Why Leclerc will match Hamilton’s braking set-up

As soon as Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari sustained the languid, inglorious slide into the wall at Antony Noghes in the latter stages of last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix, the Monegasque was sure that his brakes were to blame.

Leclerc could have easily blamed the track breaking up, as a relaid patch of tarmac between the final two corners began to spurt stones onto the course, but he was keen to assert that the brakes were the main culprit in failing to deliver the correct stopping power ahead of the safety car restart. 

“Out of the four brakes, I had three brakes not working,” Leclerc explained after the Monaco Grand Prix. “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 that on data there’s no deceleration at all. It’s like the calipers were not even in the car.”

In the wake of his crash, Leclerc stated that he’d switch to a set-up that his team-mate Lewis Hamilton had gravitated towards. Brembo, Ferrari’s brake supplier and long-time partner, unwittingly filled in the rest of the gaps.

In a perfect demonstration of the Streisand Effect, Brembo issued a statement declaring its distaste for Leclerc’s comments. Had it stayed quiet, one might have assumed that a behind-the-curtain set-up problem was to blame; instead, the Italian brand’s comments had actually shed some light on the scenario. 

This has its roots in a decision made over the Japan weekend. Hamilton, who had used Carbone Industrie brake discs during his time at Mercedes, had been keen to make the switch “a long time ago”. 

“I look at every element of what we have and look to see how we can make it better, ultimately it’s down to driver preference and feel,” said Hamilton. “Both of us tested the option around racing and Charles didn’t want it in the end, he chose the one he’s on and now he’s changed his mind.

“It doesn’t make any difference to me, that’s again not a single factor that’s made the difference as I said, and my goal is to put input that elevates the whole team and Charles is a part of that.”

As Hamilton stated, it’s largely a question of preference and comfort: one driver might want a more linear braking feel, while another may want the peak in braking performance to come as soon as they put their foot on the pedal. Leclerc indeed tested the Carbone Industrie discs at Suzuka, but decided to stick with the Brembo discs. Both drivers use Brembo pads and calipers.

In Leclerc’s case, the fact that the rear brakes went cold was the final straw. He noted that he faced a similar issue in Montreal, exacerbated by the cold track conditions, and the temperature splits between the front and rear of the car may have been a contributing factor in his spin out of Turn 14. 

Corner-to-corner consistency has also been a significant issue, which had got Leclerc’s dander up throughout the Monaco weekend.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images

“I think it’s clear now that we are probably going to change a little bit the configuration. How much it will change, I still have to test it and to see how much it will change. I don’t expect a revolution,” Leclerc explained ahead of the Barcelona weekend, careful not to divulge too much.

“In some particular cases, I expect it to be easier to manage. I will see tomorrow and see how it goes.

“It was a decision that we made as a team to have the cars split. The last two weekends have been more difficult than what I initially anticipated. Now we’re going in the direction of Lewis.”

Ferrari, meanwhile, has a raft of updates planned for the Barcelona Grand Prix, although it must be careful to avoid any data skew from the additional variable on Leclerc’s car.

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– The Autosport.com Team