Toto Wolff blasts Monaco crane operator for hoisting the Mercedes after FP3: "You’re showcasing a car to everyone in the world"

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff joked that the cranes at the Monaco GP belong to the famous ‘Cirque de Soleil’ act as they manoeuvred Lewis Hamilton’s W14 off the track. The Silver Arrows team principal felt they should have placed the car on a tow truck rather than displaying its underfloor to the audience.

Cirque de Soleil is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus in the world.

Upon being asked about the crane exposing their floor while extracting the car, Toto Wolff said:

“Well, whoever performed the crane has probably worked for Cirque du Soleil. Honestly, that I don’t even comprehend. The car was on the road. You could have put it on a truck. You’re showcasing a car to everyone in the world. That was suboptimum for us, to say the least.”

Mercedes' new revised floor on the W14 was exposed to its rivals as the crane hung the car mid-air while extracting it from the track after Hamilton’s crash in FP3. Joining them was Red Bull’s RB19, which was exposed similarly after Sergio Perez's crash in qualifying.

Commenting on the extraction of Perez's RB19, the Mercedes boss said:

“They are all from Cirque du Soleil. Their car hangs straight. Ours was rear down.”

Wolff believes Red Bull’s floor wasn’t exposed for as long as the Mercedes because the crane swung the W14 around until it was extracted.

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Toto Wolff reckons a top 4 finish is the furthest Mercedes will get in Monaco

Toto Wolff feels sixth and eight fastest in qualifying is not good enough for the Mercedes drivers. He predicted that the furthest their drivers could finish was fourth place. Lewis Hamilton started fifth on the grid after Charles Leclerc’s penalty while George Russell started eighth.

Commenting on the qualifying to on-site media, Wolff said:

“Sixth and eighth is not good. Three tenths off pole [set by Max Verstappen] with both drivers having less than positive Q3s is solid. It’s actually OK. With Lewis and George, if you would have put the last lap together, we would have played the top six. Maybe the top four. That’s OK”.

Mercedes brought updates to their cars, but both drivers felt it was the wrong circuit to evaluate their impact. Hamilton revealed that the feeling of the car is much better and they can assess it further at the Spanish GP in Barcelona. Russell mentioned that they will be bringing more updates in Barcelona.