Leclerc admits Monaco retirement ‘still hurts’ as he shares update on brakes issue

Charles Leclerc has conceded that his retirement from the Monaco Grand Prix “still hurts”, but acknowledged that he has also “got to look forward” as he shared an update on the brakes issue that he spoke about following his sudden DNF.

Leclerc had been running in the final podium position at his home event when – following a restart after a late-race Safety Car – his Ferrari went straight on at the final corner and into the barriers, putting him out of the race.

The 28-year-old could not hide his disappointment in the aftermath, stating that he was “extremely disappointed, sad, angry” as he shed light on the brakes problems he had been experiencing.

“I cannot do anything,” the Monegasque explained afterwards. “The only thing I can do is not brake for the last corner, but in an F1 corner not braking in the last corner ends up in the wall anyway. I put the least amount of brakes I could possibly do, and it’s not even braking, it’s leaning my foot on the brake.”

Just a few days on, Leclerc was quizzed by the media ahead of the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix on what the debrief was like after his exit in Monaco – and whether there would be a brakes fix in place this weekend.

“I’m not going to go into too much detail,” he responded. “It’s not so different from what I had said right after. Now we focus forward, and we’ll try to maximise this weekend and hopefully get back on the podium and get some good points.

“Monaco hurts, but it’s the way it is now. I cannot change that anymore and I’ve got to look forward.”

Leclerc was also asked about what kind of insight he could share into the situation with the brakes, with the eight-time race winner answering: “Not a lot, to be completely honest.

“We’ll do what we think is best on our side and try to maximise whatever we can do – that’s my job as a driver and our job as a team. We’ll continue to push. It still hurts, Monaco. I’m pretty good normally at moving on, but I think this one hurts because it’s also home.

“Now I'm just looking forward to being back on track tomorrow and driving again. That’s the best way to forget about what happened last weekend.”

Leclerc also said on the topic of the brakes: “The last two weekends have been very tough for me. Overall, I think going forward we’ll change slightly the configuration of how we run our brakes.

“To go more into the detail is tricky for me. We’ll see – I don’t think it’s going to be a revolution, but in certain times of the race I will expect a change.”

Looking ahead to the weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the Ferrari driver suggested that he was keen not to place too much expectation on the event.

“I think realistically Mercedes still remain the benchmark,” he reflected. “I think Mercedes will still be extremely strong. Red Bull were strong in Monaco, so it’s not like we are the only ones making progress.

“I’m sure that other teams are also pushing in order to do just that. I don’t have much expectation for this weekend, just because I don’t want to have any. The best thing we can do is focus on ourselves and try to maximise everything.”