Vowles wants to “review the regulations for Monaco” after awkward race

On the back of an awkward Sunday afternoon at Monte Carlo, Williams team boss James Vowles has urged the sport to review the “rules and regulations” for the race in the Principality.

Williams displayed encouraging pace across the practice sessions at the Monaco Grand Prix, but they were unable to deliver when it really mattered in qualifying.

Alexander Albon set an eye-catching time in Q2, ending up third in the middle part of qualifying, but he ended up tenth on the grid. His team-mate Carlos Sainz was unable to exploit the full potential of Pirelli’s brand-new C6 compound in Q2, and was left down in P11 on grid.

During the race, the Williams pair benefitted from the retirement of Fernando Alonso, and they acted as great team players, helping each other by holding up their direct rivals to create the necessary gaps for the crucial pit stops.

In the end, Albon finished the 78-lap Monte Carlo race in ninth position while Sainz completed the top ten to earn a single championship point for himself and the Grove-based outfit.

Expanding on the race and the introduction of the mandatory two-stop strategy, Williams team boss James Vowles has urged the sport to review the learnings from this weekend ahead of next year’s Monaco Grand Prix.

“It’s great to walk away with points with both drivers and brilliant to watch Alex and Carlos execute really strong teamwork to achieve that.

“We need to review the rules and regulations for Monaco, because racing like this feels wrong and I want us to be racing on performance and merit, and we’re not quite there yet.

Williams have been on a high recently, having scored points with both cars in the last three races. Signing off with a word for the last race of this triple-header, Vowles offered his thoughts: “Looking ahead to Barcelona, let’s keep this run going. That’s three races in a row with double points and there’s lots of opportunity ahead of us,” concluded Vowles.