Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says that third and fifth was “damage limitation” for the team at the Monaco Grand Prix, as it missed out to Red Bull and Ferrari.
Daniel Ricciardo claimed his second victory of the season as he managed an MGU-K failure while Sebastian Vettel finished runner-up for Ferrari.
Mercedes was conscious during the build-up to the weekend that it would face a challenge in Monaco, 12 months after it suffered one of its worst performance of the hybrid era.
Nonetheless, Wolff expressed satisfaction that its advantage in the Constructors’ Championship over Ferrari was reduced by only five points, as Lewis Hamilton took third, with Valtteri Bottas fifth.
“I would say as much as we like to win races you need to also be conscious enough that there will be days when it’s more difficult,” he said.
“It’s damage limitation, third and fifth I would have taken before the weekend. But then our own expectations, you always want to aim higher.
“Lewis suffered from graining on both tyre compounds which he had to manage through most of the race.
“We discussed making another stop but it would only have cost us positions, not gained any, so it was the right call to stay out.
“We could have pitted Valtteri [under the Virtual Safety Car] and he wouldn't have lost a position and he would have been on a fresh tyre towards the end.
“But we didn’t have any Supersofts anymore for him, we didn’t want to put him on the hyper or the ultra and it wouldn’t have changed anything for him.
“You could see that even if you have a five-second lap time advantage you will not overtake unless something happens, so it didn't make any difference.”
