Mercedes boss Toto Wolff does not agree that Scuderia Ferrari purposely favoured Sebastian Vettel by helping the German driver overtake teammate Kimi Raikkonen during the only pit stop of the race in Monte Carlo to win the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday:
“It was not clear how the tyre would perform at that stage of the race. They needed to pit one of the two drivers and put one on the super-soft and how it all planned out, the super-soft was not quick enough and Sebastian was able to pull out some stunning laps on the used ultra-soft and that gave him the advantage over Kimi. I don’t think they saw that coming. At the end of the day, it was the right result for the team and for the driver championship but I do not think it was orchestrated. They are finally where we were back in the days where you finish one and two and have to explain why the right guy won. First of all, it is fair to say that they deserved the win, they had the quickest car out there so as a team result, the one and two is good and congratulations from our side. I think we need to give them credit.” – Toto Wolff explained at the end of the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix, as reported by espn.com.
Mercedes have had a very difficult weekend in Monte Carlo, with Valtteri Bottas finishing fourth and Lewis Hamilton only seventh, after starting 13th on the grid, but the current Formula One champions will definitely continue to fight Ferrari for the titles: “Our target would be that it’s the worst race of the season hopefully, an outlier like we’ve had in Singapore. It is just about bringing the tyres into the right window and we have a fast car but she doesn’t like the tyres. That is something which we need to understand why that is because Ferrari is able to put the car on the floor and it goes from straight from the beginning until the end.” – Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff added.
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