Vettel: “I apologized to Kimi Räikkönen”

Kimi Räikkönen has he already said goodbye to his hopes of world titles? In any case, that’s what his attitude at the Hungarian Grand Prix suggested where, much faster than Sebastian Vettel, he preferred to choose team play and protect his teammate rather than overtake him and play his personal card.

A sacrifice recognized and appreciated by the German world champion: « Everyone in the team can be happy and proud of what we have accomplished today [yesterday]. After the race, I apologized to Kimi [Räikkönen] because I was slower than him and I was struggling during the race. For Kimi, it wasn’t great to find himself stuck in the middle of this sandwich. »

A problem with the steering of the Ferrari marked with number 5 came to handicap quite early in the race the current leader of the world drivers’ championship: « It was a difficult race. I had a problem with the steering and I don’t really know why yet. We need to fix this problem so it doesn’t happen to us again, of course, but during the race, I didn’t have many solutions. It’s not like we could park the car, inspect what’s wrong, and fix the problem. It was quite annoying because it gave me strange sensations. But after a while, I forgot about it, I tried to cope with it, which was rather tricky as it got worse and worse. » said the German, seemingly relieved, after the race.

Behind the wheel of a perfectly behaving car, Kimi Räikkönen didn’t really have his chance today, favoring team play over his personal ambition: « Today, my car was incredible, the handling was perfect, and I always felt comfortable; even following Seb [Vettel] very closely, the behavior was fantastic. I wasn’t worried about the Mercedes behind me. I had a good start and a good first corner, it made the race easy,” the Finn explains.

Once again, the strategy imposed on the 2007 world champion was at the heart of the debates during the race between the team and its driver. But, if in Monaco, Räikkönen started from pole and could legitimately ask for the advantage, this time a mistake in qualifying pushed him behind his teammate, which had consequences on his race: « On a track like this one, it’s delicate to try to overtake, and I didn’t want to push things too much with my teammate. Being between two cars is not the simplest situation. When they called me for the pit stop, I wanted to stay on track a bit longer because I felt I still had speed, but the team has a broader perspective and I trust them. I ended up following Seb for the entire race and could never use my full speed. Today, I knew I had all the tools necessary to finish in a better position, but I should have done better in qualifying. I’m happy with the result we achieved as a team, and that’s the main thing. I’m here to win races, but in the end, it was a good weekend and we got the maximum possible. » concluded the Finn who moves to one point behind Daniel Ricciardo and the fourth place in the world championship of drivers.

Maurizio Arrivabene, the Sporting Director of the Scuderia, of course did not fail to acknowledge the performance of his drivers and the selflessness demonstrated by Räikkönen: « An excellent race and a result achieved under difficult circumstances. Once again, this demonstrates the strength of personalities at Ferrari. Congratulations to the guys here and at Maranello, working together which is the hallmark of a great team. Seb drove a magnificent race, keeping his cool despite the issue with the steering wheel. He was supported by an excellent performance from Kimi, who demonstrated not only that he is a champion, but also that he has a true team spirit. »