Charles Leclerc revealed that his Bahrain Grand Prix was undermined by a significant temperature discrepancy exceeding 100 degrees between his Ferrari’s front right and left brakes, leading to persistent lock-ups throughout the race.
Leclerc, initially poised to be Max Verstappen’s closest rival, started the race in second place but quickly fell back due to the brake issue.
He described the problem as manifesting itself as early as the first lap, and it took the Monegasque the better part of 15 laps to adapt his driving to the issue.
“It was impossible in the first 15 laps, the issue was getting a lot worse every lap,” Leclerc explained after concluding his first race of the season fourth in the running order.
“I was obviously basing my braking for Turn 9-10 with the previous lap, which obviously fell too late all the time, but the issue was getting a lot worse.
“Every time I would brake three meters earlier, but I would still look up, then at lap 15 or 20, the issue stabilised.
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“The team told me on the radio that it was more than 100 degrees split between from front right and front left, which is huge.
“At that moment, I understood that the best thing I could do was just to bring the car home to the chequered flag.
“Honestly all in all, considering that the issue didn’t get any better throughout the whole race… we started to be more consistent when the issue didn’t worsen and every lap, which was helping me to be more consistent.”
©Ferrari
The Scuderia charger’s plight – one that he had never encountered before – raises questions for Ferrari, as understanding and resolving the cause of the brake issue becomes crucial to ensure Leclerc can compete at his full potential in Saudi Arabia next weekend.
At the end of the day, the five-time Grand Prix winner was surprised to salvage a fourth-place finish, noting his relatively strong pace in the closing stages of the race.
“Considering everything, to finish fourth is a really good effort,” he added. “But I’m very disappointed with the results. I honestly think that second place would have been very possible today.
“I don’t think there’s anything to take out of my race. I’m quite surprised when I was hearing the pace at the end of the race because we were doing relatively good lap times with a car that was feeling completely out of place,” he explained.
“I had to change completely the brake balance, the engine braking to try and counter that front right brake that wasn’t working properly.
“All in all, the pace was better than what I expected with an issue like this. However, to know exactly the real pace is difficult.”
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Leclerc hindered by ‘huge’ brake temperature split in Bahrain GP F1i.com.
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