When gulf between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez was personified with the difference of how the two drivers tackled a compromised pit position
Back during 2023 F1 Brazilian GP, a massive difference between Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen's racing approach was witnessed. The incident took place during the sprint shootout when Perez failed to overtake cars in the pitlane exit, while Verstappen blasted through several of them.
In the sprint shootout session, there was less time to clock a fast lap. Hence, many drivers wanted to get out on the track quickly in SQ3 and finish their lap. However, several cars blocked the pitlane exit by driving slowly. This was not exactly a tactic to hamper other drivers, but rather their own strategy to get out on track at a certain point.
Red Bull's Sergio Perez was stuck behind Alpine's Esteban Ocon and was unable to overtake him in the pitlane exit. There was a radio chat between Checo and his race engineer about overtaking Ocon and how it was not possible.
Right after the conversation, Max Verstappen was seen blasting past both Perez and Ocon from their right-hand side and overtaking both of them. During this, the three-time world champion was forced to dip two of his car's tires into the grass.
However, there was an urgency to get out on the track and finish a lap, which he successfully did. It showed Verstappen's determination and sheer grit to stay ahead in all races and try to win as many of them.
Watch the clip below:
Despite overtaking his teammate and Ocon, Verstappen was unable to clock a lap fast enough for pole position. The top spot was taken by McLaren's Lando Norris in the sprint shootout. However, it was Verstappen who clinched the sprint race win. Meanwhile, Sergio Perez secured P3 in both sprint qualifying and race.
Max Verstappen addressed his audacious pitlane overtake on his teammate at the 2023 Brazilian GP sprint shootout
After Max Verstappen overtook both Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, he explained the reason behind doing so and the pressure he felt of putting a lap on the board on time.
As per Totol Motorsport, the Red Bull star explained the tight qualifying session and the high-risk situation when a driver only has one set of tires to get one qualifying lap. He reasoned that since there was less time in qualifying and several drivers were slow in the pitlane, he decided to overtake them, courtesy of the new FIA rule.
“It was a very tight qualifying. I think, just on my last lap in Sector 1 and Sector 2, just not really on it," Verstappen said.
“Little mistake into Turn 2 lost the rear and in Turn 4 just too slow. So it’s always a bit tough when you have that one tyre set to risk at all because you might get a reward if you risk at all. Today. I think I was just a bit under it. This new rule [at pit exit]. If you’re driving slowly, you have to stay on the left. I wanted to go quick. So I just tried to pass it off,” he added.
After the sprint race in the 2023 F1 Brazilian GP, where Max Verstappen won, he was unstoppable and went on to win Sunday's Grand Prix as well.