Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has opened up about the mandatory two stops, the Williams drivers backing George Russell and Kimi Antonelli up, and his conversation with James Vowles following their first point-less weekend of the season at the F1 Monaco GP.
The Brackley-based squad already found themselves on the back foot on Saturday when Antonelli crashed out during the first segment of qualifying and Russell encountered an electrical issue in Q2.
Going into the race, strategy remained a big question mark for all ten teams, as the FIA introduced mandatory two stops in Monte Carlo this season to generate more action and entertainment.
Starting Sunday’s race on the hard compound tyres, Russell and Antonelli only completed their pit stops after Lap 60. In the meantime, Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon took turns backing up the Mercedes duo behind them. This allowed the other Williams to build a gap big enough to pit and still come out ahead.
Furthermore, as Russell passed Albon by cutting the Nouvelle Chicane on Lap 50 and received a drive-through penalty as a result, the 27-year-old crossed the line just outside the points. Meanwhile, Antonelli’s race went from bad to worse when he pitted twice in three laps, and the young Italian took the chequered flag three laps down.
Wolff reveals Vowles apologised to him during the race
Asked if he would confront Vowles about the tactic that the Williams pit wall had deployed, Toto Wolff pulled out his phone during his post-race media session and shared the text exchange he had with his Williams counterpart. The messages revealed that Vowles apologised to Wolff after his drivers had backed up Russell and Antonelli during the F1 Monaco GP on Sunday.
Emphasising the great relationship he still maintains with Mercedes’s former Motorsport Strategy Director, the Austrian stated that he understands what was at stake and why Williams resorted to such a move.
In fact, Wolff assigned more blame to the Racing Bulls pit wall since Liam Lawson had started backing up the rest of the field from the opening lap of the race to build a gap for his teammate, Isack Hadjar.
“He [James Vowles] sent me a text in the race.
“‘I’m sorry. We had no choice given what happened ahead.’ I answered, ‘We know’.
“James is one of my guys, and I don’t want to sound patronising because he’s making a career as a team principal, and he’s doing really well.
“He had to do it. You know, it’s two cars in the points, and I think the way it started was these RBs [Racing Bulls] that packed us back off, and that’s what we had to do.”
Qualifying troubles left Mercedes at the mercy of Racing Bulls and Williams
Toto Wolff acknowledged that the Mercedes duo qualifying out of position at the F1 Monaco GP left them at the mercy of midfield teams, which deployed every move in their playbook to finish in the top ten on Sunday.
Highlighting that the Williams drivers were lapping over 5 seconds slower than the race leader, the 53-year-old noted how that altered the braking points and made it difficult for both Antonelli and Russell to effectively slow their cars down. Touching on the Brit’s pass on Albon that led to a drive-through penalty, Wolff admitted that the move was born out of frustration.
“There were teams that were punching above their weight, like the Visa RBs [Racing Bulls]. They had to protect their position, as well as the Williams, and we were probably one of the victims of that. But we were, because our Saturday didn’t go well.
“We had a fast car. Kimi [Antonelli] touched the barrier, and that’s absolutely okay for a rookie. With George [Russell], we just ran out of power out of nowhere. It was a car that was good for the first two rows. Or better.
“Then we raced on the fun part of the track. Where we were, there was just, there was not any land.
“I think the amount of back off was catching him [Russell] and Kimi out. I think Kimi was the one who nearly crashed into one of the Williams on braking. You think about 5.5 seconds slower also then this becomes a different track, different braking points.
“With George, same situation. Difficult to stop the car, just going straight. I think it was a moment of frustration to do something different. We knew that it was a stop-and-go; we were hoping it would be 10 seconds. But it didn’t change anything.”
Wolff defends Mercedes strategy to stay out
In terms of whether the mandatory two stops were effective in spicing up the race, Toto Wolff remarked that additional changes specific to the Circuit de Monaco are necessary to truly revitalise this historic Grand Prix on a Sunday.
Moreover, Wolff dismissed any statements that suggested that the Mercedes pit wall made an error during the F1 Monaco GP with regard to their strategic choice of extending the first stint in the hope of a favourable Safety Car.
“We had quite an interesting discussion this morning on strategy, and I said, ‘well, let’s do that. Stop early, come out, and then catch up.’
“We did the DTM back in the day, it was fantastic.
“You stopped, you were last and you won the race. But the more intelligent people in our strategy group demonstrated to me that that’s not going to work here in Monaco.
“It was the best strategy, and you can see the ones that did the early stop, and it didn’t change anything.”
