Mercedes share clarification on apparent Toto Wolff argument with James Vowles

Mercedes chief communications officer Bradley Lord has provided an update on the supposed altercation between Toto Wolff and Williams team principal James Vowles after the Monaco Grand Prix.

Following the 78-lap race in the Circuit de Monaco, the boss of the Brackley-based squad was shown appearing to remonstrate with his counterpart on camera.

Stood above the team garages, the Austrian yelled down to Vowles - who was previously chief strategist at Mercedes - in the pit lane, who shouted back. However, Lord has since explained the exchange was in no way heated.

What instigated the interaction was the contentious two-stop mandate introduced for this F1 season's trip to Monte Carlo.

The experiment did not work as hoped and team strategy, a method employed to great effect by Williams to secure a double points-paying finish, was a prevalent aspect of the race.

Carlos Sainz and then Alex Albon backed George Russell - and Kimi Antonelli - up throughout the grand prix, much to the frustration of the British driver.

However, there was no malice between Wolff and the Williams team principal. Indeed, the former revealed the latter had texted him an apology for the tactics used during the race.

"I was messaging Toto yesterday saying it would be really brilliant if it were a real argument," Lord said before emphasising the good nature of the moment.

"And I just can't imagine him and James actually having that happen. I've seen some stuff on the Internet as well, comparing it to Toto's reaction in Saudi in 2021.

"It looks superficially similar. I was standing there next to that one as well, and I can certainly confirm it was nothing like that at all.

"It was simply just, oh, thanks very much… thanks for the team play. And there was nothing else we could do. And I think as Toto explained afterwards, James had already messaged to say, sorry, we had to play the team game. And he's absolutely right. They did. It gave them two points finishes."

Lord highlighted how Mercedes would have enacted team play in the same position, and in fact did, to consolidate Russell's place on the edge of the points, having started just ahead of team-mate Antonelli in P14.

"It's exactly the sort of thing we'd have been contemplating doing had we been in the position to make it work for both drivers," he added.

"And indeed, it is exactly what we did with George and Kimi to give George that P11 rather than P17 or P18 as Kimi ended up finishing."