Leclerc: Toro Rosso and Hartley played a bit of a game in Monaco GP
Sauber Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc believes Toro Rosso played "a bit of a game" during the Monaco Grand Prix by getting Brendon Hartley to slow down others
Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly ran a very long first stint to rise from 10th to sixth but looked as though he would drop out of the points as others stopped earlier and eradicated his pitstop window.
Hartley was 12th, heading a group of midfield contenders that moved into points contention by stopping earlier, and just 15 seconds behind Gasly on lap 26 but had dropped to 28s back when Gasly pitted 10 laps later.
"That was so frustrating," said Leclerc, who was bottled up behind Hartley. "I think Toro Rosso has played a bit of a game.
"Brendon was clearly slowing down at one point. We were like 2.8s slower than the laps we were doing at the end of the race.
"Before that we were in a very good place to score points, theoretically."
Gasly defied all expectations for hypersoft tyre management by extending his opening stint so long, which he admitted was an improvisation from his team as it monitored the performance of the otherwise unpopular compound.
At the beginning of the phase that re-established Gasly's pitstop window, Hartley caught a five-car train led by Nico Hulkenberg, who was also running long.
Hartley fell away from that group during an erratic spell in which his laptimes rose into the 1m20s, having been consistently 1m18s before.
It took Hartley another dozen laps after Gasly stopped before he started to consistently improve again, which Hartley said was down to the front tyres graining.
Several drivers struggled with this during the same phase of the race but Hartley felt his problem was exacerbated by front wing damage from the a first-lap bump with Leclerc.
"Initially I did a few very good laps to get the undercut, which worked very well, then I suffered big time with graining," Hartley explained.
"The team told me others were suffering the same, but I think having damage on the front wing wasn't helping."
Hartley picked up a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pitlane, which meant that even when it looked like his group would get ahead of the runners yet to stop he was poised to tumble down the order.
"If we were in their position, considering Brendon's penalty, we probably would have done the same as a team," said Leclerc.
"It's not blaming anything on Toro Rosso, it was just frustrating to be the car behind."
The on-track battle between Hartley and Leclerc ended in a spectacular crash when Leclerc's front left brake disc "exploded" under braking for the Nouvelle chicane.
Sauber had registered a brake problem on Leclerc's car but thought it would survive to the end of the race.
Red Bull was willing to let Ricciardo's engine fail in Monaco F1 race
Ferrari's chief F1 designer Simone Resta leaves to join Sauber
The Schumacher trait that will give Haas hope in F1 2022
Mick Schumacher’s knack of improving during his second season in a championship was a trademark of his junior formula career, so his progress during his rookie Formula 1 campaign with Haas was encouraging. His target now will be to turn that improvement into results as the team hopes to reap the rewards of sacrificing development in 2021
The “glorified taxi” driver central to F1’s continued safety push
As the driver of Formula 1’s medical car, Alan van der Merwe’s job is to wait – and hope his skills aren’t needed. JAMES NEWBOLD hears from F1’s lesser-known stalwarts
When BMW added F1 'rocket fuel' to ignite Brabham's 1983 title push
There was an ace up the sleeve during the 1983 F1 title-winning season of Nelson Piquet and Brabham. It made a frontrunning car invincible for the last three races to see off Renault's Alain Prost and secure the combination's second world title in three years
How “abysmal” reliability blunted Brabham’s first winner
Brabham’s first world championship race-winning car was held back by unreliable Climax engines – or so its creators believed, as STUART CODLING explains
The steps Norris took to reach a new level in F1 2021
Lando Norris came of age as a grand prix driver in 2021. McLaren’s young ace is no longer an apprentice or a quietly capable number two – he’s proved himself a potential winner in the top flight and, as STUART CODLING finds out, he’s ready to stake his claim to greatness…
The original F1 maestro who set the bar for Schumacher and Hamilton
Juan Manuel Fangio, peerless on track and charming off it, established the gold standard of grand prix greatness. NIGEL ROEBUCK recalls a remarkable champion
How Russell sees his place in the Mercedes-Hamilton F1 superteam
George Russell joining Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes this year gives it arguably the best line-up in Formula 1 – if it can avoid too many fireworks. After serving his apprenticeship at Williams, Russell is the man that Mercedes team believes can lead it in the post-Hamilton era, but how will he fare against the seven-time champion? Autosport heard from the man himself
How F1 pulled off its second pandemic season and its 2022 implications
OPINION: The Formula 1 season just gone was the second to be completed under the dreaded shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, but in many ways it was much more ‘normal’ than 2020. Here’s the story of how the championship’s various organisers delivered a second challenging campaign, which offers a glimpse at what may be different next time around