"I hated it to death": Carlos Sainz's unfiltered verdict about the F1 Monaco GP

Williams F1 driver Carlos Sainz was miffed with his race at the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix despite finishing P10. He was antagonized by deliberately having to drive slowly to ensure his teammate, Alex Albon, also finished in the top 10.

The FIA introduced mandatory two pit stops for this year's Monaco GP in an attempt to make the race more interesting. However, teams formulated their strategies in a bid to ensure no positions were lost.

For instance, the Racing Bulls had Liam Lawson drive slowly and keep a significant gap behind his teammate Isack Hadjar to give the latter a free pit stop. Irked by the same, Williams also adopted a similar strategy. Sainz moved ahead of Alex Albon in P9 and maintained a gap on fresh tires before switching to P10 to ensure both drivers ended up in points.

However, Carlos Sainz wasn't a big fan of the strategy. Driving slowly was something he didn't enjoy, and he urged the FIA's intervention.

“I hated it to death, going 3s slower than my pace, but since Lawson did it to us and put us P19 and P20 on the race prediction, we had to do it too. Either we create a rule so it's forbidden or all the teams will do it shamelessly in Monaco," Sainz said.

While the Spaniard didn't enjoy the race, the strategy served the purpose as he finished P10 and Albon got P9. On the other hand, Isack Hadjar had a terrific finish at P6, whereas Lawson got P8.

Meanwhile, the race barely had any overtakes, and Lando Norris crossed the checkered flag first after starting the race from pole. Charles Leclerc finished P2 with Oscar Piastri behind him at P3.

Another championship contender, Max Verstappen, who waited until the last lap to complete his second pit stop, dropped to P4.

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After Carlos Sainz, Alex Albon calls the Monaco GP 'not pretty’

Carlos Sainz [L] Alex Albon [R] at F1 Grand Prix of Monaco - Practice - Source: Getty

Encouraged by the Racing Bulls, Williams Racing formulated a strategy to deliberately drive slowly at the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix. This helped in holding up the competition, as both Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon finished in points.

However, neither Sainz nor Albon was in favor of such tactics. Via Williams' official website, Albon said:

"Today isn’t how either Carlos or I want to go racing; it’s not pretty, but, in the end, it was a tactical game, and we had to make it work. The Racing Bulls did it first, and we knew if they started it, we had to match it. Realistically we lost the race on Saturday, and you pay the price here; you start where you finish, and that was it. The weekend was a bit disappointing, as it feels like we didn’t maximize what we could have, but we’ve still come away with three good points for the team, and we’ll just keep chipping away at it."

With this, Alex Albon now has 42 points and is seated P8 in the drivers' championship. Sainz, meanwhile, stands at P12 after 12 points.