Following his retirement in Monaco, Charles Leclerc is testing new brakes in Barcelona. The Ferrari star is taking cues from his teammate Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc is responding to his Monaco setback: In free practice for the 2026 Barcelona-Catalonia Grand Prix, he is replacing his Brembo brakes with components from Carbon Industries—the brakes already used by his Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton. Leclerc then plans to decide which components to continue using.
In Monaco, Leclerc had blamed the Brembo brakes on his Ferrari SF-26 for his retirement from the Grand Prix. Leclerc said: “Three of my four brakes weren’t working. That can’t end well in a Formula 1 car.”
It didn’t go well either: Leclerc crashed into the guardrails in the final third of the race in Monaco while running in third place and retired. Hamilton, on the other hand, secured his second consecutive podium finish with a second-place finish behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli in the Mercedes.
Leclerc was deeply frustrated afterward. “Only the front-left brake was working. The front-right one is only working halfway, and the rear brakes aren’t working at all. It’s all in the data: there was absolutely no deceleration—as if there weren’t any brake calipers installed at all.” That made Monaco a “nightmare” for him, Leclerc said.
Leclerc gets to test, Hamilton sits out
The Ferrari driver benefits in Barcelona from the fact that it is not he who has to cede his cockpit to Ferrari junior Dino Beganovich in the first free practice session, but Hamilton. This allows Leclerc to use the first session to gather impressions of the Carbon Industries brakes.
Such a change in suppliers is nothing unusual in Formula 1: Drivers are always striving to find the best possible components for their driving style—especially when there are multiple manufacturers offering the same product. And Brembo and Carbon Industries have been standard suppliers in the “premier class” of motorsport for years.
What Leclerc expects from his brake test
“I’m not expecting a revolution,” Leclerc said in Barcelona. “But I assume that [the brakes] will be easier to use in certain situations. However, that remains to be seen. The main thing is to gain more confidence in the car. That’s why the first practice session will be very important for me, so that I have the best possible control of the car by the time qualifying comes around. Above all, I need consistency.“
Just like Hamilton, who finished second in both Canada and Monaco. Leclerc commented: ”It’s true: the past two race weekends were tougher than expected. That’s why we’re now heading in the direction Lewis has taken.”
Brembo reacts with incomprehension
Leclerc’s former supplier Brembo, however, expressed “great astonishment and surprise” at his critical comments following Monaco. Making such drastic statements immediately after the race was “premature.” And: “In such cases, you have to look at the telemetry data together with the engineers to determine the exact cause of the accident.”
Leclerc was unfazed by this criticism of his statements. He said: “The matter is clear. I don’t think there’s any doubt about it.”
