Red Bull Racing F1 team principal Christian Horner has revealed what caused Sergio Perez’s brakes to spectacularly smoke and catch fire during the early stages of the Italian Grand Prix.
Sergio Perez started from 13th following being given a grid penalty for an engine change and made steady progress through the field before pitting for the hard tyres.
However, when he pitted, the brakes started to catch fire and smoke spewed out for a full lap until the airflow through the duct put out the fire.
Sergio Pérez fought back despite switching to a two-stop strategy, cutting through the field to score points with a sixth-place finish.
“Czech, on the first lap he had a big lockup and as a result a big vibration,” Horner said of Sergio Perez’s problems early in the 53-lap event.
“He was starting to enter our breaking point danger zone, which is why we pitted him for the hard tyres.”
“It looked like some debris had gotten into the duct and the right front was smoking a lot. Naturally it took a little while to burn it off over the next few laps and then the temperature was back under control.”
The race ended behind the safety car following Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren stopped.
Chrislian Horner believes Sergio Perez would have won the battle with Lewis Hamilton and finished in the top five had it not been for the safety car neutralization.
“He might have moved forward and his pace was great,” added Horner.
“I think he caught Lewis for the rest of the laps.”
Category: F1 / red bull / F1 Italian Grand Prix / Sergio Perez
