Albon explains brake fire incident after FP2
Alexander Albon says a lꦰate call to the weighbridge triggered a tricky moment with a brake fire after Friday practice had finished but had quick-thinking Ferrari mechanics to thank for avoiding a bigger problem.
The Toro Rosso driver came into pﷺit lane at the end ꦺof FP2 practicing a Virtual Safety Car situation, attempting to keep his brake and tyre temperatures up to mimic a race situation, but as he headed into the pits he was given a late order to have his car weighed by FIA officials.
Alexander Albon says a late call to the weighbridge triggered a tricky🦄 moment with a brake fire after Friday practice had finished but had quick-thinking Ferrari mechanics to thank for avoiding a bigger problem.
Th𒊎e Toro Rosso driver came into pit lane at the end of FP2 practicing a Virtual Safety Car situation, attempting to keep hisꦆ brake and tyre temperatures up to mimic a race situation, but as he headed into the pits he was given a late order to have his car weighed by FIA officials.
With the FIA weiܫghbridge situated at the pit entry, Albon quickly❀ dived in but with no time to cool off his brakes a small fire ignited in his front-left wheel.
Fortunately for Albon, Ferrari mechanics were on hand after Sebastian Vettel needed wheeling back to the weighbridge having initially missed the weighbridge also because of a late call. With Albon’s brake fire sparking up right next to Vettel’s car the Ferrari mechanics used their cooling fans to ꦿcontr♛ol the fire before Toro Rosso mechanics could reach their driver.
“I just got call💯ed to the weighbridge. We just had the Virtual Safety Car run before that, so I was kind of treating it like a race, keeping my brakes really hot for if we were going to go green,😼” Albon explained.
“I wanted 💜to push the pit entry𒊎 to get more experience, because it’s not easy here with that left and braking into the pit lane.
“T🌺hat b𓃲it I did fine, but then I got called to the scales and my brakes were a little bit hot already, so that didn’t do us any favours.
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Having avoided any lasting damage, Albon believes he can target Q3 in qualifying after ending Friday practice 12th fastest, once again ahead of experienced teammate Daniil Kvyat who struﷺggled with an power unit issue, and within two-tenths of the top 10.
“I think it’s been reachable for us in Melbo🔥urne and Bahrain, and I think we can do it again in China,” he said. “Just a couple of things both times.
“It’s always tenths that we’ve been fighting. I think𒁃 looking at the people around us we should be okay. It should be achievabl𒉰e.”
