After the qualifying session in the Principality of Monaco, Frederic Vasseur was a happy man to see his drivers starting the race in the top 5. A few hours later, Charles Leclerc tumbled down to P6, and the other was done dirty in the main race. Carlos Sainz started P4 right behind Esteban Ocon. A good strategy was going to come in handy to jump him, perhaps like that of Red Bull last year. However, the opposite happened.
Carlos Sainz was in a battle with Ocon ahead of him. The duo was on different tire strategies as Sainz had begun the race on Hards, which were intended to go for a longer run. However, right after Ocon pitted, Sainz was called into the pits and while Sainz was looking to attack Ocon, the team was looking to cover Lewis Hamilton. And this miscommunication dented Sainz’s podium hat-trick hopes and saw an outburst on the radio.
Sainz was livid on the team radio. He shouted, “This is exactly what I talked about!” To which his engineer replied, “The target was to cover Hamilton.” And Carlos lost it when he realized how his team was not on the same page and he said, “I don’t care about Hamilton, I was quick.”
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But today wasn’t the only day Ferrari made a blunder during this week.
Carlos Sainz’s strategy calls hailed
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Last year we saw how Charles Leclerc’s pole position and lead in the Principality was compromised by Ferrari’s strategy. Yesterday, Leclerc got handed a 3-place penalty because he wasn’t informed about Lando Norris’ presence in the tunnel. And today, Carlos Sainz became the target of the Ferrari strategy folly as, due to perhaps their under-confidence. And perhaps the strategy calls of the Spaniard himself are better than that of his team.
Sky Sports analyst Naomi Schiff said, “Carlos is one of those drivers that is always thinking ahead. He’s got the strategy in mind. He’s got Plan B, C, and sometimes E. He’s got all of those things in mind. It shows how much thinking he is doing while driving.”
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Watch This Story: Why Do People Find the Monaco GP Boring?
Do you think Carlos could have gone on to make a hat-trick of his podium streak in Monaco?