Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz admits to feeling great with his podium finish at the Monaco Grand Prix. But at the same time, he does not feel too good about his teammate Charles Leclerc’s retirement before the race.
The Spanish driver started the race from third place but managed to finish second after Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas had to retire after a failed pitstop.
Charles Leclerc had bagged the pole position after the qualifying but ended up crashing into the barriers which brought out red flags. This denied Sainz the opportunity to compete for pole.
The 26-year old was however pleased with the progress made by Ferrari.
What did Sainz say?
“It’s a good weekend! I mean, if you would have told me before coming to Monaco that I would finish second, I would have definitely taken it,” said Sainz after the race.
“It’s just the whole circumstances of the weekend having Charles on pole, me missing out in [qualifying] on a good lap, maybe it doesn’t taste as good as it should.
“But I’m sure that when I reflect back on the weekend, I will be very happy and proud of the weekend and I think Ferrari as a team need to be proud about the car, and the step they’ve done this year.”
Just before the race, Leclerc had to retire following a driveshaft failure. This put extra pressure on Sainz.
All responsibility on you, says Sainz
“When you see the other car not starting from pole, all of a sudden the responsibility obviously relies on you trying to salvage a bit the weekend,” said Sainz.
“One car is out starting from pole and you want to give the team at least a podium and it was all about getting the start right then, around the pitstops, there was a lot of traffic we were lapping the other cars very quickly.”
“Obviously Valtteri [Bottas] had the pitstop, but even without that I was feeling really good with the car today. I felt like the team, at least, deserved a podium this weekend.”
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