At first it looked as if Carlos Sainz’s race in Monaco was already over at the start. In the end, the Ferrari driver was back on the podium in the principality after a third place in 2021 and a second in 2022. The key to success: a bit of luck after initial bad luck.
Carlos Sainz: Red flag saved my Formula 1 race
“I had a really good start and an opportunity in Turn 1,” recalls Carlos Sainz. First alongside Oscar Piastri, he then slightly rammed him. Reason: “I had a lot of understeer, but tried to keep the position with Oscar because that was pretty much the only chance to overtake.”
The McLaren driver was able to continue driving, while Carlos Sainz was in the Casino corner with a puncture on his left front tire. “Sometimes you’re unlucky, like with the slight contact with Oscar. In other cases you have nothing at all, I had a puncture,” he reports. Although he didn’t even feel the contact. “After that, it looked like my race was over.”
A blessing in disguise for the (still) Ferrari driver: the early red flag. On the one hand, he was able to repair his flat tire for free, and on the other hand, the race management gave him back his third place at the restart. Apart from the tire, his SF-24 survived the accident unscathed – in contrast to Oscar Piastri, who suffered damage to the underbody.
Carlos Sainz: Favorite accident partner Oscar Piastri
Carlos Sainz was lucky that there were no further interruptions shortly after the start accident. After he had destroyed his set of medium tires in the Piastri incident, he only had one set of soft tires left. Even in Monte Carlo, where overtaking is not allowed, that would have been a long afternoon in the Ferrari became.
The next 76 laps on the hard tyre were relatively unspectacular: Sainz managed tyres and pace and slowed Lando Norris down for Charles Leclerc. “The pace was very good, but it was impossible to overtake. I did everything I could to control Lando, a possible safety car and the pit stop window. And bring home a 1-3 for the team,” said Sainz.
In the end, the 29-year-old tried to force Piastri to make a mistake under pressure, but after the accident at the start he didn’t want to risk his last shirt. “I knew that the most likely outcome was that we would both drop out,” said Sainz. “In Monaco it’s always all or nothing!”
Carlos Sainz has been colliding with Oscar Piastri noticeably often recently. Things were already heated between the two in Miami. “For some reason, Oscar and I have been attracted to each other like magnets recently,” he said with a grin in the post-race press conference. “I don’t understand why, we actually get on well together!”
Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon are not getting along well. Things escalated again between the Alpine drivers in Monaco. Click here for the article.