In the Monaco Grand Prix, Max Verstappen finished sixth, just ahead of Lewis Hamilton. The race was all about managing the tires, and the top 10 drivers stayed in the same order from the start.
During the race, both drivers had to use the medium tires they switched to after a red flag on the first lap. Mercedes made the first move by bringing Hamilton into the pits on lap 51. However, Hamilton didn’t receive a message about the importance of the out-lap. When he rejoined the race behind Verstappen after Red Bull pitted him one lap later, Hamilton was frustrated and asked, “Why didn’t you tell me the out-lap was critical?”
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff explained that there was a miscommunication on the pit wall. They should have given Hamilton an “out-lap critical” message to try and undercut Verstappen. But there was a debate about whether one lap on the new tire would be enough. So, the message Hamilton got was confusing and probably wrong. It was the team’s fault.
As for why Hamilton waited so long before pitting, Wolff said they wanted to be close to Verstappen and then do the undercut. However, they got the messaging completely wrong.
Meanwhile, George Russell chose not to pit and finished fifth, surviving pressure from Verstappen. The top four drivers – Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, Carlos Sainz, and Lando Norris – all started on medium tires and switched to harder ones under the red flag, which could last until the end of the race.
Wolff admitted that after the crash, they were on the back foot. He believes there wasn’t much they could have done differently in Monaco because the nature of the track means you usually end up where you started.
