Scuderia Ferrari endured a difficult Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. finishing sixth and eighth respectively, Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur reviewed the performance and vowed that they will go again in Spain.
At the beginning of the race, Sainz was behind Esteban Ocon, but his attempt to pass the Alpine led to a collision, causing damage to Sainz’s front wing. Once Ocon eventually went into the pits, Ferrari made the decision to bring in Sainz just a single lap later, aiming to counter Lewis Hamilton who had already made an earlier pit stop. Sainz however, felt that the timing of his own pit stop did not work in his favour. He thought that having more laps in uninterrupted conditions would have improved his chances of emerging ahead after the pit stop.
Ferrari also opted for a strategic gamble by keeping Sainz and Leclerc on the track for as long as they could when the rain started to pour. While numerous other drivers had already switched to intermediate tires, the Scuderia pair were among the last to make the transition from slicks, Vasseur explained how difficult the call was and how they risked the strategy to try and potentially jump other cars if the safety car was brought out.
“In the first stint of our race, the pace was okay: Carlos tried to push a couple of times to get ahead of Ocon who was slow in front of him, allowing Verstappen and Alonso to get away at the front. Then when the rain came, we were P5 and P7 and we decided to take a risk and try for P3.
“The conditions were very difficult to manage because the rain turned out to be worse than forecast, so you cannot really blame Carlos for the mistake, but we need to look at why our pace was not so strong in the wet.
Vasseur looked ahead to next week at the Spanish Grand Prix, where he hopes Ferrari can do well with new upgrades on the SF-23.
“Looking at the weekend as a whole, our qualifying pace was good and we have to aim to repeat that next week in Barcelona. The field is so tight you have to put everything together and the slightest mistake is costly.
“We will have some updates on the car which should be a step forward in terms of performance, so let’s wait and see what we can do in Spain.”
