Charles Leclerc left the Singapore Grand Prix with an excellent second-place finish, but a previously unaired Ferrari team radio message has now drawn attention to an unusual braking episode during the race. The Monegasque reported that his SF-26 appeared to begin braking without his input and warned race engineer Bryan Bozzi that a repeat could leave him without control and potentially send him into the wall.
The radio emerged almost two days after the race and had not been heard during the live Formula 1 broadcast. Its absence has prompted discussion among fans, particularly because Charles Leclerc’s message concerned more than the profanity that would normally explain why a radio transmission might be withheld.
Charles Leclerc reports unusual braking behaviour in Singapore
With Formula 1 races now examined in detail long after the chequered flag, footage has surfaced from lap 46 at Marina Bay. At Turn 13, the slowest corner on the circuit, Charles Leclerc reported an unexpected reaction from the Ferrari.
“What the f*** is going on? The car started braking by itself,” Charles Leclerc told Bryan Bozzi.
The Ferrari driver then added: “If it happens again and I have no control, I’m going into the wall.”
The episode adds another technical detail to Ferrari’s Singapore weekend, which had already exposed several limitations of the SF-26 despite Charles Leclerc’s second-place finish. The broader problems encountered by the car can be explored in the Ferrari SF-26 Singapore Grand Prix analysis.
Why Charles Leclerc’s radio was not broadcast live
The exchange was not aired during the live television coverage. The profanity offers an obvious explanation for why the message would have been censored, particularly given Formula 1’s long-running efforts to reduce offensive language in official broadcasts.
However, the content of the message attracted greater attention because Charles Leclerc specifically described the car as braking on its own. Taken literally, that description would not reflect how the car is supposed to operate, although it came in the middle of a high-pressure race situation and reflected the driver’s immediate perception of what had happened.
Charles Leclerc had already reported unusual behaviour during qualifying, and the lap-46 incident was probably linked to an anomaly in the brake-by-wire software. Ferrari’s wider technical development and SF-26 behaviour throughout the season can be followed through the site’s Ferrari technical analysis coverage.
Deleted F1 TV text fuels speculation over the radio message
The radio attracted further attention because the written transcript reportedly appeared on the F1 TV screen for only around three seconds before disappearing. That sequence prompted speculation among some fans that Formula 1 may prefer not to highlight technical problems affecting the current generation of cars.
There is, however, no evidence that the FIA issued a specific instruction to remove or suppress the message. The speculation has focused instead on the combination of the unusual technical content and the fact that the on-screen text briefly appeared before being deleted.
A previous case involving Valtteri Bottas at Baku has also been recalled in this context. After crashing when his car failed to slow as expected, Valtteri Bottas explained that the system had become confused. That earlier episode has contributed to the wider debate around unexpected electronic or brake-related behaviour on modern Formula 1 cars.
Ferrari braking issue may have been a minor software anomaly
As with many radio messages delivered under extreme pressure, Charles Leclerc’s wording may have been amplified by the tension of the moment. The episode could still have involved a very small software-related irregularity, particularly given that Formula 1 had also experienced a timing-system problem earlier in the Singapore weekend.
What is clear is that the radio gives additional context to a race in which Charles Leclerc still secured second place despite encountering an unsettling moment behind the wheel. The incident also adds to the technical questions surrounding Ferrari’s Singapore performance and the way information from race communications is selected for live broadcast.
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