Max entertains fans at The Great Run in Budapest: 'Great day'

Published on 01 May 2019 by Bryan van Berlo

May Day, international labour day. You could celebrate it with a parade or a celebration of people power, both of which are both enjoyable and noble ways to mark the occasion. Budapest, though, has other ideas.

For the past seven years the Hungarian capital has used the holiday to celebrate a different kind of power – the very noisy, very fast and very exciting racing kind.

And at the top of the motorsport tree is F1, and this afternoon Max demonstrated the might of a grand prix racing car by blasting our double championship-winning RB7 through the heart of the city to the delight of the thousands of fans who’d turned out for the annual motorsport extravaganza. 

This year’s event, our fifth Great Run, saw a host of motorsport machines take to a specially laid out track in one of the city’s most beautiful districts, a 2-kilometre stretch taking in Erzsébet Square and then running past the amazing neo-classical buildings and the State Opera House on upscale Andrássy Avenue.

With the sun blazing down from clear blue skies, the crowd began to gather from early morning, with the paddock housing the hugely diverse range of vehicles taking part open to the public from 8am. 

It meant that by the time Max jumped into the cockpit of the RB7 for the first of two mid-afternoon runs the atmosphere was electric. And the Dutch ace didn’t disappoint.

“The RB7 is always great fun to drive,” Max said afterwards and he proved his point by pushing the 2011 title winner to the limit on the long run past the Opera House before spinning some donuts for the return run and some tyre-melting donuts opposite the square. 

“It’s been a beautiful sunny day in Budapest for the show run,” Max said. “To make some noise with the RB7 and do some donuts with so many fans around the track was great. They are so passionate about Formula 1. 

“There are so many other athletes out there in a lot of different types of car as well, so it’s cool,” he added. “There were lot of Red Bull athletes out there, too, and it’s always good to catch up. I had a great day, really enjoyed it.”

Finally, with his job done for the day, Max entered the spirit of the day’s other kind of celebration and downed tools to meet and greet fans. A flat-out blast around the city, some smokin’ donuts and some fan adulation to finish with – on labour day, that’s nice work if you can get it.