Max Verstappen says Ferrari's single lap pace was superior to that of Red Bull during the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, even as Sergio Perez took victory in Sunday's race. Charles Leclerc had claimed pole position and led the field in the early stages of the race before a poor strategy call dropped him to fourth, and Verstappen acknowledged that Ferrari had had the edge on Red Bull over a single lap of the Monaco circuit. "Well, if you just look at single-lap pace, I think they were they were faster than us," said Verstappen, speaking to members of the media, including RacingNews365.com . "Long runs around here, it's very difficult to say because nobody really pushes, of course, even in practice in the long runs, because it doesn't really matter. It's all about qualifying. "And it doesn't really matter if you're fast in the race, because you can't pass anyway, so difficult to tell. "But yeah, today was really about strategy and making the right calls. And I have to say the team was very relaxed and on it with their calls. They did a really good job with that."
Speed subordinate to strategy around Monaco, says Sainz
Leclerc's teammate Carlos Sainz, who finished a close second behind Perez, agreed with Verstappen's assessment that strategy calls were more important than outright pace in deciding the outcome of the Monaco Grand Prix. "It doesn't matter really," said Sainz, who might have won the race were he not impeded by Nicholas Latifi after exiting the pit lane following a change to dry tyres. "Monaco is not about who is the fastest, it's about who gets all the timing of the pit-stops right, and all the strategy calls right. "Red Bull went for the Inters; we decided to stay out on Wets. I was in the race lead before this leg, so you could argue, I think today we did the right choices; it was the timing of that lapped car [Latifi] that really cost us a lot today."
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