Sergio Perez says the brake issues Force India encountered in last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix should be “a lesson” for the team, as he reveals there is no measurement made on the part that broke on his VJM09.
Perez had recovered from P16 to a strong eighth when his brakes failed on the final lap of the race. The Mexican confirms it was the left front brake disc that exploded but explains why Force India could not anticipate it.
“The problem is that the way it happened, on the outside [of the disk] and that part we are not measuring,” Perez told reporters ahead of the British Grand Prix.
“Normally, it’s the part that gets the less stress but for some reasons we don’t understand, on that race it got really high up.
“Turn 2 was fine, no indication at all. And then coming into Turn 3, I pressed the pedal and basically the pedal went all the way to the floor so there were no brakes.
“I think this is a lesson for us and we are going to change our measurements for the future. Obviously this track [Silverstone] is very different as it’s one of the lowest on brake energy.
“The next one coming up is probably Monza. We are going to change our measurements to be sure that we also measure the outside of the disks.”
With the battle in the midfield hotting up, Perez adds that Force India, who is currently holding fifth, should not waste any more opportunities to close the gap to fourth-placed Williams.
“It’s a big shame that we didn’t take the points that were in our pocket in Austria on the last lap of the race.
“There were at least four points available there, if not six if we had got [Romain] Grosjean with the penalty -- we were fighting the position with him -- and Williams was out of the points.
“We cannot afford any more of those failures and score as many points as possible and challenge to get them. That’s our target from now for the rest of the year and I think we can beat them.”
Chris Medland's 2016 British Grand Prix preview
Scene at the Austrian Grand Prix
Breakfast with ... Alexander Rossi
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