Photo Credit; Scuderia Ferrari Media
At the end of the Monaco GP, Carlos Sainz commented on his race, saying he was disappointed with the incorrect management of the race strategies, albeit complicated by uncertain weather. Sainz also talked about the two incidents in which he was the protagonist.
It was a difficult Monaco GP for Scuderia Ferrari. In fact, after the good indications gathered during free practice on the Principality track, both in qualifying and in the race the two SF-23s were not able to show the same performance and to fight, as declared on Thursday, for the pole and the victory.
Data in hand, the two reds finished the race in sixth and eighth position, proving to be slower than Red Bull and Aston Martin, also (especially towards the end) than Alpine and Mercedes. Since yesterday, the SF-23s have shown a less than exciting performance, to which have been added balance problems which, of course, have not allowed the drivers to “feel” the car and push properly.
For this reason, the result of the Monte Carlo race certainly can’t make the team smile, aware that it hasn’t confirmed the expectations and that it is still a relatively slow car, with pace and tyre management problems. Not only that, because even the management of the strategies (when the rain arrived) was once again questionable and lackluster, capable of causing the two drivers to lose positions.
At the end of the race, interviewed in the media pen, Carlos Sainz commented on his day, not hiding his bitterness about the result. First, Sainz talked about his race spent behind Esteban Ocon, according to him not overtaking due to the team’s call when making first pit stop, which did not allow him to take advantage of his pace and try the overcut.
“We had a bit of an eventful race, always chasing Ocon, in the gearbox of Ocon. I saved the hard tyres, it looked like he had a slow pit stop and I was flying on the in-lap. We decide to go for the overcut.
“Probably, given the pace I was showing, maybe we could’ve been a bit more patient but it is how it is.”
A pace that, according to the Spaniard, was good, despite his front wing being damaged following the crash with the Frenchman.
“The car was ok, the performance was still there. In the second pit stop [to put on inters] maybe I still had a bit of frustration with the first one and wanted to do something different from Ocon. I extended one lap but it was too late.”
Sainz analysed what he believes were the mistakes made in the strategy. First of all, as mentioned, the Madrid native believes he was called to the pits too early for the first pit, not trying to overcut Ocon. On the second stop, however, he said it was a lottery.
He had to stack behind Leclerc after spinning at Mirabeau on dry tyres in heavy rain conditions.
“I think Monaco, first of all is a bit of a lottery, and today was a bit of a lottery for everyone – probably I just got the worst out of it.
“The first pitstop is debatable – I will go back and review because obviously I was very quick on the in-lap and felt like I still had a lot more lap time to come in clean air.
“I had been doing all that management, to suddenly pit, it left me frustrated.
“But I shouldn’t have showed it on the radio, first of all, always due to frustration and then the second pitstop, as I said before, it’s a lottery.
“It’s not getting it right or wrong it was one lap too early, one lap too late.”
The driver of the 55 car analysed the contact he made on lap 12 with Ocon as he exited the tunnel.
“He just went in the middle, and with these cars I didn’t have space left or right. We had a little bit of contact but nothing happened.
“He was braking very early in that corner and I gave it a shot. It’s how it goes. I got a bit lucky.
“I had a lot of pace and wanted to try.”
Finally, Sainz explained the contact with the barriers that he had at Mirabeau in the first rain period when he still had medium tyres on.
“As soon as I braked, I lost the rear and was able to spin it to make sure I didn’t hit hard. Today, I think, we all risked spinning and hitting the walls. I spun which cost me some lap time, but I was also able to save the car. It’s a lottery out there – the tires, honestly, were a disaster in these conditions. Both the inters and the slicks, we all survived.”
