Mercedes AMG PETRONAS Team Boss, Toto Wolff, was very pleased with the outcome of the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix, in what was a tricky weekend for the Brackley Based squad, having been pushed to the limits by the Red Bull Racing team.
Wolff praised the skills of race winner Lewis Hamilton, who took a big risk on strategy to seal victory, as well as commending Nico Rosberg for being such a great team player and moving over to let the Brit through when it was clear he was much slower, due to experiencing temperature issues in his W07.
“What an incredible drive from Lewis: he didn’t put a foot wrong, we took some risks together as a team and lady luck smiled on us as well. It was an amazing race and just what the doctor ordered after everything we have been through together in recent weeks.
“But I feel really bad for Nico, too; he endured a messy race in a car that didn’t have the pace today, a delayed second pit stop that cost him track position and then found himself stuck behind Alonso for the rest of the race. It was like all his bad luck came on one day and the result was P7.
“In the first stint we told him to let Lewis pass, as that was our best chance of winning the race at that time. The fact that he did so was the gesture of a great team player.
“But we don’t leave Monaco feeling in any way complacent: Red Bull had the performance this weekend and Montreal and Baku will present some very different challenges for us to tackle. So we need to keep pushing on performance and keep chasing the root causes of the problems we have experienced. “
Whether it was just the nature of the Monte-Carlo track that played into Red Bull’s hands on Sunday is not yet known, but Mercedes will not be taking anything for granted as the F1 paddock heads to Canada in two weeks’ time.
