Carlos Sainz was left frustrated with Ferrari's strategy during the Monaco Grand Prix, after he attempted to outsmart Esteban Ocon during the pit stops for a podium. The Spaniard was running behind Ocon in the opening stages of the race and attempted an on-track overtake at the Nouvelle chicane, but made contact and damaged his front wing. When Ocon eventually pitted he only stayed out for an additional lap, as the team explained that he was brought in to cover Lewis Hamilton who stopped earlier. However, Sainz believes that extra laps in the clean air would have ensured that he emerged ahead after his stop. "It was a difficult race to read, but maybe the timing of the first pitstop caught me a bit by surprise when I was on green or purple sectors on that in-lap," he said when asked by RacingNews365.com about their strategy. "I had to manage my tyres a lot, I was ready to push and try to overcut Ocon when he was ahead. I tried to extend a bit more [the stint] to see if the rain was coming, but we got it wrong and I lost a lot of time."
Sainz: We could have done strategy differently
His next lap after Ocon pitted was three tenths faster than his previous sat behind the Alpine driver, whom he was trying to pressure into pitting earlier. Sainz said he will review the strategy with the team, after venting his frustration over the team radio when he emerged from the pits still behind Ocon. "We we need to review. I don't know from the outside how it looked, but from the inside it looked like maybe we could have done it differently," he explained. "When I was in the clean air after Ocon boxed I was flying and was doing a really quick lap, which is what probably frustrated me, because we had one lap of clean air then we boxed." The Spaniard finished the race in P8 after making a mistake at Mirabeau when rain hit the track midway through the race, forcing him to drop from the top five positions. He added: "It was a bit of a lottery for everyone, probably I just got the worst out of it."
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