Carlos Sainz has blamed the lapped Nicholas Latifi for costing him a first F1 victory at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Runner-up for the first time on the streets of Monte Carlo last year, Sainz repeated that finishing position – only this time he passed the chequered flag a mere 1.154sec behind winner Sergio Perez.
A race badly delayed by heavy rain and a further red-flag stoppage after a Mick Schumacher crash ended with the two Red Bulls and two Ferraris separated by less than six seconds when the two-hour time limit, plus one more lap, had been reached.
Sainz could never make a move on Perez in the closing stages with overtaking extremely difficult, but the Spaniard felt his best chance had gone when conditions were drying up.
The 27-year-old had worked out going from extreme wet tyres to slicks, rather than intermediates, was the best move, but on lap 21 he was the victim of the overcut as he ended the pit-stop phase second on the road behind Perez who had stopped a lap later.
However, Sainz felt he could have made his strategy work but for getting stuck behind Latifi in the lapped Williams.
Onboard footage of Sainz’s outlap where he was stuck behind a lapped Latifi. Latifi ignored blue flags from Saint Devote until the exit of Portier. Ultimately cost Carlos the win.#F1 #MonacoGP #CarlosSainz #ScuderiaFerrari pic.twitter.com/DMPeZsO3ke
— av (@formulaark) May 29, 2022
“I felt like we did everything we had to do out there,” said Sainz in his parc ferme interview.
“We stayed patient on the wets, took the right decision to go onto the slicks and a lapped car, a terrible out-lap stuck behind a lapped car, cost me the win today.
“You can understand the frustration because a clean out-lap would have secured me the win today, but it’s how this sport is sometimes.”
Asked about his decision to skip intermediates – a suggestion he had made himself over team radio from an early stage – Sainz added: “I knew it from halfway through the first stint. I…
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