The Red Bulletin May 2022

At long last, Formula 1 is having its moment in the U.S. Our culture has had a long love affair with motorsports, but F1 has never quite captivated Americans like it has elsewhere in the world. But that’s changing. Whether it’s due to the character-driven success of Drive to Survive on Netflix, the pitched drama of the 2021 season or the arrival of a new grand prix in Miami, legions of new F1 fans are coming out of the woodwork. This issue is full of stories that celebrate and dig into this phenomenon. Our cover story examines the biography and mythology of Max Verstappen—how the Dutch driver spent his life prepping to become an F1 champ. There’s a profile of icon Mario Andretti, who won an F1 title in 1978.…

JUSTIN HYNES “Charting Max Verstappen’s rise from child prodigy to Formula 1 world champion feels like an object lesson in destiny,” says the author of our cover story. “But his exceptional skill is simply the product of insane levels of practice, preparation and pain.” Hynes, who is based not far from London, runs a media consultancy and has written about F1 for The Red Bulletin since 2005. Page 20 ANDREW LAWRENCE “Mario is my favorite racing interview—his name transcends racing and resonates still,” says the South Carolina–based author of our Mario Andretti profile. “He’s sharp, he’s witty. He’s a living legend.” Lawrence, who has covered motorsports for Sports Illustrated, Car & Driver and The Guardian, is host of Ready for the Big Time, a new podcast from The Red Bulletin—available…

Before Derek Jeter and Kobe Bryant popularized the long goodbye, Mario Andretti set the pace. In 1994 he was feted in a season-long Arrivederci Tour—one last lap through IndyCar’s familiar haunts before calling time on an improbable career that spanned five decades and all three major racing series, peaking with the 1978 Formula 1 championship. But soon after climbing out of the car and into quotidian life, Andretti found himself really struggling to adapt to a slower pace. “Here’s the thing,” the 82-year-old racing great explains. “When you’re leading the life that I led from my late teens, we’re talking about the better part of 50 years doing one thing, week in, week out. I dealt with adrenaline for a major part of my life.” Without it, his body went…

Head to the picturesque region of Val Pellice, northern Italy, in early October and you’ll spot them: dozens of the world’s top trail runners clambering up mountainsides with huge trash bags in their hands. They’re taking part in the World Plogging Championships, an eight-hour race that combines speed, altitude and, unusually, litter picking. The word “plogging”—a portmanteau of the Swedish term plocka upp (“to pick up”) and jogging—was coined in 2016 by the sport’s creator, trail runner Erik Ahlström. This isn’t the first time the 62-year-old Swede has led the way. Ahlström has been trail running—and coaching others—for 30 years, since the days when it was still considered a niche sport, and he was the brains behind the Salomon Trail Tour. At the heart of Ahlström’s passion is the experience…

Every picture tells a story, but while this image of Koa Rothman surfing a glorious wave in his native Hawaii has undeniable impact, the greater drama happened off camera. Shortly after the shoot, Californian photographer Ryan Moss broke his back in a jet-ski accident that also destroyed most of his equipment. Which is when the surfing gods stepped in. “With the help of a friend, I was able to recover some images from my memory card,” says Moss, whose efforts earned him a semifinal place in the 2021 “Masterpiece by SanDisk Professional” category of global photography competition Red Bull Illume. “That helped the pain from the injury and surgery hurt a lot less.” ryancmoss.com…

“Shouldering his unforgiving downhill bike, Blake quickly scaled 800 vertical feet of loose hot shale and dropped in for one last sunset line. Carving and slashing down the face, Blake screamed through the frame, accompanied by distant hoots and hollers from Jack…” After four long, sunbaked days shooting near the Arizona-Utah border with his freeriding pals Blake Sommer and Jack Graham in late 2020, this moment of magic was just reward for American action photographer Noah Wetzel. Not to mention a semifinal entry in Red Bull Illume. noahdavidwetzel.com…