Ferrari’s brake suppliers Brembo have expressed “surprise” at Charles Leclerc’s criticism of their parts after he described his car as “borderline dangerous” following his Monaco Grand Prix crash on Sunday.
Leclerc was left furious after crashing out of his home race during a rolling restart following a safety-car period, at which point he had been on course to finish third.
The Monegasque had also crashed in qualifying a day earlier, and after both incidents suggested that the car parts rather than his driving was the cause.
His struggles at his home race, where he is something of a specialist and has claimed three pole positions, followed a disappointing weekend at the previous round in Canada where he qualified eighth and finished fourth – clearly behind his team-mate Lewis Hamilton in both instances.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after Sunday’s race, Leclerc said: “I don’t know how much I can go into the detail. It’s extremely frustrating. I’ve always been very honest, and no matter how many mistakes I do, I would hate to look at myself in the mirror and see myself finding excuses when I do a mistake.
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Leclerc was left exasperated after crashing his Ferrari into the wall at his home race in Monaco
“That’s why I’m always bluntly honest whenever I’m in front of cameras, but I’m not going to take any of it [responsibility for the crash] today.
“It’s not even braking. I touch the brakes and there’s just something with those brakes that… on the front brakes, it just broke a lot more than what I thought, and in the rear brakes, it had no deceleration at all. It was like I had no rear brakes at all.
“That’s what I’m dealing with since two races now. We’ve had some differences of brakes between cars, but I don’t think it’s been a disadvantage for me at all, but here and in Montreal with cold tyre temperatures, the inconsistency and tyres being more sensitive because you are on the limit, have just been an absolute nightmare.
“And I’m weighing my words. I don’t have much words today. I look like an idiot. And when you look like an idiot for a mistake of yours, it’s fine, but it’s borderline dangerous.”
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Highlights from the Monaco Grand Prix
Leclerc said on Saturday that he and the team had a solution that should solve the issue for this weekend’s next round in Barcelona, and confirmed on Sunday that would mean moving to the same brake configuration as Hamilton, who has scored successive second-place finishes.
“We do have the solution, and I will go into Lewis’ direction from the next race onwards and that will solve the issues I deal with,” Leclerc added.
“Maybe Lewis’ configuration has other issues, but I just need consistency at that point, and that’s it.”
Supplier accuses Leclerc of drawing ‘premature’ conclusion
Leclerc’s comments prompted a swift response from Brembo, with the brake supplier releasing a statement on Sunday evening accusing the driver of coming to “premature” technical conclusions.
The statement said: “Brembo Group is really surprised by the statements made by Charles Leclerc after F1’s Monaco Grand Prix.
“The partnership between Brembo and Scuderia Ferrari has continued for more than 50 years and also extends to other brands within the group, including AP Racing clutches and Ohlins dampers, confirming the strength and breadth of this long-standing collaboration.
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Kimi Antonelli takes a stunning Monaco pole as Leclerc tagged the barrier, with Max Verstappen second and Lewis Hamilton third
“At present, the company does not know the causes of the issues experienced by Charles Leclerc and therefore considers it premature to draw definitive technical conclusions before the available data has been analysed.
“In cases such as this, it is necessary to examine the telemetry data together with the team’s engineers in order to accurately determine the origin of the incident.
“Brembo is a benchmark in F1 and is present on every car on the grid through its braking technologies. Over the years, F1 teams have continued to choose Brembo solutions, recognising their reliability, innovation and world-class performance.
“The group will continue to invest in innovation, reliability and performance, while continuing its collaboration with Scuderia Ferrari and all other F1 teams.”
Formula 1 heads straight to Spain for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix with live coverage on Sky Sports F1 from this Friday. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
