Charles Leclerc believes Ferrari made “too many mistakes” that ultimately saw him miss out on a first-ever home victory in Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix.
Leclerc led the early stages of the race from pole position after a heavy rain shower delayed the start, building a lead of more than five seconds to team-mate Carlos Sainz.
But as conditions began to improve, Leclerc lost out to Red Bull’s Sergio Perez after pitting one lap later for the intermediate tyres – dropping him to third place.
The track eventually dried out enough for a crossover to slick tyres, but a late miscommunication from Ferrari meant Leclerc was forced to double stack behind Sainz who had taken a gamble to stay out on wets.
Leclerc voiced his anger over team radio as the team’s call for him to stay out had come too late, which saw him lose a further position to Max Verstappen.
Following a second red flag stoppage for Mick Schumacher’s hefty crash, Leclerc was unable to make progress from fourth place – finishing just under three seconds behind race winner Perez.
While it was Leclerc’s first finish at his home race, he felt Ferrari’s mistakes on strategy had cost him a better result as he slipped to nine points behind Verstappen in the drivers’ standings.
“Sometimes mistakes can happen but there has been too many mistakes today overall,” Leclerc told Sky Sports.
“Obviously in those conditions we rely a little bit on what the team can see because you don’t see what the others are doing with intermediates, with dry tyres.
“I’ve been asked questions if I wanted to go from the extreme wets to the slicks and I said, ‘yes but not now, a bit later on in the race’, but I don’t understand what made us change our minds and go on the intermediates.
“We got undercut then I stopped behind Carlos. There have been a lot of mistakes and we cannot afford to do that.”
Leclerc admitted his latest disappointment in Monaco “hurts a lot”, calling on Ferrari to learn from its errors that could prove critical amid its championship battle with Red Bull.
“It is hard as it has been in the other years here, so I am getting use to it and getting back home feeling disappointed but we cannot do that, especially in a moment that we are in now,” Leclerc said.
“We are extremely strong now, the pace is strong, we need to take these opportunities, we cannot lose so many points like this, it is not even from first to second, it is from first to fourth, because after the first mistake we did another one.
“I love my team and I am sure we’ll come back stronger, it hurts a lot.”
