Carlos Sainz was left to rue a frustrating outcome to his Monaco Grand Prix as he slipped away from podium contention.
Sainz shadowed Alpine’s Esteban Ocon during the early stages of the race and “gave it a shot” into the chicane before brushing the rear of the A523, losing a front wing endplate.
Sainz was able to stay out and Ferrari opted to use the overcut on Ocon before bringing Sainz in, prompting Sainz to express his frustration on the radio, believing he had more pace to overhaul Ocon.
When wet weather hit Monaco Sainz spun into Mirabeau Haute, dropping behind team-mate Charles Leclerc, and he lost a further position to Pierre Gasly as Ferrari had to double stack its drivers at the pit stop for Intermediates.
That left Sainz in eighth position at the finish.
“Monaco first of all is a bit of a lottery and it was a bit of a lottery for everyone,” he said. Probably I just got the worst out of it.
“The first pitstop is debatable. I will go back and review it because obviously I was very quick on that in-lap and I felt like I still had lap time to come in clean air.
“I had been doing all that management, to suddenly be pitted left me frustrated. But I shouldn’t have showed it on the radio first of all.
“Then the second pitstop, it’s a lottery, it’s not getting it right or wrong, it’s one lap too early or one lap too late.”
Sainz explained that “as soon as I braked I lost the rear and managed to spin to make sure I was touching it [the wall] with the full wheel.
“We are all spinning out there, I think we were all touching wall, I spun in a place where it cost me some lap time but I also managed to save it.
“It’s a lottery out there. The tyres were honestly a disaster in these conditions. Both the inter and the slick, we were all surviving.”
