Leclerc crashes out of Q3 at Monaco, reveals deeper Ferrari braking issue

Charles Leclerc will line up fourth for his home Monaco Grand Prix after crashing his Ferrari SF-26 at Tabac corner during his final Q3 lap on Saturday, ending any chance of a pole position that had briefly looked within reach.

Ferrari had locked out the top two positions in both Friday practice sessions, but that pace failed to carry over into qualifying. Leclerc topped Q1 yet slipped to fourth in Q2, before posting a provisional pole time in Q3 — only for Kimi Antonelli, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton to go faster on their final runs. Leclerc’s own last attempt ended in the barriers.

“I was very much on the edge, and I think it was a very good lap until then,” Leclerc said. “I had a little bit of dirty air in that lap where I lost it in Turn 12. There was no traffic in itself, it was just dirty air. It made me lose a little bit the rear in entry, and I touched the wall.”

The crash, however, is separate from what Leclerc described as a more serious and recurring problem with the car’s braking behaviour. The Ferrari driver said the SF-26 has been “extremely inconsistent” under braking — an issue he linked to tyre temperature and a second, undisclosed fault.

“At the moment it’s a bit of a discovery whenever I get on the brakes,” he said. “Corner to corner, it is not really behaving the same way. It’s just extremely tricky. The fact of being in or out the window of the tyre all the time — these fine details make a huge difference. I’ve just been struggling with it.”

When asked whether the braking problem was a recent development or had persisted throughout the season, Leclerc was guarded, saying only that he had “been struggling recently” before making clear the issue has been significant since the Canadian Grand Prix.

The result means Leclerc will start his home race outside the front row for the first time since 2023, with Antonelli, Verstappen and Hamilton ahead of him on the grid.