Carlos Sainz Jr. took his third career podium and first with Scuderia Ferrari at the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix, but at the same time, the Spanish driver was left wondering what might have been after the qualifying session.
Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc seemed in a favourable position on the streets of Monte Carlo, with the SF21 car being able to successfully challenge Mercedes and Red Bull in the Monaco weekend, which was a rare situation in 2021. The Ferrari drivers were therefore fought against Max Verstappen for pole position, which in Monaco is probably more important than on any other track.
Charles Leclerc went fastest of anybody after the first runs in Q3, while Carlos Sainz was a quarter of a second down, but he went purple in the first sector and he and others knew that he had a good opportunity to get his first pole position in Formula 1. However, Carlos Sainz crashed in the last minutes of Q3, damaging his car by hitting the wall on the inside of the second part of the Swimming Pool complex, which marked the end of the qualifying session and meant Carlos was not able to complete his final Q3 lap and had to start the race from fourth place.
Things went better for the Spanish driver on Sunday as he finished in second place behind Max Verstappen and thus scored his first podium for the Maranello team, while at the same time being aware that his chances of victory were slim from the start despite the strong pace of the SF21 car, taking into consideration how difficult it is to overtake on the streets of Monte Carlo.
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As a result, the Ferrari driver said it took him a long time to get over the disappointment of starting lower on the grid than he expected.
“Monaco is the least enjoyable podium of my career,” the Spaniard said, in an interview for Marca. “I was really pissed off on Sunday. What happened with Charles and all that [in qualifying]. I remember that I didn’t recover from the disappointment for three days because it was my first chance to win a race and to take pole.” – he added.
Charles Leclerc should have started the race from pole position, but a gearbox issue caused by the crash in qualifying made it unable for the Monegasque driver to take part in his home race. Carlos Sainz eventually finished just ahead of his Maranello teammate at the end of the 2021 Formula One season, as the Ferrari drivers have struck up a good relationship as they work together at the Italian side.
He knows the calibre of driver he is facing at the Scuderia, but Carlos Sainz explained said his understanding of his car improved as the year progressed, meaning he could get the most out of himself.
“At Ferrari, I’ve come up against one of the fastest drivers I’ve ever faced. A very complete driver,” Carlos Sainz added – “I came from two very good years at McLaren. I wasn’t afraid to take on anyone or anything. The first half was tough. I had to adapt, but in the second half I started to go very fast and feel very comfortable with the car. That allowed me to do results and races at the level I expected of myself.” – he concluded.
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