Max Verstappen attempted to justify overtake by quoting Ayrton Senna in hilarious admission

In a video alongside motoring journalist and keen Formula 1 fan Chris Harris, Max Verstappen joked that he has indeed used the famous Ayrton Senna quote in the stewards’ office to defend his overtakes.

Senna’s now immortal words, “If you see a gap, and you don’t go for it, you’re no longer a racing driver,” is a quote F1 drivers hear often. This weekend we approach round 14 of the 2025 F1 season, and the sentence has already been flung around plenty, especially after Lando Norris’ attempted overtake on Oscar Piastri at the Canadian Grand Prix. 

It failed, leading to the McLaren driver crashing out of the race, leaving his Australian team-mate to finish fourth, but as fans said: at least he went for the gap.

Verstappen is well known for his strong lunges. This year’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix was especially impressive as he took the lead from Oscar Piastri on the Tamburello chicane in a complex “win it or bin it” move that lined him up for a win that weekend. 

Discussing how he developed this skill with the former Top Gear presenter, the Dutchman talked about his “summer holiday” training with his father, Jos Verstappen.

“I think it’s a combination of things. Naturally, how I grew up, you know, the things that I practiced from when I was a kid with my dad and my friends.

“I mean, even when I was like eight years old, I had my dad in one, like a higher category, so, faster engine basically on the go-kart. I was what, 12 years old? And we would practice race starts, two-lap races, then reset.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Mark Thompson – Getty Images

“One time we start first. One time we start fifth or sixth, and we just kept on moving position on the grid, you know?

“Now my dad, of course he was a bit heavier, so then he took a faster engine, but then that was also good because then he would race us. He would send it into corners, defend, overtake, and like I said, two-lap races.

“So, you do your start, and then you try to fight your way to the front, or sometimes of course you get shuffled back. And we did this so many times, even on our summer holidays. This was our summer holiday practice [laughs].”

Harris then brought up the famous quote from Senna, adding that he believes there’s a truth to the quote.

“Sometimes you can still use that argument into the stewards’ office as well,” he joked before confirming he had in fact used it as an argument.

“Of course,” the four-time champion answered with a laugh when asked if he’d used those words.

Photos from Hungarian GP – Thursday