Charles Leclerc to copy F1 team-mate Lewis Hamilton after Monaco Grand Prix disaster

Hamilton smiling with grumpy Leclerc edited next to him in white Ferrari kit holding F1 microphone — Photo: © IMAGO

Barcelona Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc to copy Lewis Hamilton after Monaco Grand Prix disaster

Hamilton made the same change a long time ago...

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Thursday 11 June 2026 20:58

F1 star Charles Leclerc has confirmed he will be implementing a change to his Ferrari machinery at this weekend's Barcelona Grand Prix following a disastrous weekend in Monaco last time out.

Leclerc managed to crash twice in front of his home crowd last weekend and blamed the brakes on his SF-26 on both occasions.

After crashing out during a last-ditch attempt to top the timesheets in Q3 on Saturday, the Monegasque driver ended his grand prix upon the restart on Sunday, immediately taking to team radio to complain about an issue with his brakes.

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And his mood only worsened by the time his post-race interview rolled around, with the 28-year-old refusing to take responsibility for the crash as he told Sky F1 cameras: "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."

Leclerc went on to admit that whilst Hamilton has thrived across the past two race weekends, he has suffered 'an absolute nightmare' in Montreal and Monaco thanks to cold tyre temperatures and inconsistency.

After labelling his brake situation as 'borderline dangerous', Leclerc then confirmed that he would move to use the same brake setup as Hamilton from Barcelona onwards, adding: "We do have the solution and I will go into Lewis’ direction from next race onwards, and that will solve the issues I deal with. Maybe Lewis’ configuration has other issues, but I just need consistency at that point, and that’s it."

Leclerc brake complaints trigger Brembo response

Following Leclerc's criticism in Monaco, Ferrari brake supplier Brembo reacted with a public statement suggesting his assessment of the situation was 'premature' despite him not naming them.

The statement read: "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.

"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."

Leclerc adopting Hamilton brake setup for Barcelona GP

Off the back of his complaints, Leclerc is set to follow suit and switch to products from Carbone Industries [CI], the same ones used by Hamilton.

Brembo remains a technical supplier to the Scuderia meaning both drivers will continue to use the Italian manufacturers’ calipers, master cylinders, brake clutches and dampers, but will now use discs and pads from CI.

Hamilton made the switch from Brembo for his discs and pad supply at the Japanese GP and after the 41-year-old's P2 finish in Monaco, he is now second in the drivers' championship while Leclerc languishes down in fourth.

It seems Ferrari's golden boy is desperate to level the playing field with Hamilton and help the Scuderia fight for the constructors' title which slips away more each weekend as Mercedes prosper.

Tune into the Barcelona-Catalunya GP to find out if the change makes a difference to his form.

Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

View full biography

F1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Charles Leclerc Monaco Grand Prix Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya