Has panic set in at Ferrari after Monaco defeat?

Are Ferrari beginning to panic after the Scuderia weren’t able to turn a front-row lock-out into a victory at the Monaco Grand Prix?

“Not the result we had hoped for,” was the title of Ferrari’s post-race press release to the media, after coming home in second and fourth places.

That could be something of an understatement, given that Ferrari had led the race from first and second at a track where track position is everything.

So difficult is it to clear another car on the streets of Monte Carlo, that Daniel Ricciardo was able to win in 2018 with a car lacking 160 horsepower after an MGU-K failure early in the race.

All the hard work was done – getting through practice, locking out the front row and weathering all the variables and hurdles that Monaco qualifying can throw at a team, and then leading away the field after having the uncertainty of a standing start removed.

But, for only the second time in the last 15 years, rain decided to strike Monte Carlo and ensured that Charles Leclerc didn’t get the straightforward race he so desperately wanted.

“You couldn’t make it up, the guy (Leclerc) was on fire all weekend, incredible pole lap, when did it decide to rain all week? 3 o’clock,” former Red Bull F1 driver Mark Webber said on Channel 4 after the race.

“So that is the last thing you want on pole position here, even though he’s driving so well, but it just brings in so much jeopardy to the race and confusion, big decisions.

“Because guess what, when you’re at the front, pole, there’s only one way you can go and that’s back through the field if you get something wrong.

“So it happened, they exposed themselves again, panicking, not making the right decisions and Red Bull were there to absolutely drive home those errors