![Red Bull F1 explains the cause of the Sergio Perez brake fire / Italian Grand Prix[F1-Gate.com]](https://i0.wp.com/f1-gate.com/media/img2022/20220916-sergio-perez.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1 "Red Bull F1 explains the cause of the Sergio Perez brake fire / Italian Grand Prix[F1-Gate.com]")
Sergio Perez started from 13th place after taking a penalty on the grid for an engine change and made steady progress across the field before pitting for hard tires.
However, when he got back to the pits, the brakes started to catch fire and the smoke went out for one full revolution until the airflow through the duct put out the fire.
Sergio Pérez reacted despite switching to a two-stop strategy, cutting the field to score points with a sixth place finish.
“Czech, on the first lap he had a big block and consequently a big vibration,” Horner said of Sergio Perez’s problems at the start of the 53-lap event.
“He was starting to enter our danger zone by the breaking point, which is why we pitted him for the hard tires.”
“It looked like debris had gotten into the duct and the right front was smoking a lot. Of course it took a while to burn on the next few laps and then the temperature came back under control.”
The race ended behind the safety car after Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren crashed.
Chrislian Horner believes Sergio Perez would have won the battle with Lewis Hamilton and would have finished in the top five had it not been for the neutralization of the safety car.
“He could have gone on and his pace was great,” Horner added.
“I think he was taking Lewis for the rest of the laps.”
