Jolyon Palmer: I think Ferrari Perez . has forgotten

In a column, former Formula 1 driver Jolyon Palmer discussed the mistakes of Ferrari strategists that cost Charles Leclerc his victory at the Monaco Grand Prix…

Ferrari had won the entire front row at the start and should have won the Monaco Grand Prix. In a typical solar race this would have happened, but as the rain started while the drivers were on the grid, the fate of the race was by no means a foregone conclusion.

The last time the team, whose drivers started first and second, did not win the Monaco Grand Prix in 2008. Then the race was also held under varying conditions and Ferrari lost and Lewis Hamilton won a surprising victory.

Track position is crucial in Monaco. Everyone knows how difficult it is to overtake on the streets of the Principality, and I think Ferrari made a big mistake by losing the lead to Sergio Perez.

Red Bull had nothing to lose when they moved Perez to intermediate tires. They started third and fourth and knew they had to take risks to stay ahead of Ferrari and that’s exactly what the team did.

Now a pit stop for Perez seems like an obvious decision, but at the time it turned out to be a gamble. Sergio returned to the track behind Lando Norris, and if McLaren had not jeopardized their own strategy by calling Norris into the pits, Sergio would have had to overtake the Briton. Even if he succeeded, it would take a long time, undermining his chances of success.

Norris, however, entered the pits at the end of the lap and Pérez found himself on an empty track on tires much faster than Ferrari’s wet tyres. And the moment Perez suddenly added, Ferrari was in a quandary.

Ferrari tried to switch Carlos Sainz to intermediate tires, but the Spaniard did the right thing by defending his opinion – he wanted to stay on track and wait for the switch to slicks. It turned out to be the right decision.

In turn, the race leader, Charles Leclerc, did not argue with the strategy, believing that the team knows better because it has all the information about the situation in the race. Up to that point, Leclerc had done everything right – he had a clear weekend, with a lead of about five seconds and ignorant of what others were doing. In theory, his separation from the pack was enough to make him oblivious to what was happening behind him.

Ferrari probably thought so too, but it seems to me they forgot Perez. When Leclerc returned to the track after switching to intermediate tyres, the team suddenly informed him that a fierce battle with Perez would be on the road. Charles was even four seconds behind the Mexican. Ferrari clearly did not expect this, but if they had paid the necessary attention to Perez, they should have.

The extent to which Ferrari miscalculated Leclerc’s strategy is evidenced by the fact that he was called to the pits for slicks after three laps. In fact, it was only two laps after the first riders switched to dry tires.

Leclerc’s pit stop to switch to intermediate tires cost him the race win. Such a decision by the team could be triggered by a mixture of pressure and panic at a tense and decisive moment in the race.

However, I believe Ferrari could have won the race thanks to Carlos Sainz, who rebuffed the team’s attempts to put intermediate tires on him. After his pit stop, however, he returned to the track just behind Nicholas Latifi, and Sainz was left half a lap behind until the Williams driver let him pass in the tunnel. Had Sainz returned to the track for Latifi, he would have lost less than two seconds and could potentially have won the Monaco Grand Prix.

I think Latifi missed Sainz at the right time. Looping in Monaco is always difficult, and apart from a minimal chance of Mirabeau, there was nothing more to expect from Latifi.

Perez looked great all weekend and regularly outperformed the eminent partner, then executed the strategy brilliantly. In a tight battle between Ferrari and Red Bull for the title, this was a result Ferrari could not afford, especially after Leclerc’s retirement in Spain and Verstappen’s recovery.

The main features of the Monaco circuit, such as the lack of long straights, the need to tune the car for high downforce and low tire degradation, were in Ferrari’s favor, but somehow they managed to manage Red Bull and Verstappen increased his lead in the individual classification.

After the race, Leclerc made no secret of his disappointment, which is understandable. In Monaco he trusted the team, but the team let him down. Formula 1 is a team sport and he knows that all too well. There’s no point in mourning spilled milk.

The season goes on and it’s important to learn from your mistakes and not repeat them. Ferrari will try to bounce back at Baku, another circuit where the Monaco driver took pole position last year.