Having monopolized the front row of the grid for the second time this season, Scuderia Ferrari ended the Monaco Grand Prix with a second and fourth place, after one of the most strategically complex races in the Principality. The disappointment for Ferrari was clear at the end of the race, both for home favourite Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, whose opportunities for victory were canceled by Latifi’s Williams in the crucial lap out of the pits. However, the errors of the Ferrari pitwall also contributed to the Monegasque defeat, with a less reactive strategy than the Red Bull one.
In the traditional post-race press conference, Mattia Binotto acknowledged the mistakes made by the team, but also expressed a sense of frustration towards various adverse episodes: “We made mistakes, because when you are P 1 and finish fourth it means that something wrong has been done. But I also feel a sense of injustice. With five minutes before the start of the race, the tires had to be fitted and Red Bull was without tires. It is not known why the FIA postponed the start with only three minutes left, but the regulation says that at five minutes the tires must be fitted. On the question of the yellow line, it was not a protest against Red Bull and we do not want to compete with them on this front, but we did it to demand clarity from the Federation as to consistency and decision making. Regarding the lapped cars, it is incredible how Latifi or Albon, who were running four seconds slower with clear blue flags displayed, did not let the leader of the race pass. Having said that, we made some errors of assessment. We had the means to win this race and we didn’t. We must learn to make even unfortunate situations favorable.”
The Team Principal then looked at each individual episode: “When Charles Leclerc came out with the intermediates he lost a lot of time behind Albon, especially against Verstappen. Without this episode we wouldn’t be talking about it, just as without Latifi’s traffic we wouldn’t be talking about it because Carlos would have won the race”. Even before the race, another key episode was the choice of tires on the starting grid: “We were among the best prepared teams on the grid, having fitted the extreme wet tires in time and we were in an excellent position. It’s good for the team, it also shows that we are familiar with the grid, making the right decisions. Unfortunately the race direction then decided to postpone the start, the reason for which is not yet clear to me.”
Regarding Carlos Sainz’s strategy, the Ferrari boss revealed how it had been evaluated even before the start: “The direct transition from wet to slicks had been discussed before the race. It was something that has already happened in the past here in Monaco with Hamilton for example and it could have been repeated in the race. We respect the calls from the driver, because he has the feeling of the tires and the track conditions. So I don’t think the direct passage with Carlos was wrong ”.
On the contrary, the early switch to slicks would have potentially allowed the Spaniard to take the top spot: “We did it because we knew that the hard tires would be significantly faster and it could have been a good opportunity to undercut the Red Bull cars. It was an opposite situation in the transition to the intermediate, when they anticipated us, who then tried to do the same “.
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Mattia Binotto then concluded the strategic review by explaining the choice to mount the hard compounds at the restart after the second red flag: “We used the hard compounds because they are much more resilient and could have given opportunities in the final part of the race, while the mediums generally have graining, and that is what indeed happened. Sergio Perez slowed down significantly, but in Monaco it is always difficult to overtake. We think the hard was the right choice, also because with the rolling start there would have been no gain from using the mediums.”
