Carlos Sainz Jr. may have finished tenth in the Monaco Grand Prix, but the Spaniard felt it was an extremely difficult afternoon due to heavy graining issues with his R.S.18.
The Renault Sport Formula One Team racer pitted on lap sixteen to change from the Hypersoft to the Ultrasoft compound but that left him with sixty-two laps to make that set of tyres last, which proved to be a big problem for Sainz, who fell dramatically away from those in front of him in the final quarter of the race.
Such was the pace deficit, he was asked by his team to relinquish eighth place to team-mate Nico Hülkenberg, who had run an alternative strategy due to starting outside of the top ten, while Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen also found his way ahead of him before he fell back into the clutches of the chasing pack, with Sainz only just finishing ahead of Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team’s Marcus Ericsson.
“It was a very difficult race for me,” said Sainz. “We changed tyres on lap 16 and then I had to do over 60 laps with the Ultrasoft tyre, which was not ideal due to the heavy graining we had.
“There wasn’t much I could do – the other cars on other strategies were just much quicker. Let’s look at everything calmly next week and come back stronger in Montreal.”
