Sainz: Second place maybe doesn’t taste as good as it should

Sainz had been eyeing a shot at pole position but had to settle for P4 on the grid when teammate Charles Leclerc crashed and brought Q3 to a premature end.

The damage sustained to Leclerc's car led to him not starting the race, promoting Sainz to third, while a Valtteri Bottas pit stop issue saw him finish second.

The result saw Sainz equal the best finish of his career, and his first podium since joining Ferrari, but the Spaniard was left slightly dissatisfied nonetheless.

“It is a good result,” he said. “I mean, if you had told me before coming to Monaco that I would have finished second, I definitely would have taken it.

“The whole circumstances of the weekend – having Charles on pole, me missing out in qualifying yesterday on a good lap – it maybe doesn’t taste as good as it should.

"But I’m sure when I reflect back on the weekend, I’ll be very happy and proud of the weekend. I think Ferrari, as a team, they need to be proud about the car and the step they’ve done this year.”

While Sainz did not get the race win he craved, he was encouraged by his level of comfort in the car.

“When you see the other car not starting from pole, all of a sudden the responsibility falls on you to salvage the weekend,” he added.

“One car is out, starting from pole, and you want to give the team at least a podium. It was all about getting the start right and there was a lot of traffic around the pit stops, we were lapping the cars very quickly.

"Obviously Valtteri had the problem in the pit stop, but even without that I was feeling very confident in the car today and I felt the team at least deserved a podium this weekend.”