Toto Wolff criticizes Monaco format after disastrous weekend for Mercedes

In Monaco, qualifications and strategy are more important than anything else: after they won pole position on Saturday, they have to make it concrete on Sunday with winning choices between drivers and pits, given the near impossibility of overtaking on the Principality's narrow streets.

This characteristic makes the races an endless series of cars, which usually cross the checkered flag in the same starting order, apart from a few withdrawals. In an attempt to revive the race, the FIA ​​and F1 introduced mandatory two pit stops in 78 laps this year. At the last race, there were those who made the most of this change, even with games within the same team between the two drivers.

The one who wasn't, however, was Mercedes, who waited the full 65 laps to make the first of two mandatory pit stops and finish the race two laps ahead of winner Lando Norris. The Brackley team failed to score any points in Monte Carlo, also due to a disastrous qualifying session: Antonelli hit the wall at the end of Q1, after qualifying, while Russell suffered electrical problems with his car and did not take part in Q2.

Mercedes strategy in Monaco

Mercedes' strategy was immediately apparent in Monaco: while the drivers waltzed into the pits after making their mandatory two stops, Russell and Antonelli were only called in for a tyre change two-thirds of the way through the race. The Mercedes boss says they tried a different strategy, which ultimately did not work.

"We tried something different, but it didn't work and it ended up worse," Wolff told Sky F1. "This is a race that is won and lost on Saturday. Strategy is not enough to get into the points. We simply left the cars out there hoping for a safety car or a crash, and all other options failed," he explains.

“There was no scenario that made sense. I think whatever we did, we would always be behind Williams. We thought about pitting early thinking we would gain positions, but our strategy group showed that in Monaco that wouldn’t work.”

The Mercedes boss then touched on the issue of the new rules that were in place at this year’s Monaco Grand Prix.

“Obviously we would like to see this event run differently because all the fun around it is fantastic, the sponsors love it, there are so many people and the race is tough. We’ll see if we can change something in the rules next year,” concluded Toto Wolff.