Sergio Pérez was hit by brake problems in the early stages of the morning session for day two of Formula 1 pre-season testing.
The Red Bull driver completed three laps before he came back into the pits, with the front-right brake catching fire when he was wheeled back into the garage.
Frantic work ensued on both the front axles, with Perez losing at least 30 minutes of track time. The team sent him back out with an hour and a half left of the morning session to check everything over, with him coming back into the pits.
Max Verstappen was quickest on the opening day of testing by 1.1 seconds, followed by Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz.
Verstappen not in action, Perez in for an extended afternoon session
Sergio Perez will account for the extended afternoon session on the second test day in Bahrain after losing a lot of time in the shortened morning session. That means Max Verstappen will not drive this afternoon, which was initially scheduled.
Perez drives extended afternoon session, Verstappen in action Friday
“Checo will drive the rest of Thursday in the RB20 after a shortened morning session,” reads the team’s statement. Therefore, Verstappen will not be in action today. Instead, he will take on the morning or afternoon session on Friday. Which session both drivers will drive on Friday is not yet known.
Perez was plagued by problems in the morning session. The Mexican had problems with an overheated brake, which even briefly caught fire. The session was then halted because Charles Leclerc had driven over a manhole cover, which had become loose after Lewis Hamilton drove over it. For this reason, the afternoon session was extended by an hour.
