Leclerc set to trial Hamilton’s brake setup after Monaco nightmare

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc is set to take a significant technical step in a bid to reset his season, with reports indicating the Monegasque will switch brake supplier configurations for this weekend’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix following his dramatic crash in Monaco.

The move comes just days after Leclerc’s emotional home race ended in disaster, when he veered into the barriers at the final corner while running in a strong third position with just 14 laps remaining.

What initially appeared to be a driver error quickly turned into a deeper technical investigation inside Ferrari, with Leclerc revealing after the race that a brake failure had left him unable to properly slow the car on approach to the corner.

Monaco frustration and technical fallout

Visibly frustrated in the heat of the moment, Leclerc refused to shoulder responsibility for the incident, instead pointing to a serious system malfunction on his SF-26.

"I'm not even going to take the blame," he told his race engineer over the radio.

“Out of the four brakes, I had three brakes not working. So in a Formula 1 car, it's never a good thing,” he later explained.

"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."

Leclerc later described the experience as a “nightmare”, with Ferrari engineers immediately working to identify a solution ahead of the Spanish round.

That solution now appears to involve a change in brake philosophy, aligning Leclerc more closely with the specification used by teammate Lewis Hamilton.

A shift toward Hamilton’s technical direction

Hamilton has been running a different braking package this season, using Carbon Industrie discs and pads instead of the Brembo system fitted to Leclerc’s car.

While both configurations are considered competitive, the difference often comes down to driver preference, braking feel, and thermal behaviour under pressure.

• Read also: Hamilton in no doubt Ferrari is ‘going to get there’

For Barcelona, Leclerc will trial the Carbon Industrie specification during FP1, marking his first run with the alternative setup in a competitive weekend environment. A final decision will then be made on whether to retain the change for the remainder of the Grand Prix.

Ferrari insiders are treating the test as a controlled evaluation rather than a permanent switch, but the timing highlights the urgency within the team to restore confidence after a difficult run of form.

Leclerc has not scored a podium since the Japanese Grand Prix in March, a stretch that has seen him slip to fourth in the drivers’ standings.

Meanwhile, Hamilton has capitalised on a rejuvenated run of form, securing consecutive runner-up finishes and edging ahead in the championship fight.

As Ferrari heads into Barcelona, all eyes will be on whether Leclerc’s switch in braking direction can help.

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