The Monegasque knows from last year that Charles Leclerc is on pole position after an accident in Q3 in Monaco. But this year the Ferrari driver was not the trigger. Instead, Red Bull driver Sergio Pérez caused a red phase with an accident in turn 8, which froze all positions at the end of qualifying.
Pérez had lost control of his car in the porter curve in front of the tunnel and crashed into the barriers. Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz was then unable to avoid it and also crashed into the Red Bull, so that both vehicles completely blocked the track.
The Mexican had to go to the medical center for an examination due to an exceeded g-value, but remained uninjured: “I think there was a technical problem because I had g-forces in the range of 20, but it’s actually a slow section and fortunately there are TecPro barriers there,” says the Red Bull driver.
At that point, Pérez was in third place ahead of team-mate Max Verstappen and wanted to reach for the Ferraris again. “I was pretty close to my own time and wanted to make up time,” he explains.
No grip on the rear axle
In turn 8 he had a few problems before and this time he wanted to anticipate them and open the throttle early. “But when I stepped on the gas, I didn’t feel any grip on the rear tires,” he says. He had already noticed beforehand that the last set of tires had not warmed up. “It was quite difficult to drive and I almost lost it in Turn 1,” he says.
But what didn’t “work” in turn 1 worked in turn 8: “I played with the gas a bit until I lost it,” he quarrels. “It’s a shame because I think we would have had more pace,” said the Red Bull driver. “I’m sorry for Carlos and for the other guys. But that’s Monaco.”
Sainz was driving directly behind Pérez at the time and, according to his own statement, had no opportunity to swerve. “I came out of the blind turn 7 and then saw a yellow flag on the left,” he describes.
Sainz: “Would have been a cool save…”
“I knew immediately that the car in front of me crashed, but you can’t see where it crashed. You drive into the curve and don’t know where it will be,” said Sainz. He got on the brakes and tried to take the radius of the curve as tightly as possible.
“But just as I was about to pass him, I applied the brakes a little harder and touched his rear end with my rear end,” says Sainz. “Had I made that, it would have been a pretty cool save because I didn’t actually have time to intercept it. That’s what happens in Monaco.”
Sainz will therefore start tomorrow’s race from second on the grid behind his team-mate Charles Leclerc, one position behind will be Sergio Pérez, who finished third ahead of team-mate Max Verstappen. But the question is how badly damaged Pérez’s Red Bull is, because Leclerc was unable to start after his accident last year.
“It looks bad,” says Pérez. “It certainly looks pretty bad at the back and what made it worse was Carlos’ goal. The car is quite damaged but we’ll see. It should be okay for tomorrow though.”