‘No words’ – How Ferrari threw away victory at the Monaco Grand Prix

MONTE CARLO, Monaco — Charles Leclerc knew what an opportunity Ferrari had let slip through its fingers on Sunday.

“No words,” he said on his radio after the race. “The season is long, but we cannot do that.”

There must have been a lot going through Leclerc’s mind. Just an hour or so earlier, he had been in complete control of his home race. The Monegasque driver had come into the week laughing off questions about a supposed curse at the Monaco Grand Prix, where he had failed to finish in four previous attempts, but between Laps 17 and 23, it was hard to escape the feeling that his hometown hoodoo was very real indeed.

What was most remarkable about Ferrari’s decision-making is that the team made two separate blunders, one that cost Leclerc a win and a second that cost him a place on the podium altogether.

“Sometimes mistakes can happen,” Leclerc told the media later. “But there have been too many mistakes today overall.

“We cannot afford to lose so many points like this. It’s not even from first to second, it’s from first to fourth because after the first mistake we’ve done another one.”

Having locked out the front row of the grid and with Ferrari one-two until the first round of pit stops, the team could make no excuses about its final result.

“When you start with your two cars on the front row and you don’t win, it means something went wrong from our side,” Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto admitted. “I think we made a few poor decisions and we paid the price.”

A driver is never cruising at a Monaco Grand Prix, but Leclerc looked as in control as any race leader could look in those early laps. A prerace rainstorm had prompted the FIA to mandate full wets for everyone at the start — with the rain gone and the track drying out, the key for everyone was going to be the length of the first stint. When it was clear it would not rain again, there were two clear options in play for Ferrari to protect Leclerc’s lead.

Option 1 was to keep Leclerc out on the full wet tyres…