F1 News

Leclerc had a tough weekend: 'Difference of 100 degrees in the brakes'

Tough race for Leclerc: 'Difficult finding positives'

3 March at 11:24

Charles Leclerc had a tough weekend in Bahrain. Despite managing to put his car in second place in qualifying, the Monegasque finished fourth after a race with many car problems, over 40 seconds off Max Verstappen. After the race, Leclerc managed to explain what went wrong.

At one point, the difference in temprature at Leclerc's brakes was over 100 degrees celcius, something that bothered him: "It was impossible to drive well. We had big problems with the brakes and we will investigate what happened so it doesn't happen again. This was a big problem. In the first 10 laps, it was impossible. Every lap I braked three or four metres earlier. But the problem got much worse every lap."

So the communication with the team this race was clear: "It felt really bad. And then it stabilised, but in a place completely out of the right window. I believe the team said over the radio that it was more than 100 degrees between right front and left front. And it stayed that way throughout the race. So we were in a very, very bad spot."

Negative weekend for Ferrari

So is there no positive to take away from this weekend? According to the Monegasque, yes: "We took a step forward, but I don't know. I struggle to see the positives at the end of the weekend. When it's time to put it all together, we have a problem. So I am very disappointed with today," said the five-time race winner.