REPORT: Double Points in the Principality

There were two Atlassian Williams Racing FW47 cars in the points today after a strategic Monaco Grand Prix saw an unconventional strategy for Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz to follow.

Alex, who started P10, took a P9 finish, with Carlos also going one better to score P10 by the chequered flag.

It marks our fourth consecutive double-points result as we solidify our P5 standing in the World Constructors' Championship.

With a two-stop mandate requiring all cars to run three sets of tyres, our remaining laps of Monte Carlo began slowly.

First, there was a VSC for Gabriel Bortoleto, who had crashed at Portier, and then further yellow flags after an incident for Pierre Gasly left debris on the track.

Aside from a tight moment between Alex and Carlos at Sainte Devote on Lap 1, the pair spent much of their early race frustrated. Both FW47s were stuck behind Liam Lawson, who backed up the cars behind him to allow his Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar to stop.

With Hadjar completing both his pit visits by Lap 23, the race truly began once Lawson stopped backing off, but the tactic was an indicator of how the Grand Prix would be.

Given the instruction to lap slowly, Carlos duly followed suit to let Alex have the same benefit and retain P10.

With pressure from George Russell behind, Carlos expertly played the defensive game to allow Alex the space to box without losing a position.

Alex made his first stop on Lap 34, and Carlos' teamwork let him stop again on Lap 42 without dropping down the order.

In fact, Alex gained a place after Fernando Alonso suffered a mechanical retirement, which also opened the possibility of Carlos scoring a point.

With Carlos proving that slow-speed driving can work for the team, Alex let his teammate through to return the favour.

Despite some annoyed driving from Russell, who received a drive-through penalty for illegally overtaking at the chicane, Alex kept the chasing pack behind.

Carlos stopped on Lap 50 and Lap 55 to emerge ahead of Albono in P9 and in the points.

A switch of places on the run to Tabac set the order for the finish, with Alex crossing the line in P9 and Carlos in P10 for three more points for the team.

"Today isn’t how either Carlos or I want to go racing," said Alex after getting out of the cockpit.

"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 maximise 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."

Carlos echoed Alex's thoughts by saying: "Today is not how we want to go racing and I think the way us and other teams were able to hold up the pace and build gaps shouldn’t be what the Monaco Grand Prix is all about.

"We worked well as a team, but I understand the frustrations of the cars around us as we were victims ourselves.

"Looking at the positives, it’s another double points finish at a weekend that we struggled more than expected in Qualifying.

"We now head to Barcelona for the final round of the triple-header, so I’m really looking forward to racing in front of my home crowd and hope to share with them a good weekend!"

James Vowles, Atlassian Williams Racing's Team Principal, reflected that, "It’s great to walk away with points with both drivers and brilliant to watch Alex and Carlos execute really strong teamwork to achieve that.

"We need to review the rules and regulations for Monaco, because racing like this feels wrong and I want us to be racing on performance and merit, and we’re not quite there yet.

"Looking ahead to Barcelona, let’s keep this run going. That’s four races in a row with double points and there’s lots of opportunity ahead of us."