Perez: There was a risk of retirement due to overheating of the brakes

Max Verstappen won the Italian Grand Prix and took the podium at Monza for the first time in his career. Six stages before the end of the season, the Red Bull Racing driver’s lead in the individual standings over closest pursuer Charles Leclerc has grown to 116 points. His teammate Sergio Perez set the best lap of the race and finished sixth.

Max Verstappen (1st): “In the first lap I should have been careful. I had a good start, cleared the first chicane, but the most important thing was avoiding any problems. Then I quickly climbed first to third and then to second. I was driving behind Charles Leclerc and saw that my car’s tires didn’t deteriorate that much.

Overall, this weekend, especially today, the car had a good pace on all rubber compounds and in the race we were faster than everyone else. We have to try to perform perfectly in all races of the season – this time we were quite good.”

Sergio Perez (6th): “My race was ruined early on when the front right disc literally caught fire from severe overheating, so it was decided to go into the pits.

In the first laps on the Hard compound I didn’t get the tires warm, so the car skids and I lost a lot of time. I had to work very carefully with the brakes not to lose them – there was a risk that I would stop altogether.

Closer to the finish I drove back into the pits – we thought I could return the position by overtaking Lewis Hamilton thanks to the soft tires, but the safety car didn’t give such a chance. My tires were better than Lewis’s, so I should have taken the lead at the restart, but I didn’t get that chance.

Not the best weekend for me – there’s a lot to do, and tomorrow I’ll be working on the simulator to get the rhythm back.