“My front disk was on fire,” Sergio Perez reveals problem that cost him a P5 finish in Monza

Sergio Perez qualified fourth for the Italian Grand Prix but was forced to drop down on the grid because of taking penalties ahead of the race.

The Mexican started the race from P13 with the hope of tearing through the grid pretty easily. However, a right front disk problem on his RB18 meant that he was not able to make progress at a brisk pace.

During the early stages of the Italian Grand Prix, Sergio Perez’s car was emitting a lot of smoke that made the F1 pundits question whether he would be able to finish the race.

Thankfully for him, the problem with his car did not escalate, but his race pace was compromised. The Red Bull pit wall was closely assessing his progress and after seeing him struggle, the team asked him to come into the pit and join the race from the back end of the grid.

While talking about his problems, Perez said, “Basically my front-right disc was on fire, then we spent a few laps with the front right disc on fire, and then I had to bring it [the brake temperature] back down. So when I was on the hard [tyre], I had to massively manage the brakes to make sure that I could bring them back down.“

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Sergio Perez wanted to finish his race ahead of Lewis Hamilton

The Italian Grand Prix was chosen by many teams as the ideal venue for taking their share of grid penalties and alongside Sergio Perez, Lewis Hamilton was also the one who took a grid penalty for the race.

Moreover, the Brit’s penalty was more severe as he was sent to the back of the grid. He had no option but to start from P19. While Perez was struggling early on in the race, Hamilton showed impressive pace at the back by which he was able to get up to P5 by the closing stages of the Italian GP.

However, after having faced a few early issues, Sergio Perez was also ultimately able to match the speed of the front runners. He missed out on a P5 finish when Daniel Ricciardo triggered the safety car.

Under the safety car, Sergio Perez finished P6 behind Lewis Hamilton. He felt he could have got the better of the Briton had the race not been completed under a safety car.

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