McLaren breaks record for fastest pit stop, Verstappen passes Vettel

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9 October 2023 at 14:28
Last update 9 October 2023 at 14:49
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  • Sam Godber

During the Qatar Grand Prix weekend, McLaren broke a record held by Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing. Still, Verstappen retains plenty of spots in the record books, as the Dutchman broke yet another record held by Sebastian Vettel. Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez also set a record in Qatar, but unfortunately for the Mexican, it was in negative fashion.

McLaren sets fastest ever F1 pit stop in Qatar

McLaren managed to snatch an F1 record from Red Bull in Qatar by setting the fastest pit stop ever. The British constructor changed Lando Norris' tyres in just 1.80 seconds, two hundredths faster than the previous record. Indeed, at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, Red Bull changed Verstappen's tyres in 1.82 seconds.

Vettel overtaken again by Verstappen

Verstappen also enters the record books once again after the Qatar Grand Prix. The Dutchman led the race for a long time in Qatar and as a result has now led more laps than previous record holder Vettel in a single season. Verstappen has now led 769 laps in 2023 and the German led 739 laps in 2011. The Dutchman is also far ahead of Vettel in terms of percentage, with 75 per cent versus 65 per cent.

Perez negative in record books

Perez has further 'improved' his painful statistic after the weekend in Qatar. The Mexican has a deficit of no less than 209 points on his teammate after the Grand Prix weekend, which is the biggest deficit ever since the new points system was introduced in 2010. However, Perez also held this record prior to the weekend in Qatar: at the end of 2021, the Mexican was 205.5 points behind Verstappen. Unfortunately for Perez, he further tightened his own record last weekend.