Carlos Sainz accuses F1 team of 'manipulating' Monaco Grand Prix with 1000 IQ tactics

Williams driver Carlos Sainz has accused one Formula 1 team of 'manipulation' during the Monaco Grand Prix.

Sainz finished 10th on the streets of Monte Carlo, in a race which was won by McLaren's Lando Norris.

The main story of the Grand Prix surrounded a new FIA-enforced rule change, introducing a mandatory two-stop race to attempt to improve the quality of the racing.

It appeared to have had a positive effect in the early laps, with several backmarker cars stopping early and quickly catching up to the back of the pack.

But as the race wore on, it quickly became clear that some teams had developed a strategy to deal with the pit stop requirement, with one car essentially backing up the pack behind to allow their team-mate to build a big enough gap in front to pit and maintain their position.

It worked incredibly well for the Racing Bulls team, with Isack Hadjar - who started the race sixth - able to make two pit stops and only drop two places, due to the slow pace of team-mate Liam Lawson behind.

With it being almost impossible to overtake in Monte Carlo, no other driver could get past Lawson and the end result was huge gaps between the leaders and the midfield by the time of the chequered flag.

Hadjar would eventually finish sixth, with Lawson in eighth.

The strategy worked in Williams' favour as well, with Alex Albon slowing down at one stage to allow Sainz to build a gap on him and pit, and vice versa.

At one point, Mercedes' George Russell - who had been held up behind Albon for the whole race - hilariously decided to cut the chicane just to pass the Williams driver, earning a drive-through penalty.

Image: Twitter/@F1

But speaking after the race, Sainz was less than impressed with Racing Bulls for effectively starting the domino effect that continued for the rest of the Grand Prix.

He told Spanish media: "It [the pit stop strategy] wasn't something we thought we had to do. But it was something we feared the RB could do to us, and they did.

"The two pit stops haven't changed anything, and the race is still super boring. People manipulate the races like we, and the rest, did with rhythms.

"Really upset with this race and the sport in general. We haven't raced today. We have done whatever we wanted today."

Red Bull's Max Verstappen, meanwhile, finished in fourth place and labelled the race 'boring', claiming that nothing could be done to make it more exciting.

"I think I could have done four pit stops, and I would still have been in the same position," he told Viaplay. "That's Monaco for you.

"The problem is, you saw at the end that my tyres were pretty much done, you're driving about two to three seconds too slow, and you can still not do anything."