“I don’t know what the car’s going to do every time I brake”: Leclerc’s race radio

Persistent braking problems ended Charles Leclerc’s hopes of finishing on the podium in the first race of 2023.

The Ferrari driver started second but slipped back to fifth at one stage as he grappled with a 100C different in temperature between his front brake discs.

Team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr briefly reported similar problems during his first stint, but wasn’t affected by them as seriously as Leclerc was.

By the end of the race, Leclerc had adjusted to the problem well enough that he was able to pass George Russell for fourth place. The Mercedes driver had problems of his own due to his power unit overheating.

But at one point Leclerc’s problems grew so severe he warned his team the car’s handling was “dangerous”.

Leclerc’s 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix radio messages

The Ferrari driver was already having difficulty with his brakes when Russell overtook him soon after the start of Saturday’s race. This is a selection of his exchanges with race engineer Xavier Marcos Padros, omitting repetitive messages such as gaps to other drivers and their lap times:

Lap: 2/57 LEC: 1’36.862
Marcos Padros	DRS enabled.
Marcos Padros	Russell behind with DRS.
Marcos Padros	Russell DRS.
Lap: 3/57 LEC: 1’38.062
Marcos Padros	Russell DRS. Gap to him 0.8.
Marcos Padros	And Russell DRS again.
Marcos Padros	Perez behind with DRS.
Lap: 4/57 LEC: 1’37.752
Marcos Padros	Perez DRS
Leclerc	Yeah, it’s okay.
Marcos Padros	Copy.

Leclerc made few comments about his braking problem during the first stint. It appears he suspected the problem lay with his tyres. On lap seven he locked up at turn 10, ran wide and Perez pounced, taking third place from him.

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Lap: 5/57 LEC: 1’38.131
Marcos Padros	So behind we have Perez with DRS and also Sainz with DRS behind Perez.
Leclerc	Track limits, Russell.
Marcos Padros	Copy on track limits for Russell.
Leclerc	Really weird the balance, really oversteering.
Marcos Padros	Understood.
Lap: 6/57 LEC: 1’37.782
Marcos Padros	And switch position. Yellow.
Leclerc	Track limits for Russell.
Lap: 7/57 LEC: 1’38.957
Marcos Padros	And first strike for track limits, turn ten. And SOC [state of charge] six when you can.
Lap: 8/57 LEC: 1’38.136
Marcos Padros	Overall, good job on tyre management.

Having put Leclerc on soft tyres at the start, Ferrari planned to switch him on to the hard tyres early on. Despite Sainz passing him on lap 11, Ferrari stuck to their plan to pit Leclerc first.

Lap: 9/57 LEC: 1’37.844
Marcos Padros	And Charles at the moment we are thinking plan A, plan A. And tyre phase update when you can.
Lap: 10/57 LEC: 1’37.884
Marcos Padros	And we have wind phase one, low intensity. And flap update when you can.
Leclerc	I’m okay.
Marcos Padros	At the moment we have a single yellow turn four.
Lap: 11/57 LEC: 1’41.737
Marcos Padros	Track is clear turn four
Leclerc	Copy.
Marcos Padros	Confirm plan A. And box now box.
Leclerc	Copy, box.

As he came in Leclerc told his team he felt the problem lay with his tyres.

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Lap: 12/57 LEC: 1’57.471
Marcos Padros	And no warm up on the hards.
Leclerc	Copy. Something felt very off on this set. The fronts were locking like crazy.
Marcos Padros	Copy, understood.

But once out on track with a new set of hard rubber, Leclerc realised the problem lay elsewhere. At this point the team spotted one brake was significantly hotter than the other – a different of 100C.

Lap: 13/57 LEC: 1’36.432
Marcos Padros	So Perez and Hamilton just pitted now for new hard.
Marcos Padros	And good job with the tyres, continue like this.
Marcos Padros	So we have a temperature imbalance in higher front left.
Leclerc	It’s an imbalance?
Lap: 14/57 LEC: 1’36.756
Marcos Padros	Yes that’s correct. Higher front-left. And Norris behind just pitted for new hard.
Marcos Padros	And Sainz just pitted for new hard, he’s in the pits now.
Marcos Padros	Close pit exit to Sainz.
Lap: 15/57 LEC: 1’36.813
Leclerc	How much is the imbalance?
Marcos Padros	Around 100 degrees. And you are doing a good job on tyres.

By lap 17 Sainz had passed him again and Leclerc was down in fifth. While the other Ferrari got stuck into Russell and took third, Leclerc was increasingly worried about his brakes.

Lap: 17/57 LEC: 1’37.302
Marcos Padros	‘Russell’s doing quite a lot of lift-off for engine temps.
Leclerc	Guys, it’s really going to the right when I’m braking.
Marcos Padros	Okay, we’re checking.
Leclerc	Like this I cannot fight. It’s becoming dangerous.
Lap: 18/57 LEC: 1’37.438
Leclerc	Do I need to do some brake management to finish the race or am I okay continuing like this and I just have to manage the front locks?
Marcos Padros	At the moment continue like this. Manage front locking. And we can see the imbalance and the pulling and the braking, confirm we can see it on data.

Marcos Padros suggested settings changes to address the problem.

