“In hindsight, Charles could have fought Verstappen for win” – Mattia Binotto. Binotto's comments after the race.

Scuderia Ferrari celebrates a return to the podium in Monte Carlo with Carlos Sainz, but in the garage of the Maranello team there is a very strong bitterness for the issue of Charles Leclerc even before the race start. It is not yet clear what the cause was that forced the Monegasque to forfeit the extraordinary pole position he won on Saturday, as the Italian side will need to investigate thoroughly to understand the actual correlation with the rash in Q3 and avoid similar situations from happening again in the future.

“We experience mixed feelings. A great pity for Charles, but at the same time we are delighted for Carlos who had a great weekend rewarded with a second place thanks to a car that performed very well on this track”, is the first warm comment of team principal Mattia Binotto – “As for Charles, we will then have to look and analyze all the data. Something is broken in the left hub carrier, the opposite side in the transmission between the axle shaft and the wheel. It could be completely unrelated to the qualifying accident. It is not necessarily a direct consequence: the blow was on the right and something broke on the far left. They could be unrelated things or a very strange consequence of each other.” – he explained.

“We gained a few points on McLaren, we could have won many more. The pace was superior to Bottas’ Mercedes and Charles, with a good start, could have fought with Verstappen. Victory was within his reach, but in hindsight everything is simpler. We had reliability problems, we will analyze and understand. There is the right spirit, Charles sought Carlos, embraced him and was with him on the podium: something that must make us happy and proud. We are a young team that wants to do well together and build. Ferrari can achieve great results on certain tracks, for us the important thing is to look at the long term and not at the single race. The goal is to open a winning cycle in the future. It takes patience and time, it is something that is built in small steps. This result goes in that direction.” – Mattia Binotto concluded.