MERCEDES team principal Toto Wolff defended the Monaco Grand Prix and says it needs to be looked at with a different perspective as the race again came under fire.

Monaco is the most prestigious event on the calendar but the famous streets of the principality do not lend themselves to overtaking.

In a bid to enliven Sunday’s spectacle, the FIA mandated two pit-stops but – although it created more strategy intrigue – it did not affect the order much as the top four retained their starting positions.

Wolff’s driver George Russell suggested the race could be scrapped in favour of two qualifying sessions, while Max Verstappen joked “maybe four stops next year” after believing the new rule failed to work.

But Mercedes chief Wolff took a wider view of the weekend.

“The perspective I look at is that most of the relevant sporting event is on Saturday and it always has been,” Wolff said.

“What Formula One has created here is unbelievable. Grandstands, full terraces, full boats like I’ve never seen before.

“Yesterday I filmed from my terrace a traffic jam of one and a half kilometres at 2.30 in the morning. And you know, that is the kind of 360 degree angle that Formula One needs to have. We have spectacular races on the Saturday.

“Even if this was a zero stop race, it’s still a mega venue and then it’s the Saturday shootout that matters.”

McLaren’s Lando Norris clinched his first Monaco victory to cut the gap to team-mate Oscar Piastri in the championship standings to three points.

Piastri came home third, behind Charles Leclerc and ahead of four-time champion Max Verstappen.

There was not a single overtake in the race, however, and Red Bull boss Christian Horner thinks Formula One needs to look at something to offer the chance of passing another car.

“I would say it was an improvement, it was strategically more interesting, there was more jeopardy to it,” Horner said.

“The fundamental problem is you cannot overtake here. That’s circuit specific, it’s been on the calendar for 52 years.

“I think it [changing layout] is the only way to really encourage any form of overtaking.

“Trying to create a bit more braking, you know, area either on the exit of the tunnel or turn one, if there was any way of creating a longer braking zone somewhere we should really investigate it.”