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Charles Leclerc has explained why Ferrari waited for one lap too many to pit for intermediates at the 2023 F1 Monaco GP. He believes that was the case because they expected to have a safety car due to the conditions.
With rain failling down in the second half of the race, Ferrari decided to stay out for one extra lap while everybody else pitted for intermediates. Due to this, Leclerc lost out to George Russell while teammate Carlos Sainz lost out on a shot for the podium.
Talking about the team's decision to wait for one extra lap, Leclerc stated that the team anticipated a safety car making an appearance, hence handing Ferrari a free pitstop.
"We have done mistakes on strategy in the past. I don't think this was a mistake. In those conditions, you have more probability of having a safety car, with so many cars on slicks in the rain. So we were waiting for a safety car by someone making a mistake," Charles Leclerc said.
"That didn't happen and that's it. With the benefit of hindsight, stopping before was the right decision. We had a very difficult car in traffic. Our pace is better than what we have shown today. In the end, I couldn't do much more. The car was very difficult to drive in the wet."
Leclerc ultimately finished the race in sixth place, while Sainz ended up two spots behind him.
Fred Vasseur on Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc's race
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur admitted that the gamble on leaving Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz out for extra laps did not work in the team's favour. He was, however, surprised by Ferrari's lack of pace in the wet weather and said while speaking to the media after the race:
"In the first stint of our race the pace was okay: Carlos tried to push a couple of times to get ahead of [Esteban] Ocon who was slow in front of him, allowing [Max] Verstappen and [Fernando] Alonso to get away at the front.
"Then when the rain came, we were P5 and P7 and we decided to take a risk and try for P3. The conditions were very difficult to manage because the rain turned out to be worse than forecast, so you cannot really blame Carlos for the mistake, but we need to look at why our pace was not so strong in the wet."
It was another disappointing weekend for Charles Leclerc as he once again left his home race without a podium finish to his name.
