MONACO -- James Vowles sent Mercedes boss Toto Wolff a text during the Monaco Grand Prix to apologise for the tactics his Williams team employed against Mercedes driver George Russell.
Russell grew increasingly annoyed at Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon during the race as both drove well below the capability of their cars.
Sainz and Albon were driving slowly in response to RB driver Liam Lawson doing the same in order to build a gap for teammate Isack Hadjar, as the Red Bull junior team looked to exploit an unforeseen loophole in the new two-stop mandatory rule for this year's Monaco race.
"I'm sorry. We had no choice given what happened ahead," read the text, as revealed by Wolff in his Sunday evening press conference.
"I answered. 'we know'," Wolff added.
The Williams pair managed to score points as a result.
Vowles served as head of strategy for Mercedes during its dynasty run between 2014 and 2021 before moving to Williams.
When asked if he appreciated Vowles' message, he said: "You know, James is one of my guys, and I don't want to sound patronising, because he's making a career as a team principal, and he's doing really well.
"He had to do it, you know, he's [got] two cars in the points. I think what started it was these RBs that backed us back off, and that's what he had to do."
Wolff said the unforeseen consequence of the rule should be looked at for future races and hinted that he would support a rule about the slowest lap time a driver can complete during the race.
"I think what we can look at is to create some more specific regulations that there's only a maximum of back-off that you can have.
"You know, you can't hold up a train, overtaking here is difficult, because you can't go slower than X seconds from the leaders. That would probably create a little bit more of a closer field. Does it improve the overtaking?
"I don't think that's feasible. We need to talk also with maybe [Monaco organisers] ACM here, and say, is there anything we can change on the layout? Difficult in a city, we're limited by a mountain and the sea. But you know, I see the positives. This is an unbelievable spectacle."