Formula 1's Ross Brawn says Ferrari's mistake on Saturday, which led to Charles Leclerc qualifying a lowly 16th, was ultimately to blame for the youngsters "impetuousness" on Sunday, which led to him retiring from his home race.
Ferrari failed to send Leclerc out for another run during qualifying's opening Q1 segment – despite Leclerc himself raising concerns over that decision – and rightly so, as he failed to make the cut and started down in 16th for his home race.
With Monaco renowned for being difficult to overtake at, Leclerc had to be aggressive and made a stunning move on Haas' Romain Grosjean to move up the order. He then tried the same move on Nico Hulkenberg and ended up hitting the wall, puncturing his right-rear and eventually retiring with severe floor damage.
Brawn reckons the move was impetuous, though understandable given his position, and says Ferrari's "slap in the face" on Saturday was ultimately the cause.
"Leclerc, for a handful of laps, was truly spectacular," said Brawn. "Then [he] went too far and paid a high price for his impetuousness. His reaction was understandable, however. It’s his home race and his first attempt at it with a front-running team. It was supposed to be a special moment but it ended only in disappointment.
"After some problems on Thursday, Saturday morning’s final practice session offered a ray of light when he topped the timesheet. But then came the slap in the face of that Q1 strategic error – which Mattia Binotto fully admitted was a team miscalculation – and he dropped all the way down to 16th, a starting position that led to him overdoing it on Sunday."
Although Ferrari scored their best result with Sebastian Vettel in second, it was still another disappointing weekend for the Italian outfit which has been plagued by strategy errors, reliability issues and an overall lack of performance.
Brawn insists however it isn't time for them to give up on the season just yet: "The season seems to be getting away from the Maranello team, but it’s not the time to give up and it must learn from its mistakes if it wants to move forward."
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