Carlos Sainz was tempted to make a move on race leader Sergio Perez in the closing stages of the Monaco GP but feared that an attack would likely end badly for both drivers.
Timely and flawless pitstops in the Red Bull camp coupled with Ferrari's botched strategy calls put Perez at the head of the field at the end of the first tyre changes in last Sunday's chaotic race in the Principality.
Sainz had emerged in second position behind the Mexican, but ahead of Max Verstappen and Scuderia teammate Charles Leclerc who went from a commanding lead to P4 in a handful of laps due to his team's miscalculations.
The tight order of the leading train of cars remained unchanged until the checkered flag, but in the closing stages of the 64-lap race, Sainz was snapping at the heels of Perez's Red Bull, almost tagging the Mexican into a spin.
A move was tempting, but ultimately, the Spaniard thought the better of it.
©Ferrari
"It was tempting," said Sainz. "It was tempting into the chicane but unfortunately the track was still a bit wet on the inside.
"So if I go and brake late in there, it would have been a bit of a mess. And I probably could have taken Checo out with me. Tempting in a couple of other places.
"But realistically, with these big wide cars, the spaces are really narrow and even on a drying track, where there’s damp patches offline, It’s almost impossible.
"And I tried everything I could to nearly launch a move, but even when I did, I nearly took him with me. So yeah, I think I did everything I could."
Sainz reckoned that a chance to protect his lead from Perez after his switch from wets to dries on lap 22 was ruined by backmarker Nicholas Latifi whose Williams passed the Ferrari on the run up the hill as Sainz rejoined the track and had yet to get up to speed.
"Well, you can understand the frustration and the feeling that I went through there, because I knew my race was all about that out lap," Sainz said.
"As soon as I exited the pits, I was wheel spinning, obviously on the wet patch. And [Latifi] just managed to sneak in ahead of me.
"Knowing that I was the leader of the race at that time, he could have perfectly just stayed behind me instead of overtaking me, while I have to stay to the right of the yellow line like some others struggled to.
"So yes, he overtook me basically going up, because I had to stay right on the wet patch of the yellow line."
Despite an array of blue flags that were visible to Latifi, the Williams driver only yielded to Sainz on the entry to the tunnel, a delayed move by the Canadian that cost Sainz an estimated two seconds compared Perez's out lap.
"I had to follow him through Turn 3, Turn 4, Turn 5, Turn 6, Turn 7 and Turn 8 and at the exit of Turn 8 he got out of the way in the tunnel," explained the frustrated Ferrari charger.
"But at that time, I had already lost the warm-up of the tyre and the time to make a difference on the slick.
"I believe this slick at that point was already as quick as the inter and for sure not slower than the inter.
"And just because of being stuck behind this slowest car on the grid at that time, it cost me them the opportunity to stay ahead of Checo after the pitstop.
"So you can imagine my frustration, you can imagine my shouting on the radio to get him out of the way but for some reason it took longer than it should."
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