Carlos Sainz’s Sunday in Monaco is difficult to digest. He started fourth, had more pace than the third and, a priori, a better tire to fight for position through strategy. Ferrari missed that part, with the questionable decision to stop a lap after Ocon. Then aquaplaning made the Spaniard lose even more places, from fourth to eighth (the Mercedes sneaked in due to strategy). A very competitive weekend for Carlos ended with four points. He talked about that with AS after getting out of the car.
—What went wrong to not have finished third?
-A bit of everything. It was a lottery in Monaco. And it wasn’t an easy race, but perhaps the first ‘pit-stop’ when I was coming so fast on the entry lap surprised me, frustrated me and as a result of the frustration, perhaps I wanted to do something different at the second stop, extend a back when the track was already intractable.
—Why for a lap after Ocon when his hard wheel gave for more? Whose decision is it?
-Don’t know. Don’t know.
—Was the ‘overcut’ easier after more turns?
—I don’t know if the ‘overcut’ had arrived, but extending always gives you the opportunity, firstly because I had more than enough rhythm so that they didn’t do the ‘undercut’ to me. And then, I think by spreading you have the possibility to cover a safety car, the red flag or the rain. Due to a bad pit-stop by Esteban the team tried to close the overcut, we started a second behind so we calculated… not very well. There I followed fourth when I thought there was an opportunity for more.
—When it starts to rain harder, how was the track?
-Intractable. A few pilots talked about it, it’s a lottery. We have all half gone out, two of us have half crashed. The error has cost me more expensive than the others. Because I lose position with Charles and then I have to stop behind him, so I lose even more time.
Do you have anything good left from this career?
-Rhythm. Very good rhythm, very good treatment of the tires. Things in Monaco go well or badly, today they went wrong for me but the rhythm was there. We will have to try better in the next one and analyze, because analysis is needed. We have failed in a couple of details and they are things that need to be polished. It’s better that they pass this year, we don’t have the best car.