Ferrari Reveals Lewis Hamilton Brake Fix Attempt as Charles Leclerc Hints at Mystery Issue

Frederic Vasseur says Ferrari tried to solve the brake pedal issue of Lewis Hamilton in F1 Spanish GP, as Charles Leclerc reveals a late tyre mystery.

It didn't take long for Ferrari's Hamilton to face issues with his brakes in F1 Spanish GP at Madring. As Red Bull debated with Max Verstappen about giving the place back to the Brit after cutting the corner on Lap 1 to take track position, the seven-time champion had his own issues to deal with.

That's why it delayed Verstappen all the more when he slowed to give the place to Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Hamilton . But he could immediately re-pass the Brit due to his brake issues. Team principal Vasseur said they tried to fix the issue remotely from the pit wall.

It was back to normal when Hamilton continued on for another lap. But it came back, and they didn't wish to risk it anymore. "Honestly, I don't know, because they were working on the car when I left [for the media call]," said Vasseur to media after F1 Spanish GP. "Yes, the pedal was long, but we tried to fix it from the pit wall, it came back, and once again.

"I think in this kind of track, we also don't want to take any risk, and it was, we are on Lap 1, it was still 56 to go. Yes, it was Lap 1 or Lap 2, I think. The first time that happened was Lap 2, and it was too risky to go to the next lap. It would have made no sense, to take a crazy risk," summed up Vasseur.

With Hamilton's side done, focus shifted to Leclerc. The early Virtual Safety Car meant the Monegasque went long in his hard tyre stint. There was the long hope of a safety car or red flag stoppage to help him, but nothing arrived and he had to pit eventually. Vasseur reckons the pace was there in the car.

Ferrari Insists Issue Is Qualifying Position Rather Than Race

It is qualifying that Ferrari needs to work on, as known. "The race was more than good, we did a stint of 49 laps, 49 I think, with the hard and the pace was still there," said Vasseur. "But honestly, we took a bet, but all the teams did the same, with one car in soft or medium, another one in hard to cover all the options.

"He was leading the group of hard, and I think with the second incident, the red flag, it was the win. With a safety car, he would have been P2, P3, nothing like P4, but it's more a strategy than something else. On his side, the pace was good, it's the only thing that we can do on Sunday. Honestly, if we miss something, it's more qualifying, or perhaps a little bit in Monza, or yesterday.

"But today, I think we did what we have to do, but we took the risk that we have to take, and the pace is the pace that we need to have," summed up Vasseur, as Leclerc noted a mysterious issue on the soft compound that halted his push late in the Grand Prix.

He was all good on the hard compound but wasn't able to catch the back of Lando Norris despite having the fresh tyre and softest compound. "Yeah, I mean obviously Bryan [race engineer] and I didn't speak too much during the race because on a track like this I just wanted to have as little communication as possible, but at one point I just checked to understand exactly what we were fighting for because I didn't really know inside the car," said Leclerc.

"But yeah, at the end of the day I think the pace was quite strong on the hard, on the soft at the end I couldn't really push for other reasons, but the hard stint was a good one, eventually where we are paying the price, it's our qualifying pace, because when you are starting further away then you get to the race and it's very difficult to make up those positions."

When asked to share what the issue was, Leclerc smiled but did not wish to share. "No, not really, no I can't, but it's fine, I mean it will be fine for the next race," he said, adding that the strategy was correct from Ferrari, as they couldn't have done anything else other than this.

Leclerc also clarified that Hamilton did not hold him up at the start when he had the brake issues. "No, I mean he did it very, very quickly obviously," he said. "I wasn't losing so much time because obviously with the brake problems he was kind of cutting the corners, so he didn't hold me up and wouldn't have changed anything in my race."