Unexpected disappointment
The Monaco race represented yet another bitter pill to swallow for Ferrari at the start of the 2023 season. The Italian team hoped to be able to take advantage of the particularity of the Principality’s street circuit to play its cards on the podium and – why not – even for the win. Instead a series of errors in qualifying and in the race dropped Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz to sixth and eighth position respectively. If the Monegasque’s weekend was ruined in qualifying, with the impedance of Lando Norris costing him three positions on the starting grid, the nightmare day for Sainz was Sunday.
Mistakes and nervousness
The Iberian, who started fourth and had concrete hopes of being able to at least overtake Esteban Ocon’s Alpine, instead ruined everything with a couple of avoidable driving errors. But the Sunday of #55 was also characterized by a disagreement with his pit wall and with track engineer Riccardo Adami, who in the radio confrontation tried to keep calm while the former McLaren standard bearer expressed all his disappointment. The episode occurred after Sainz’s first pit stop, when the 28-year-old from Madrid was in contention for the position with Ocon.
Between Ocon and Hamilton
Before Sainz they had stopped to change the tires Hamilton – who was behind the Iberian – and Ocon himself – who preceded him instead. At this point the Ferrari driver asked to stay outside, trying to make an overcut on the Alpine. However, the order to return came from the pits, to avoid suffering a possible undercut by Hamilton. A choice that was anything but welcome directly from the son of the two-time WRC world champion. After the race, the tensions then recomposed, with Sainz who also apologized to the garage for the long time committed in the rain at the Mirabeau curve, which caused him to fall from fourth to eighth.
Radio discussion
Sainz: “What the f**k! This is exactly what I was talking about. Exactly this!”.
Adams: “Hamilton is 1.4 seconds behind. We had to cover Hamilton.”
Sainz: “I don’t care about Hamilton. I was fucking faster.”
Sainz: “What times is Charles doing?”.
Adams: “Charles is shooting in 17.5, with free air”.
Sainz: “I was shooting in 16.5”.
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