Felipe Nasr has apologised for his part in the “worst scenario” Sauber found themselves at the end of a disastrous Monaco Grand Prix.
The Brazilian was forced to retire from the race after being hit by his teammate Marcus Ericsson 49 laps into the race. Ericsson also retired, making it a double blow for the team.
Nasr was running at the back of the field after his second pitstop, working with a different strategy to his team mate after starting from the pit lane.
“Marcus and I were on different strategies, so his second pitstop was earlier than mine.”
The Brazilian was given team orders to allow Ericsson past as his team mate was faster. Nasr believed he was still in with a chance of racing with the cars ahead and chose to ignore what was, to him, the badly timed call.
“My tyres started to get up to temperature and I was catching the cars in front. For me, it was not the right timing to swap positions.”
Ericsson took things into his own hands, attempting a risky move on Nasr.
“Suddenly, in Rascasse I felt my car being hit. It was surely disappointing for everyone as the whole team works very hard. I apologise for what happened. We need to make sure this will never happen again.”
