Charles Leclerc confirms major change after Monaco GP crash

Charles Leclerc has confirmed he will switch to the same brake specification used by Lewis Hamilton from next week’s Spanish Grand Prix following the issues that hampered him in Monaco.

Leclerc appeared on course for another podium finish on home soil when the race resumed after a red flag stoppage.

However, at the restart, the Ferrari driver crashed into the barriers at the final corner and immediately attributed the incident to a brake problem.

Speaking after the race, Leclerc explained that only one of the car’s four brakes was functioning properly, leaving him with little control as he approached the corner.

“Out of the four brakes, I had three brakes not working,” Leclerc told media including RacingNews365.

“In an F1 car, it’s never a good thing. The front left was working well, the front right was half working, and the two rear brakes were not working at all.

“And when I say at all, it’s on the data, there’s no deceleration at all. It’s a little bit of an issue. 

“The only thing I can say is that we have a solution in-house and I’ll go to Lewis’ configuration from the next race onward which hopefully will be a step. 

“It’s been a nightmare.”

Leclerc ‘would have crashed at Turn 1’ if not final corner

Leclerc’s accusation towards his brakes has seen a response from supplier Brembo, which has admitted “surprise” over the comments.

The Monegasque argued that his issues were so severe that he would have found the wall at the following corner, had he managed to round the final turn.

“As long as I was doing consecutive [laps], it was inconsistent but there was none of those problems, at least to that extent,” he said.

“The problem was the safety car. As soon as I did the safety car, three of my four brakes stopped working. I could never switch them on again. 

“Nothing was working anymore. I tried to do many actions in the car to try and help it. The only solution I had was to not brake in the last corner, but I would have crashed into Turn 1.

“There was no way I could have done a lap. There was just no solution, so we’ll look into it. I don’t know if it was a wear issue. It’s often the problem here. I don’t know what it was, but there was a clear issue.”