Leclerc rues 'too many mistakes' from Ferrari in Monaco GP

Charles Leclerc cast a frustrated figure at the end of Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix after the local hero's chances of winning his home race were thwarted by a Ferrari strategy blunder.

Leclerc finished the rain disrupted race fourth and conceded three points to championship leader Max Verstappen.

But starting from pole and leading the early stages of the event, anything other than an outright win was always going to be a disappointment for the Ferrari driver.

Leclerc's troubles began when the Scuderia's strategists opted to keep the Monegasque out longer on the wet tyres after the track started to dry, presumably to switch directly to the slick tyre.

But the Italian outfit then decided to bring Leclerc in for a set of intermediates which dropped the latter to third behind teammate Carlos Sainz and Red Bull's Sergio Perez.

Slick tyres now the rubber of choice as dry lines emerged everywhere, with Ferrari calling Leclerc in but belatedly telling him to stay, a call that came too late as he was already in the pitlane heading towards the Ferrari pit where Sainz was getting serviced.

The move permanently unraveled Leclerc's race and confined him to fourth in the pecking order.

"Sometimes mistakes can happen but there has been too many mistakes today overall," a gutted Leclerc told Sky Sports.

"Obviously in those conditions we rely a little bit on what the team can see because you don't see what the others are doing with intermediates, with dry tyres.

• 2022 Monaco Grand Prix - Race results

"I've been asked questions if I wanted to go from the extreme wets to the slicks and I said, 'yes but not now, a bit later on in the race', but I don't understand what made us change our minds and go on the intermediates.

"We got undercut then I stopped behind Carlos. There have been a lot of mistakes and we cannot afford to do that."

Leclerc made clear that mistakes occurring when his team is in a position of force only result in botched opportunities and are unacceptable.

"It is hard as it has been in the other years here, so I am getting use to it and getting back home feeling disappointed but we cannot do that, especially in a moment that we are in now," he said.

"We are extremely strong now, the pace is strong, we need to take these opportunities, we cannot lose so many points like this, it is not even from first to second, it is from first to fourth, because after the first mistake we did another one.

"I love my team and I am sure we'll come back stronger, it hurts a lot."

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