Sainz: Charles’ victory was fully deserved

Carlos Sainz finished third in Monaco, but emphasizes that he is genuinely happy for Charles Leclerc, his Ferrari teammate, who set the pace in qualifying and in the race at his home circuit.

Q: This is your third podium in Monaco in the last four years. What does this result mean for you?
Carlos Sainz: I think its meaning has more to do with the fact that I am a Ferrari driver, so I am very happy for Charles, for the whole team. I took third place, but when I stood next to my teammate on the podium and he, a Monegasque, climbed to the top step ahead of his compatriots, before all the tifosi and all the Scuderia mechanics, nothing happened better than this photo of didn’t see me in Formula 1.

He deserved this win because he rode great all weekend and did everything really well. I support him because he has been performing very well lately. Of course it was a great day for Ferrari and for Charles.

Question: Let’s go back to the events of the first start: there was contact between your Ferrari and Oscar Piastri’s McLaren. What happened there on turn 1?
Carlos Sainz: I had a very good start and saw that in Turn 1 there was an opportunity to regain some position. But I went too deep into the corner, there was a lot of understeer, but I tried to stay close to Oscar’s McLaren, because this was the only opportunity to overtake.

But coming out of the corner the front of my car started drifting towards him, causing very light contact. It seems that lately Oscar and I have been attracted to each other like a magnet for some reason – why this happens, I don’t understand. After all, we have a good relationship and everything is going well, but on the track we always find each other.

I didn’t even feel the contact, it was so light, but soon after leaving Turn 1 I felt the tire was punctured. Of course, at that point it seemed like the race was over for me. But then I was lucky enough to get back to 3rd position and stay there until the finish.

Question: Did the car sustain any damage, or was the team able to repair everything during the break between starts?
Carlos Sainz: No, even if you look at the tire you will see that the gash caused by the contact was very small and there was nothing wrong with the car. I was a bit unlucky when the tire went flat, but then I was lucky when third position was returned. To be honest, everything that happened next can be called a new race, in which some opportunities arose, but did not allow normal overtaking.

Question: Do you find it annoying if you have to travel at a rather slow pace in such a train of cars? Weren’t you tempted to try to overtake by taking the inside radius in the corner and pushing Oscar aside?
Carlos Sainz: There was such a temptation several times, but of course I know what Monaco is, and I understand that any attempt to maneuver will most likely lead to contact between the cars, therefore there is a risk that none of us will be able to finish reaches.

I felt like both of us, Oscar and I, had something to lose. My team too. Unfortunately this is Monaco. But both in the first fifteen laps and in the last ten laps there were some temptations, but a real opportunity to overtake, avoiding contact between the cars, never arose.

From Friday I knew I could ride laps at a good pace. During the race I was also able to maintain a good pace, but in Monaco everything depends on your position on the track, and we lost to Oscar based on the qualifying results.

Question: Now let’s talk about the future: in the Constructors’ Championship, Ferrari is only 24 points behind Red Bull. Do you think the real fight for the championship has already begun? Can you count on a victory with the car on every circuit?
Carlos Sainz: Common sense dictates that Red Bull still maintains a lead on a normal circuit. Let’s hope we’re no longer talking about their complete dominance. But they remain favorites. Moreover, there will be a very intense rivalry between us and McLaren. I think all three teams are performing at about the same level now.

You can remember the races at Imola and Miami – these are the last ‘regular’ circuits we competed in, and it seems like there we were about half a tenth behind McLaren and maybe one or two tenths behind Red Bull.
This means that if we make at least a little progress, if we modernize the car a little more, we already have a chance to compete for victories.

But in Monaco we always performed with confidence. On city circuits such as Monaco and Singapore, the strengths of the Ferrari car were clearly visible last year.

At the same time, since we closed the gap in the team rankings to 24 points, you can see that when we manage to increase the pressure on our opponents, as we did in Monaco, this is what happens: Max made a mistake on his second attempt in the qualifying final and Sergio Perez fell completely out of contention in the first session.

We just have to always give everything, do everything we can, and then everyone will see that Red Bull can also have difficulties. The weekend in Monaco was a good example of this.