Maurizio Arrivabene believes Mercedes threw away a one-two victory at the Monaco Grand Prix because it overestimated its advantage over Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton looked locked on for victory at Monaco until an inexplicable call from the Mercedes pit wall to change tyres under a late safety car. The decision gave track position to Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel and resulted in Hamilton finishing third behind the Ferrari driver.

"In my opinion, they were a bit too much convinced about their power, and I recognise they are very intelligent and stronger than us, but this time we were smarter," the Ferrari boss said.

Mercedes appeared concerned Vettel might pit and attack Hamilton and Rosberg on new tyres at the end, but Arrivabene said that was never a consideration.

"No, actually it was the opposite and we were nervous at the beginning thinking about them to pit. We were looking for the window and our strategist said 'we stay cool, they are doing a kind of show'. In any case, he said that if they come in then we would stay out. He was really straightforward on this and he was right. I know that we were lucky, I'm not telling you something different."