A downbeat Stoffel Vandoorne feels McLaren sacrificed his Monaco Grand Prix to help team mate Fernando Alonso's race on Sunday.
Vandoorne was running just outside the top ten and behind Nico Hulkenberg when he was called in by his crew on lap 18, one lap later than Alonso.
The timing of the stop coupled with a pit light malfunction sent the Belgian well down the order back in 17, a position he would improve to a meager P14 by the end of the 78-lap race.
Was Vandoorne perhaps McLaren's sacrificial lamb on Sunday?
"I felt [that way], definitely. I think we should have pitted five laps earlier," he said.
"Fernando came just ahead and we just pitted that lap when the damage was done already. Disappointing.
"I don't know what happened but the green light just wasn't coming. We lost a few seconds there."
Vandoorne believed that an earlier pit stop would have given him a clean shot at a top-10 finish given where the man he had been following earlier in the afternoon – Nico Hulkenberg – finished.
"We were on the same strategy as Nico and we should have finished right behind or even in front of him,” claimed the 26-year-old.
"We lost a lot of time at the pitstop and lost a lot of track position. We had some pace in the end on the supersoft tyres. That pace was good but Monaco is Monaco.
"We know overtaking is so hard around here."
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