quoteMax Verstappen will cause huge accident, says Kimi Raikkonen
By Andrew Benson
Kimi Raikkonen finished the Belgian GP ninth after a series of collisions with Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen will cause a "massive accident sooner or later" if he does not change his driving tactics, Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen says.
Raikkonen was angry after an incident during Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix, the latest of a series of controversies related to the Dutchman's driving.
The Finn said: "If I had not braked, we would have had a massive accident.
"It will happen sooner or later if this doesn't change. I am fine with good, hard racing but that is not correct."
Raikkonen swore over the radio because of a tactic Red Bull's Verstappen has adopted repeatedly this year, which is to drive in the middle of the track and only make a defensive move at the last moment when he sees which way the driver attacking is coming.
"Other guys defend but they do it correctly," Raikkonen said. "He waits and waits and turns after me and I have to brake and slow down. It is not exactly what should happen.
"Maybe it needs an accident before it makes it more clear to everybody but hopefully not because it can be bad for someone. Nobody wants to see anybody get hurt.
"Something is not correct in my view, but the stewards have a different opinion."
Verstappen rejected suggestions he needed to rethink his tactics.
"To be honest, it's a big lie," the 18-year-old said. "I'm just defending my position and if somebody doesn't like it, it's his own problem."
Verstappen's team boss Christian Horner said: "It was firm, it was on the edge. He got away with it. I'm sure he'll have a good look at it and maybe learn a bit for future races."
Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff said Verstappen's driving was "refreshing but it's dangerous".
"He comes in here no fear, no respect, puts the elbows out," Wolff said.
"He reminds me of the great ones, of Lewis [Hamilton], of Ayrton Senna and you can clearly see some guys around are starting to think twice how to overtake him.
"Until now, all that has proven he is on the right track. The FIA has not penalised him. The only thing that has happened is that he was being given a hard time in some driver briefing.
"Maybe he is going to get a harder time in the next driver briefing. I just fear it might end up in the wall heavily one day."
Raikkonen's team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who had his own on-the-edge tussle with Verstappen during the race, said he would try to "educate" the Red Bull driver.
"I am not a fan of penalising people," the four-time world champion said. "We need talk to each other and have respect.
"There have been a couple of manoeuvres that the rest of the field is not happy with his behaviour.
"The best way to educate is just to talk rather than create a fuss in the media. We are men."
quoteKimi Raikkonen: “After the start, at the first corner, Sebastian didn’t see that there was another car on the inside: he expected me to turn but I couldn’t, so I found myself stuck in the middle with nowhere to go. We ended up touching each other and this was pretty bad for the rest of the race. After that it was an uphill battle: the floor of my car was a bit damaged, but we managed to recover some positions and do the best we could, even though it was not easy. I’m fine with fair racing and close battles, but, in my opinion, what happened at Eau Rouge with Verstappen was not correct. I was going full speed and I had to back off before Turn 5 because he just turned in front of me when I tried to overtake him. I’ve never had that with any other driver, if I hadn’t braked hard I would have hit him at full speed and it would have ended up in a massive accident. It’s hard to say where we would have been without the issue at the first corner, but the car felt well throughout the weekend. This was not the result that we were looking for, it’s a pity but that’s how racing goes sometimes.
quoteSebastian Vettel: “Today I had a brillant start. I was in second place and half a car ahead, so I could dictate the way. I could hardly see Kimi, he was in my blind spot, with Max even further right and out of sight. So I don’t think what Max was trying to do would have worked. Obviously he didn’t allow Kimi to move into the inside, and that prevented both of them from clearing Turn One in a normal way. We all three touched and collided, and this was bad news for Kimi and for me. Of course, with hindsight, I would have given more room to the inside, but you want to make the corner and try to race, and I gave room to Kimi, but not to three cars. Max had a bad start, he was falling behind. I think we have seen in the last couple of years that if you really dive down the very inside,the track is falling off and you basically go straight. The cars ahead have priority, and this is something he needs to understand. In that regard there was no way he could have made the corner without making contact. I don’t think that me and Kimi have to change what we are doing, we respect each other and it’s a pity when two cars of the same color collide.”
Yep..thats what I thought about Vettel. He was unnecessary agressive towards his team mate . That he has been once or twice during this season. I was watching this one time the race in a boat harbour in a bar and what happens! Verstappen and Vettel were both very optimistic , but I still think it was Sebs fault.
