Leclerc had “more than 100 degrees split” in brake temperature in F1 Bahrain GP

The Ferrari driver was constantly locking up his front tyres throughout the 2024 F1 opener, as he dropped from second to an eventual fourth place.

Leclerc, who had been expected to be Max Verstappen’s closest challenger, explained the issue struck from the opening lap before he was able to start managing it “at lap 15 or 20”.

“It was impossible in the first 15 laps, the issue was getting a lot worse every lap,” Leclerc said. “I was obviously basing my braking for Turn 9-10 with the previous lap, which obviously fell too late all the time, but the issue was getting a lot worse.

“Every time I would brake three meters earlier, but I would still look up, then at lap 15 or 20, the issue stabilised.

“The team told me on the radio that it was more than 100 degrees split between from front right and front left, which is huge.

“At that moment, I understood that the best thing I could do was just to bring the car home to the chequered flag.

“Honestly all in all, considering that the issue didn’t get any better throughout the whole race… we started to be more consistent when the issue didn’t worsen and every lap, which was helping me to be more consistent.”

Leclerc also confirmed it was the first time he’d experienced the brake issue with the SF-24 and that Ferrari will investigate the issue after this weekend to understand if a permanent fix is required in time for next weekend’s Saudi Arabian GP.

“Considering everything, to finish fourth is a really good effort,” he added. “But I’m very disappointed with the results. I honestly think that second place would have been very possible today.”

The Monegasque finished almost 40 seconds behind winner Verstappen but just under 15 seconds behind team-mate Sainz directly ahead of him, which came as a surprise given his brake woes.

“I don’t think there’s anything to take out of my race. I’m quite surprised when I was hearing the pace at the end of the race because we were doing relatively good lap times with a car that was feeling completely out of place,” he explained.

“I had to change completely the brake balance, the engine braking to try and counter that front right brake that wasn’t working properly.

“All in all, the pace was better than what I expected with an issue like this. However, to know exactly the real pace is difficult.”