Ferrari "cautious" on Monaco hopes despite Spanish progress - Sainz

Carlos Sainz has exercised caution on Ferrari's chances at Monaco this weekend despite the Scuderia's best-of-the-rest performance at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Although Sainz finished seventh at his home race, team-mate Charles Leclerc was a comfortable fourth behind both Mercedes and Red Bull's Max Verstappen to ensure Ferrari outscored McLaren for this first time this season.

Despite momentum gathered in Barcelona ahead of the return of Monaco to the ||||F1 calendar, Sainz is wary of the unique nature of the street circuit.

"I think it’s a very specific circuit," said Sainz. "Obviously, having good downforce in the last sector [in Spain] gives you a good feeling and puts you in a good state of mind going into Monaco.

"Monaco has some specifics of car set-up, tyre preparation for the qualifying, but the cars are so different in Monaco that it could really change the picture a bit.

"What we need to focus on is what we learned from Spain, try to put together the best possible plan, the best possible set-up for Monaco and definitely try to maximise our performance there.

"I would keep it cautious to see how it goes there with different cars and set-ups."

In order to bridge the gap to team-mate Leclerc, Sainz has cited race starts as an area of improvement to rediscover his lightning getaways of last season.

“I went through the data analysis with my engineers trying to understand what I could have done better," he explained, pointing to the race in Spain.

"What is clear is that I still need to get a bit better and a bit more confidence with the start system and the way we operate to get that perfect launch and that perfect first 100 metres."

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