Sainz 'very bitter' after Monaco GP 'disaster'

The Renault driver had started from eighth position but went on to score the final point after struggling with his tyres following his first and only pitstop.

Sainz pitted on lap 15 of 78 for ultrasofts, a decision that left him with over 50 laps to do on Pirelli's second softest compound.

The Spaniard believed the switch to ultrasofts instead of supersofts was a mistake that compromised all his chances of a better result.

"[Scoring just a point feels] very bad, very bitter. I think the race was a bit of a disaster from the start," Sainz told Movistar.

"Even though I was saving the tyres, the fronts degraded a lot. We don't know why and it's something we need to pay attention to.

"And then the decision to switch to the ultrasofts on lap 15 was not the most appropriate."

When asked if he expected the tyres to degrade so much during the race, he said: "No... Well, I did, but apparently other people didn't."

Sainz finished two places behind team-mate Nico Hulkenberg after Renault asked him to let the German driver through heading into the final third of the race as he was running much faster with fresher tyres.

Sainz said the team order was just "an anecdote".

"I think the race was lost before that. It was lost with the degradation that we had with the ultrasofts," he said.

"Even if it's Monaco, the priority is the team and [to] score points. We scored more than McLaren today. The mistake came long before that. Letting Nico through is just an anecdote."

After letting Hulkenberg through, Sainz was also overtaken by Max Verstappen, with the Red Bull driver jumping part of the chicane when passing him.

But Sainz explained that he had no problems with the move.

"I don't care. He was so much faster than [me] that passing me off track or not is something I don't mind," he said.