Carlos Sainz had a disappointing weekend in Monaco, as he failed to make progress through the field after suffering contact with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon early in the opening stages of the race.
The Spaniard suffered minor front wing damage as he fought for a podium against Ocon but he was unable to get past the Frenchman, as the Alpine driver proved unpassable.
With Ocon pitting on lap 33 and suffering a slot stop, Ferrari attempted the overcut, bringing Sainz in on lap 34 but the strategy backfired and the Spaniard fell further back down the grid.
“What the f***! This is exactly what I talked about,” Sainz fumed over the team radio.
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“I don’t care about Hamilton,” he replied when told he was brought in to cover off Hamilton.
When rain started to fall on the track, Sainz suffered even more frustration, having to double stack behind his teammate Charles Leclerc, dropping down to eighth place.
“We had a bit of an eventful race always chasing Ocon and on the gearbox of Ocon,” Sainz explained post-race.
“I saved my tyres well, the hard tyres, and it looked like he had a slow pitstop and I was flying on the in-lap and we decided to go for the overcut.
“Probably, given the pace I was showing, maybe we could’ve been a bit more patient but it’s how it is.”
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Leclerc’s weekend didn’t go much better, as the Monegasque was handed a grid drop for a qualifying incident, starting and finishing in sixth place.
Ferrari would’ve liked to enjoy a more successful weekend in the principality, as they saw Mercedes extend the gap with the Italian team in the Constructors’ Standings.
Ferrari is now 159 points behind title-leaders Red Bull in the title race, leaving it highly unlikely they will be in with a shot of taking the 2023 crown without a lot of luck.