Charles Leclerc will use Carbon Industrie brakes instead of Brembo for the 2026 Formula 1 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix after brake failure at Monaco.
Leclerc suffered an agonising DNF at his home race, after he crashed out during the red-flag restart on the streets of the Principality, last weekend.
The Monegasque was running in third before his Brembo brakes seemingly gave up going into La Rascasse – sending him towards the barriers and out of the race.
On the contrary, his team-mate Lewis Hamilton, running with Carbon Industrie brake discs, secured a stellar second-placed finish behind race-winner Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
After his DNF, a visibly frustrated Leclerc refused to “take the blame” and called this incident a “nightmare”. The Ferrari driver also alluded to be shifting onto Hamilton’s “configuration” heading into the race weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
“The only thing I can say is that we have a solution. I’ll go to Lewis’ configuration from next race onwards, which hopefully will be a step,” he had told media including Motorsport Week.
Charles Leclerc to ditch Brembo for Carbon Industrie at F1 Barcelona GP
The team has now revealed that Leclerc will be shifting to Carbon Industrie brakes instead of Brembo.
The Italian automotive icons had in fact expressed their “astonishment” at Leclerc’s public dressing down of the brakes.
“The Brembo Group expresses great astonishment regarding what happened to Charles Leclerc during the Monaco Grand Prix and is very surprised by the statements made by the driver after the race,” it wrote.
On the other hand, it would appear that Leclerc had been struggling with the brakes on his SF-26 since at least the Miami GP.
Therefore, the Monegasque has decided to test Hamilton’s brake configuration during FP1, on Friday, before making a final decision on whether to make the switch from Brembo permanent.
Leclerc would be hoping to end his three-race podium-less streak at Barcelona, this weekend, having slipped behind Hamilton in the driver’s standings to fourth.
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