Voules apologized to Wolff for his tactics in Monaco

      After the finish of the Monaco Grand Prix, Toto Wolff admitted, and we quoted his words, that there was not a single scenario in which Mercedes drivers would have a chance to earn points.

      The head of the Stuttgart-based factory team called this race frankly unsuccessful, partly because the rivals, who chose specific tactics that were possible only in Monaco, created additional difficulties.

      Firstly, Liam Lawson deliberately drove slowly to allow Isaac Hajjar, his Racing Bulls teammate, to make pit stops without losing positions, and then Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, the Williams drivers, did the same. All of them earned points, while George Russell, the best Mercedes representative, finished 11th, just outside the top ten.

      "There were teams that tried to jump over their heads, like Racing Bulls, and they had to defend their positions," Wolff commented. "Williams did the same thing, and we probably became one of the victims of such tactics. But these are just the consequences of the fact that our qualifying on Saturday was not the best."

      He said that James Vowles, the head of Williams Racing, who had worked for Mercedes for many years in the past, sent him a text message during the race that read: "I apologize. We had no choice.

      " "We understand," was Wolff's response.

      Interestingly, Carlos Sainz also called himself and his Williams team-mate "victims" of such tactics, dictated by the strange rule of two mandatory pit stops, which was first tested in Monaco and completely failed to meet expectations.

      "In the end, we became victims because of Lawson, who managed to get 40 seconds behind Hajjar," said the Spanish rider. Isaac, who was driving in front of us, was able to make his two pit stops and finish sixth.

      Because we were victims of this situation, we ended up having to do the same thing that Lawson did so that Alex and I could earn points.

      I didn't like doing this at all, and the championship management should pay attention to the situation. I had to drive two or three seconds slower than the car allowed, and actually manipulate the race results. Therefore, we need to find a way to prevent such tactics from being used in the future, because I have the impression that every year people resort to it more and more, and this is becoming a trend.… It's not good for our sport. I don't think that manipulating the results of a race meets the spirit of Formula 1.…

      I'm not going to lie, I've used it in the past. In 2019, Lando Norris helped me in the same way when we were driving for McLaren, and I finished 6th in Monaco. In general, this has been happening on this track for a long time, and the rules allow it. But I still don't want to be allowed to use such tactics, so we need to find some kind of solution..."