Mercedes boss Toto Wolff calls for changes to Monaco rules after disappointing race. Toto Wolff expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of the new double pit stop rule at the Monaco GP.

Double zero
No points for Mercedes in Monaco. The Brackley team paid a high price for the disaster during qualifying yesterday, with Kimi Antonelli’s crash at the end of Q1 and George Russell’s technical problems at the start of Q2. Today, not even the mandatory double pit stop was enough for the two silver arrows to climb the standings. Moreover, the Brackley team tried to completely shuffle the cards by stopping both cars very late and spending the first two-thirds of the race without any pit stop, while other cars came in and out of the pits.

Toto Wolff’s analysis
“We tried something different, but it didn’t work and actually got worse,” Wolff admitted to Sky Sports F1. The Mercedes team principal, like many insiders, didn’t seem particularly convinced about the effectiveness of the new rule: “This is a race you win or lose on Saturday – Toto Wolff stated – a strategy wasn’t enough to score points, we simply kept the cars out, hoping for a safety car or an accident, all other options didn’t work.”

“Obviously, we would like this event to happen differently – he added, implicitly defending Monaco’s place on the calendar – because all the entertainment around it is fantastic, sponsors love it, there are lots of people, and the race is difficult. Let’s see if next year we can change something with the rules.”

Towards Barcelona
Finally, the Mercedes boss said he does not expect a performance revolution with the introduction of the new front wing stiffness rule coming into effect next weekend in Barcelona: “All teams have a flexible front wing. Everyone has to change, including us. Normally, there isn’t a big difference when everyone has to intervene.”