MONACO (Reuters) – A disappointed Charles Leclerc said Ferrari got it “very wrong” after turning pole position at his home Monaco Grand Prix into a fourth place finish.
What promised to be a win on the streets of his home town turned out to be not even a podium.
“Sometimes mistakes can happen,” the 24-year-old told Sky Sports television. “But there have been too many mistakes today overall.
“We cannot afford to lose so many points like this. It’s not even from first to second, it’s from first to fourth because after the first mistakes we’ve done another one.”
Leclerc had started the day six points behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who finished third and stretched his advantage to nine points after seven races.
The Monegasque’s race unravelled in the pits when the team initially switched him from wet weather tyres to intermediates, two laps after Red Bull’s eventual winner Sergio Perez, in a delayed and interrupted race.
Leclerc had wanted instead to go from wets straight to the slicks, although not so soon.
When he pitted a second time, he was caught behind team mate Carlos Sainz who finished second after going straight from wets to slicks.
Ferrari had hurriedly told Leclerc not to pit but the message came too late.
“When you start with your two cars on the front row and you don’t win, it means something went wrong from our side. I think we made a few poor decisions and we paid the price,” said team boss Mattia Binotto.
“I am sorry for Charles, because it’s his home race, so it was particularly important for him, as indeed it was for all of us.
“There were other elements that affected today’s result, such as the traffic that both our drivers encountered when they rejoined the track after their pit stops, a factor that probably cost Carlos the win.”
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)
