Carlos Sainz has detailed the "crisis" he dealt with during the Italian Grand Prix, as Charles Leclerc stormed to victory in front of the Tifosi.
The Spanish driver, revealed that whilst Ferrari's rivals were peeling in for their second round of pit stops, his Pirellis reached a critical point, which they "miraculously recovered" from.
Having started fifth at Monza, Sainz, who like Leclerc only stopped once, spent most of his afternoon in contention for a podium after George Russell fell down the order with damage on lap one.
However, Ferrari opted to run him longer into the grand prix than his team-mate and the McLarens, which ultimately cost him race time and the chance to visit the rostrum on his final Italian Grand Prix for the Scuderia.
Whilst Leclerc triumphed, 29-year-old said there was a period of the race when he did not believe the aggressive, and ultimately race-winning, one-stop strategy would be possible.
"For some reason, Charles [Leclerc] and I went through a phase of high degradation on the hards [tyres].
"And then they miraculously recovered, and that's what allowed us to go to the end.
"But there was a point when the others started boxing that the tyre was really in crisis, but then the last 10 laps, the tyre recovered, and we could keep a decent pace to the end."
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Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur explained that a one-stop approach was the planned strategy prior to the race, but the early pace left the Maranello squad concerned it would be able to avoid pitting again.
But the Frenchman shared it was around 10 laps into Leclerc's second stint that he realised a one-stop was indeed still on the cards, something Sainz himself found during his race.
"I think it was more or less 10-15 laps into the second stint that I realised the degradation was not huge on the hards [tyres]," the three-time grand prix winner said.
"Then, as soon as the others stopped, actually, my tyres were almost gone [the crisis pint prior to them recovering]."
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