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Lap: 20/57 LEC: 1’36.794
Marcos Padros	And we need secondary KC position five, KC position five.
Lap: 21/57 LEC: 1’36.977
Marcos Padros	So stable, if anything, slightly getting better. Russell 36.8. Norris 36.6.
Lap: 23/57 LEC: 1’36.987
Marcos Padros	And you are doing a good job on tyres and also managing the brakes. Good job. Russell 37.0. Norris Behind 36 seven.
Lap: 26/57 LEC: 1’36.810
Marcos Padros	And tyre phase updated when you can.

Leclerc, clearly concerned, kept pushing Marcos Padros for more feedback.

Lap: 27/57 LEC: 1’36.831
Leclerc	Update me on the brakes please.
Marcos Padros	So the situation is the same as before. I know you are doing a good job managing the issue.
Marcos Padros	Information: Tyre life is longer than expected.
Lap: 29/57 LEC: 1’36.963
Marcos Padros	Update on the brakes, everything stable at the moment.
Lap: 30/57 LEC: 1’37.158
Marcos Padros	And brake balance minus one, suggestion.
Leclerc	Ah, it’s all over the place.
Marcos Padros	Yeah Charles we can see it. So overall you are doing a good job managing the issue. And flap update when you can.
Leclerc	Okay.
Marcos Padros	Copy. And brake temperature and balance at the front is getting better.
Lap: 31/57 LEC: 1’37.031
Leclerc	Well it still feels shit.
Marcos Padros	Okay, copy.

While Ferrari’s data indicated the brakes were improving, the feeling Leclerc had in the car remained poor.

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Lap: 32/57 LEC: 1’36.941
Marcos Padros	And how many laps you can do at this pace. How many more laps?
Leclerc	Five.
Lap: 33/57 LEC: 1’36.741
Marcos Padros	And try less braking into 13 and carry more speed. That’s a suggestion. Turn 13.
Leclerc	I think we can forget about driving now. It’s fucking pulling everywhere. I don’t know what the car’s going to do every time I brake.
Lap: 34/57 LEC: 1’39.614
Marcos Padros	Okay. Copy that.
Marcos Padros	And switch position black. And flap update when you can.
Leclerc	Okay.
Marcos Padros	Copy and box now box.
Leclerc	Box.
Lap: 37/57 LEC: 1’34.897
Marcos Padros	And brake situation is still stable.

The team continued making tweaks to his car’s setting in an effort to improve Leclerc’s handling.

Lap: 38/57 LEC: 1’34.783
Marcos Padros	And brake shape plus one, suggestion.
Lap: 39/57 LEC: 1’35.087
Marcos Padros	And less toggle for turn one, suggestion. Russell 35.5.
Leclerc	What?
Marcos Padros	Less toggle turn one, suggestion.
Marcos Padros	And easy on traction out of turn four please.
Marcos Padros	And we need secondary KC position three. Secondary KC position three.
Lap: 40/57 LEC: 1’34.859
Marcos Padros	As a reference Sainz lap time 34.7 his last time.
Marcos Padros	And brakes still stable overall. Good job managing it.
Lap: 43/57 LEC: 1’35.192
Marcos Padros	And 15 laps to go, one-five. And SOC 6 available.

Russell’s increasingly dire power unit problems dropped him into Leclerc’s clutches. But as the Mercedes grew larger ahead of him Leclerc was concerned overtaking him might prove difficult given his braking problem.

He received a gift on lap 46, however, when Russell skidded wide at turn 10, opening the door for Leclerc to regain fourth place.

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Lap: 45/57 LEC: 1’35.220
Leclerc	Ah, it’s going to be difficult, the brakes are pulling too much.
Lap: 46/57 LEC: 1’35.058
Marcos Padros	Good job. Russell behind, DRS. And brake balance minus one for turn one, suggestion.
Lap: 48/57 LEC: 1’35.308
Marcos Padros	And 10 laps to go, 10 laps.
Lap: 49/57 LEC: 1’35.302
Marcos Padros	And brake balance minus one, suggestion.

Leclerc was able to manage the problem the rest of the way home. After he took the chequered flag, Marcos Padros began to explain the nature of the problem to him, but team principal Frederic Vasseur didn’t want any more details being overheard by their rivals.

Lap: 50/57 LEC: 1’35.383
Marcos Padros	For reference Sainz lap time 35.4.
Lap: 51/57 LEC: 1’35.418
Marcos Padros	And seven laps to go. And brake balance plus one only for turn four.
Lap: 56/57 LEC: 1’35.924
Marcos Padros	Brake situation still stable. Sainz lap time 35.4
Leclerc	It feels shit, right.
Marcos Padros	Yeah, still same issue.
Lap: 57/57 LEC: 1’36.324
Marcos Padros	And last lap.
Marcos Padros	And P4. Good job managing the issue. Mode slow. And charge button off, please.
Leclerc	So what happened?
Marcos Padros	So we could see the imbalance between front left and right, and then we could see the pulling under braking.
Vasseur	We will explain later.

2024 Bahrain Grand Prix

• Tsunoda accepts he got “a bit heated” in team orders dispute with Ricciardo
• “We’re fighting with one arm behind our back”: Hamilton and Russell’s race radio
• Red Bull say RB20 draws inspiration from rivals in less obvious areas
• All cars finish two consecutive F1 races for first time ever
• “I don’t know what the car’s going to do every time I brake”: Leclerc’s race radio

Browse all 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix articles