Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur has defended the strategy that left Carlos Sainz fuming at his engineer and the Ferrari team at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Sainz started the race on the hard tyre and tried to dummy Esteban Ocon into pitting several times in the first stint of the race.
Lewis Hamilton‘s pit stop triggered Ocon to pit and, to the surprise of Sainz, the Ferrari driver also pitted.
The Spaniard blasted his team over the radio, saying that he did not care about Hamilton and that his pace was quick.
“No, I think it was a good strategy,” Vasseur told select members of the press, including Total-Motorsport.com.
“Because that is when we had to pit him [Sainz] to cover Hamilton. It was to avoid losing the position to Hamilton.
“I think it was a difficult call because, as I said before, position is key on this track. It would have been better to extend if we were not at risk with Hamilton, and then we can discuss when the rain came.
“On our side, I have no regret because we didn’t lose the position in front. It doesn’t matter if you are in a much better shape, if you are behind then you are behind.”
Disappointment for Sainz
Sainz was harrying Ocon throughout the opening stages but when the rain came, the pace of the Ferrari disappeared.
He went from racing for a podium to losing massive amounts of time to the likes of Lando Norris, who had previously been duelling for a singular point.
Norris had gained 14 seconds in six laps at one stage of the intermediate tyre stint, such was the Briton’s pace advantage against his former McLaren teammate.