Exactly what I said previously, Seb plays his own cards and once again screw Kimi's race. I think Seb was especially unhappy ro have Kimi rankin before him in the championship and now he is happy agains cause Kimi i is behind him. Fairplay especially with team mate is not part of the vocabulary of Seb......
Arrivabene refuses to blame Vettel for Raikkonen clash
By Chris Medland, 29/08/2016 at 10:04 Ferrari
Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene refused to blame Sebastian Vettel for the first corner collision with team-mate Kimi Raikkonen in the Belgian Grand Prix.
Vettel turned in from the outside of La Source and hit Raikkonen, who had Max Verstappen on his inside. While Vettel blamed Verstappen for triggering the incident, he also conceded he should have left his team-mate more room. Raikkonen himself didn't point the finger at the Dutchman but was fiercely critical of his driving later in the race.
When asked for his view of who to blame for the collision which damaged both Ferraris and limited them to sixth and ninth in the race, Arrivabene would not single out one driver.
“I don’t want to be involved in this kind of fight, accusing one or the other," Arrivabene said. "The reality is that we had a very good start and an accident at the first corner and we were damaged for the rest of the race. This is the reality and if we have to talk we will talk in the proper place.”
Asked what the proper place is, Arrivabene replied: “The drivers have the driver briefing, Charlie Whiting is there and we have another way to talk with the proper people if necessary.”
Arrivabene's comments suggested he apportions some blame to Verstappen, and when asked if the Red Bull youngster was driving dangerously or racing fairly, the Ferrari team principal said: “You saw the race right? You hear the comment of Kimi right? OK, that’s it.”
Villeneuve: Verstappen getting "protection" from FIA
Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve claims the lack of action over Max Verstappen's aggressive driving suggests the Dutchman is getting "protection" from the FIA.
Verstappen has found himself in the firing line for his latest defensive moves at the Belgian Grand Prix, with several rivals claiming that if he does not calm down then he will cause a big accident.
But Villeneuve believes that motor racing's governing body are the key players in the situation – as he suspects they are reluctant to punish him, because they do not want to take away his box office attraction.
“The issue is the FIA, because it looks like he's got protection,” Villeneuve told Motorsport.com. “They want him to be a star.
"Look in Germany. He weaved on the straight, so Nico [Rosberg] missed his braking [point]. They go a bit wide – Nico gets a penalty. For something even less than… and it wasn't even his fault.
“So there is something that is wrong. I don't know. It's something that makes me angry, but that's just the way it is. Twenty years ago someone would have put him in a tree.” Unacceptable driving
Villeneuve has not been won over by Verstappen's rapid rise up the ranks in F1 – and claimed that what he did in Belgium was simply 'unacceptable'.
“It's way too much," he added. "The start is racing. It's too much, but it's racing. Because every expert driver, that's like GP2, you know that if you go to inside there will be an incident, because there is not enough room. You know it.
“Mostly if you had a bad start, just accept it. But that is not what's bad. It's after that, he complains about other drivers: 'They destroyed my race'.
"Relax, relax. You know you took a big risk and it did not pay off. You destroyed their race and you destroyed your own race. That's fine. That's life.
“But what he did afterwards that's not acceptable. What he did to Kimi twice on the straight, and to Vettel as well. Just calm down. You're going to kill someone.”
Calm down
Villeneuve added that there was nothing wrong in F1 with hard racing, but there was a point where things get dangerous.
When pointed out to Villeneuve that Verstappen doesn't care about making friends in F1, Villeneuve said: “No, and he doesn't care. Which is fine. That's right.
“But you need to have just a little bit of respect. Because you all live in this little thing together.
“Drivers should have respect among each other. Good, hard, fair racing, like Kimi said. You know, racing hard is great. But have some respect.
"You can't just push people off. Or make them have to brake on the straight. That's super, super, super dangerous. Twenty years ago drivers fixed it among themselves.”
When asked if he believed Verstappen would calm down, he said: “Of course not. Why? Every race he is worse.”
Villeneuve has said that he does not expect other drivers to take matters in their own hands on track – as he insists the ball is in the FIA court.
When asked if his rivals may choose to teach Verstappen a lesson, Villeneuve said: “No. Because now you lose your license. Not now. In this political atmosphere. It won't happen.
“But look at the Olympics, some judge lost their licenses to be judges. Something like that should happen here as well, because obviously [Spa] was beyond acceptable.”
Print view
Sun Aug 28, 2016 8:52 pm
reply
