The driver who pulled off the biggest climb through the field in 2023 had more than a little luck on his side.
Sergio Perez’s climb from last on the grid to fifth at the chequered flag in the Australian Grand Prix hung on a contentious decision by the race director about the restart order before the field took the chequered flag behind the Safety Car.
While the Red Bull drivers enjoyed a significant advantage when it came to charging through the field, several surprising names from the midfield appear among the drivers who made the best recovery drives of the year.
In total, there were 12 occasions where a driver finished a grand prix 10 places or more above their starting position.
=10. Sergio Perez, Qatar Grand Prix, 10 positions
Perez had an awful weekend in Qatar, failing to reach Q3 in qualifying after taking 13th in Q2. But he didn’t even get to start from there for the grand prix, as parc ferme violations led to a pit lane start. He made it up to 13th in the early laps but that was primarily down to crashes and others pitting during an early safety car period.
When racing resumed he went down the order as Mercedes’ George Russell passed him, then sat behind Zhou Guanyu before eventually overtaking him on lap 15 of 57. However Perez soon earned a five-second penalty for track limits abuse, which he had the option of serving during a pit stop. Once he did that he sat in 12th place, and his progress was stalled by another track limits penalty which he served during his third pit stop. It left him 13th with 13 laps to go.
The last pit stops of Zhou and Alexander Albon meant Perez gained two spots, and despite getting yet another track limits penalty that was applied post-race he climbed two places higher in the final classification due to penalties for others. In total he made one overtake all race that stuck.
=10. Zhou Guanyu, Qatar Grand Prix, 10 positions
Zhou Guanyu was slowest in qualifying but was moved to 19th on the grid due to Perez’s pit lane start and like the Red Bull driver also profited from post-race penalties to finish ninth.
A long opening stint meant Zhou spent more than a third of the green flag laps prior to his first pit stop in fourth place. That trip to the pits dropped him all the way back down to 17th, and he needed to make two more stops due to a one-off rule the FIA introduced for the weekend that limited drivers to 18 laps on each set of…
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