Ferrari reveal results of analysis of Monaco GP strategy errors

Ferrari has given a complete run-down of what went wrong for the Italian outfit and especially for Charles Leclerc in last weekend's Monaco GP.

Ill-timed pitstops and confusion blew up Leclerc's big chances of winning his home race, an event he had led convincingly until his team's strategy calls undid his efforts.

Carlos Sainz was able to secure a runner-up sport in the Principality behind Red Bull's Sergio Perez, but the Spaniard also missed out on an opportunity to win F1's crown jewel with the Scuderia due to traffic.

In a video released on Thursday, Ferrari chief strategist Inaki Rueda explained the key findings of the team's analysis of its errors in Monaco.

"We came into this race with very high expectations, we expect a very competitive car," he said.

"On Saturday, we ascertained that that was the case. A front row lock-out in Monte Carlo [is] something that we're very proud of, something that is very difficult to attain."

"Sunday, the race got delayed a full hour, and we actually started to shift our focus.

"Rather than all the pre-race dry plans that we had, we needed to start thinking about how we would manage a wet race.

"With Carlos, we had a very good race. He started P2, and after the first round of stops, he found himself leading the race, because although our initial plan was to try and cover Perez, we had the peace of mind to realise it was not going to work.

"[At] the last second, we told Carlos to stay out, and he duly did so. Furthermore, when the time was right, we judged that the track would be quickest on dry tyres, and Carlos was the first car of the lead pack to stop for dry [tyres].

"This gave him a definite advantage. Unfortunately, he came up behind [Nicholas] Latifi, and this cost him over three seconds. Had he not been blocked by Latifi, we are quite confident he would have won the race."

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But the main talking point in Monaco after the race, both in the paddock and likely within the Ferrari team, was how Leclerc's went from a comfortable lead to fourth in the running order with a handful of laps.

"We've spoken about the positives, now let's go over the negatives," Rueda continued.

"With Charles, we made two mistakes. The first one was to cover Perez. While with Carlos we realised very late on his lap that we could not cover Perez, with Charles we had a big gap, and we thought we could cover Perez.

"At the start of his in-lap, Charles had over 10 seconds advantage on Perez, and we thought this advantage would shrink, because Perez – on the Intermediate tyre – was lapping much faster than Charles.

"We had looked at other people, we had the live data from the cars, and we thought that this gap would shrink from around 10 seconds to maybe five, four, three seconds at the worst.

"As we were coming in, we saw that 10-second gap shrinking. As Charles is coming through the Swimming Pool, the last timing reference we have indicates that he will come out one second ahead of Perez.

"What we did not expect was Perez to go nine seconds faster overall in that lap and, because of this, we lost the race with Charles."

Leclerc lost two positions after his first stop. But the Monegasque's switch to the hard tyre from the intermediates was ill-timed as he entered the pits as Ferrari's crews were still servicing Sainz.

"The second mistake we made with Charles was a gap mistake again," Rueda added.

"We wanted to pit both cars onto dry tyres. On Lap 21, we thought the track was good for dry tyres, and at the same time we were bringing Carlos in to try and keep the lead of the race, we thought, 'Let's bring [in] Charles to try and undercut Perez, so we can finish P1 and P2'.

"[As] we were coming in, we were looking at our gaps. The gap in-between our cars was five seconds. It was tight for a double-pit. A comfortable double-pit is done with six seconds in-between the cars, but we thought five and a half seconds might be enough.

"As the cars got closer and closer to pit entry, the gap was was narrowed [to] only three and a half seconds. We made a last-second attempt to try and tell Charles to stay out, but it was too late.

"He had already veered into the pit lane. In this stop, Charles lost two seconds. This was crucial. Why? This is what allowed Verstappen to come out ahead of Charles a lap later."

After last weekend's race, a frustrated Leclerc expressed the pain of enduring his team's errors, insisting that mistakes cannot happen when Ferrari is in a position of strength.

Rueda echoed the Monegasque's comment, calling the weekend "bittersweet" but one from which Ferrari would emerge stronger.

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