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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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wish we could see tyre and brake temperatures. Why not? They’d add interest, how badly do we need that! And we’re about to pay £20 for live freaking timing after all.
Zann (@zann)
4th March 2024, 20:39
wish we could see tyre and brake temperatures. Why not? They’d add interest, how badly do we need that! And we’re about to pay £20 for live freaking timing after all.
Tristan
5th March 2024, 3:50
I imagine tyre and brake temps is something that isn’t shared between teams. At least I’d be very surprised if they were.
Danny (@denny)
4th March 2024, 20:45
Brilliant drive by Charles! So much unluck this kid has, but he always make a difference!
It was so strange that the best braker in the grid having so much problem, but lap to lap he managed it better and better!
AlexS
5th March 2024, 10:36
The situation stabilized so he could factor the imbalance in his braking.
Mioki (@okif1)
6th March 2024, 5:08
Sainz also had the same issue, a situation they could not see due to the lack of long test runs.
stefano (@alfa145)
5th March 2024, 14:35
I get a bit unnerved evertime this guy starts his messages with “And”, especially when they are not the follow up of a previous message
hobo (@hobo)
5th March 2024, 18:35
If it helps, just think of it as Massa’s “for sure.”