‘The pace was there’ says ‘frustrated’ Sainz after P8 finish in Monaco

Carlos Sainz couldn't make it three podiums in Monaco in a row, after an eventful race with contact, a half-spin and a disputed strategy call all contributing to a P8 finish despite the Spaniard starting on the second row of the grid.

Sainz was stuck behind Esteban Ocon’s Alpine in the early stages, the two making contact out of the Tunnel as both missed their braking point and ran straight on over the chicane, with the Ferrari man saying on the radio he had nowhere to go but into the back of the Alpine.

That cost him his front wing end-plate but he was fortunate to escape with a black and white flag and not needing to pit for a new front wing. However, he was later called in earlier than he wanted by his team after starting on the hard compound tyres.

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“I was frustrated,” he admitted afterwards. “But don’t judge for the comments on the radio at 300kph at Monaco, in the walls, we are all a bit… either frustrated or excited, however you want to call it.

“Today, for me, it was a bit of frustration. It was two critical pitstops, one we did it too late and one we did too early, but that’s Monaco. A bit of a lottery, and today maybe we didn’t get it right.”

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As well as pitting earlier than planned to swap from the hard compound to the medium, the late rain meant Sainz had to make another trip to the pits for inters, Ferrari delaying the call one lap later than most of the field.

That left Sainz tiptoeing round in treacherous conditions on slick tyres, and he lost control down at Mirabeau and slid off. His mistake saw him lose out to his team mate who was able to be at the head of the resulting double stack in the pit lane, with Pierre Gasly also getting past after swapping to inters a lap earlier.

“I felt like today the pace was there,” he said. “And [there’s] probably a bit of frustration we didn’t get the other calls right.”

Ferrari remain fourth in the constructors' championship, 29 points back from Mercedes in third.

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