Carlos Sainz has called on Formula 1, the FIA and drivers to ensure that “manipulating” a race outcome, as he believed happened in Monaco, can never happen again.

Sainz‘s plea came after Williams and VCARB tactically created gaps with a slow-moving driver to tackle the mandatory two-stop rule, with double points finishes being the result for each team, as Sainz’s Williams team-mate Alex Albon apologised to the fans and admitted that “we put on a bad show for everyone”.

Sainz and Albon ashamed after Monaco GP shenanigans

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

In a bid to spice-up the action in Monte Carlo for 2025 – with overtaking at a premium around the circuit – the FIA made it compulsory that each driver complete at least two pit stops in the race.

VCARB and Williams found that the best way of using that rule to their advantage was to have one car drop off the pace and back the pack up to engineer a gap, with the VCARB duo of Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson finishing P6 and P8 respectively, while for Williams, Albon crossed the line P9 and Sainz P10.

After the race, Sainz made it abundantly clear that he was not proud of the tactics used, and wants to see changes to make sure that such a situation cannot happen again.

With Albon initially yielding to free up Sainz, ahead of the positions being reversed towards the end, Sainz was asked by the media, including PlanetF1.com, for his stance on the swapping of positions.

“It’s not only the swapping positions, it’s driving four seconds off the pace at some stages of the race,” he replied.

“Ultimately, we were victims, first from Lawson. That managed to lose 40 seconds to Isack, two pit stops that Isack could do in front of us, to do his two pit stops and finish P5.

“As we were victims of that situation, we had to, in the end, do the same thing as Lawson did both times with Alex and myself to make sure we brought the two cars to the points.

“Something I definitely didn’t enjoy doing, something definitely the sport should look into. Ultimately, yeah, you were driving two or three seconds off the pace that the car can do. You are ultimately manipulating the race and manipulating the outcome a bit.

“So we should find a way that this cannot be done in the future, because I have the feeling then every year people are going to do it more and more, and it’s becoming more of a trend the last few years.

“So in that sense, the two-stop, if anything, helped to maybe spice-up the around the pit windows, to have two pit stops, but it made us have to do the slow driving twice, which is not a very good look for the sport.”

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At one stage, Mercedes’ George Russell thought “screw it”, deciding he had had enough of the Williams plan and straight-lined the Nouvelle chicane to overtake Albon, resulting in a drive-through penalty.

“I completely understand why he did it,” said Sainz on Russell, “because I nearly did it on Alex and Lawson in front for the first part of the race.

“I think ultimately, the sport should look at a way where manipulating a race outcome with the pace shouldn’t be allowed when it’s as obvious as it was today.

“Around Monaco, it’s too easy to do. At other tracks, DRS and straights, you cannot do. But today was very easy to do for everyone. Drivers that are as talented as we are, to know where to back off three seconds, but then push when you have good tyres to don’t get overtaken.

“So I hope maybe some drivers, we will have a good think about it and come up with a solution. And if not, I expect, hopefully the sport, together with the FIA, to maybe come up with some ideas to see what we can do.”

Sainz quipped that such was the slow pace of the race, he had time to think-up a “joker” solution to racing in Monaco, before making a veiled reference to the Singapore 2008 ‘Crashgate’ scandal as he returned to his point of manipulation.

At that race, Renault ordered Nelson Piquet Jr to crash his car, which played a key role in team-mate Fernando Alonso going on to win.

Asked for ideas on a possible Monaco solution, Sainz said: “Today, I had time in the car to think about it, because I was driving so slow, behind and in front of people that I was like, ‘What could we do for this not to be allowed?’

“And I was thinking in the car, and I was like, maybe having a joker lap, where you just jump the chicane like George did, and get the someone out of the way and waste your joker. If you cannot pass, at least take a shortcut without a penalty if someone is obviously being very rude to you.

“The joker, that was just a joke, I don’t think that’s the solution.

“But as gimmicks, for me, we need to look at the spirit of the sport more, and the spirit of the sport, I don’t think should be to manipulate a race outcome.

“In the past, there were huge penalties for manipulating a race, I remember.

“Ultimately, we are not crashing, but we are driving so slow that we are manipulating a race. So we need to find… Obviously, it’s allowed, so perfect. But ultimately, you need to maybe find a solution.”

Albon was equally unimpressed with what went down, concurring with Sainz that it was a necessary evil to react to VCARB, but a tactical move which he admits is damaging for Formula 1.

“Not how we want to go racing, I don’t think, Carlos and I, no one,” he told Sky F1. “I know we put on a bad show for everyone, and I know we made a few angry drivers behind us in the process as well.

“It’s just taking advantage of the track, the size of the cars, and that’s it really.

“The two-stop just made us do it twice rather than once, and yeah, just frustrating, I think.

“Apologies to everyone who watched that. That wasn’t very pretty.

“Being honest, we didn’t want to do it, and we never planned to do it. Once we knew on Thursday this was going to be a thing, and when the RB started it, basically… If they didn’t start it, we would never have done it.

“But the way that they boxed everyone up, you then have to do the same thing for yourselves. Yeah, sorry.”

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