27/05/2025 08:10
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has defended George Russell
after the Briton was penalised for overtaking Alex Albon illegally
at the Monaco Grand Prix. The race around the iconic F1 circuit saw
the enforcement of two mandatory pit stops for the first time. But
coupled with the lack of overtaking opportunities, some teams
instructed one of their drivers to drive deliberately slow to allow
their team-mate to pit and re-emerge in the points. One such squad
who deployed the tactic was Williams, with Alex Albon backing off
his pace to benefit team-mate Carlos Sainz. On lap 50, before he
had made the first of his two pit stops, Russell overtook Albon by
going into the run-off area at Turn 10, stating he was "avoiding a
collision" due to the Thai-British driver going so slowly. When he
was instructed to give the place back, he stated he would "take the
time penalty" and build a gap Albon, before the stewards slapped
him with a drive-through. Wolff stated Russell was attempting to
trial a different approach, as overtaking was an impossible task
around the narrow street circuit. "The amount of back off was
catching him [Russell] and Kimi [Antonelli] out," Wolff told media
including RacingNews365 . "I think Kimi was the one who nearly
crashed into one of the Williams' on braking. "You think about
going 5.5 seconds slower also then this becomes a different track,
different braking points. "With George, same situation. It was
difficult to stop the car, just going straight, and 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." Toto Wolff reveals Mercedes strategy
debate Wolff revealed that Williams team principal James Vowles,
who was once a crucial member of the Mercedes F1 set-up, sent him a
text during the race in which he apologised for his squad's
strategy. Mercedes was the last team in the field to conduct their
first pit stops, with Russell not opting to switch tyres until lap
53. Ahead of the race, it was unknown how it would play out with so
many potential strategies theorised. Wolff admitted he was keen to
make two early pit stops and then cycle back to the front once
others had made their stops - however the Mercedes strategy team
saw the dangers of traffic, which put a stopper in the idea. "We
had quite an interesting discussion this morning on strategy, and I
said, 'well, let's do that," Wolff said. "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. You can see the ones that did the early stop, and it
didn't change anything."
