Who’d win a kart race, an F1 driver or a retired Champions League footballer?
Lager brewer and road safety sponsor Heineken has staged a rather special event on the eve of the Italian Grand Prix in order to answer that burning question.
It’s the second in a series of charity events, called Champions of the Grid. Last year, the footballers took on the drivers in a five-a-side football match. That event used a pitch set on the Monza main straight and resulted in a 22-10 win for the footballers. Each goal scored raised €1,000 for a charity providing relief in the aftermath of the 2016 Italian earthquake.
This time round, the charity was Fondazione Ania, an Italian road safety charity. The event raised €25,000.
As with last year, the karting track sat below the grandstands on the main straight at Monza. Each race was a five lap affair, with the footballers getting a half-lap head start.
Representing F1 were Force India’s Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez (thankfully not racing against each other), Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, and ex-driver David Coulthard.
The Champions League Legends team, managed by Sir Jackie Stewart, consisted of Dida, Christian Karembeu, Louis Saha, Michel Salgado, and Francisco Toldo.
You can watch the entire video below. We won’t spoil the result for you, but the footballers won the footballing event…
