlphaTauri a second consecutive victory after defeating Daniel Ricciardo in a boat race in Miami. Regardless of who won, the whimsical race is a great time to watch and manages to show the skills of two incredible racing drivers, even in cumbersome monster trucks rather than traditional tarmac race cars or exotic cars.
