Kimi Raikkonen "not a world champion for nothing" - Ferrari F1 boss
Kimi Raikkonen is demonstrating he is "not a world champion for nothing" after his performance in the Singapore Grand Prix, according to his Formula 1 team boss Maurizio Arrivabene.
The Finn put pressure on Lewis Hamilton in the battle for third and passed the Briton when he made a mistake only to lose the position during a pitstop sequence later in the race.
He went on to finish fourth for the second successive race on a weekend when he consistently outshone his team-mate Sebastian Vettel.
Raikkonen is just five points behind Vettel in the drivers' championship, having been 113 adrift at this point in the season last year.
"Talking about Kimi, he is showing he was not a world champion for nothing," said Arrivabene.
"He was very, very good, especially when he overtook Hamilton - even if Hamilton made a little mistake.
"Sometimes you make a mistake because the other guy is pushing your back.
"Kimi has enough experience to feel that and in my opinion it was great."
Arrivabene also praised Vettel's performance after the German came through the field from the back to finish fifth.
"Sebastian had a fantastic race, the choices of strategy were correct and he was able to use that advantage to the maximum," he said. "It was fantastic."
A MERCEDES GETS OVERTAKEN
Raikkonen's pass on Hamilton was only the sixth time a Mercedes has been overtaken in a proper move on track, not including the start, in 2016.
In China, Hamilton was nursing damage after a first corner collision and said the car was "flexing like crazy, like a four-poster bed" when he was passed by Daniel Ricciardo and then Raikkonen.
The reigning world champion started 10th in Baku, after an error-strewn qualifying session, and was passed by Valtteri Bottas, who also got by Max Verstappen in the same move.
Nico Rosberg was "baffled" by a lack of pace in the race in Monaco, as Hamilton went on to win, and was mugged by Nico Hulkenberg on the line to lose sixth.
At Silverstone, Verstappen [pictured] pulled off a brilliant move on Rosberg in damp conditions around the outside of at Becketts.
Sometimes I think he is to good for the (F1-) world. But he is right. They are a team...
quoteKimi Raikkonen hits back at Ferrari critics, defends strategy Mark Thompson/Getty Images
Kimi Raikkonen has defended Ferrari's strategy following a decision to cover Lewis Hamilton's final pit stop at the Singapore Grand Prix, which saw him finish behind the Mercedes driver.
The Finn had sat third after passing Hamilton on track at around half-distance at Marina Bay, but when the world champion pitted for a set of ultra-soft tyres and emerged in fourth, Ferrari opted to shadow Hamilton's stop by bringing Raikkonen in. Hamilton jumped Raikkonen and completed the podium in third, prompting criticism of Ferrari's strategy for effectively throwing away a top three finish.
When asked about the incident during Thursday's media day in Malaysia, Raikkonen refused to blame his team and played down the importance of the call.
"We all do our best and unfortunately sometimes I make mistakes, sometimes it happens on the team side," the 2007 world champion said. "We've always said we work as a team and whatever the issues are, we have to learn from them and try to avoid them in the future.
"It's as painful for me as it's painful for them, whatever happens. Would I have stayed ahead of Lewis without the stop? Afterwards it's always easy to say it, but I guess if we would have stayed out they would have caught us before the end of the race.
"If they would have passed us, that's a different mater but if they did, then it wouldn't change the final result. But it's impossible to say, because so many things could have changed. It's not ideal but sometimes it goes like that."
Sebastian Vettel claimed the first of three victories in 2015 for Ferrari at Sepang 18 months ago, but the Italian outfit is yet to replicate the heights it achieved last year and remains winless so far this season. Raikkonen believes this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix is impossible to predict but hopes Ferrari can maximise its performance.
"Obviously we want to win but if that's possible I have no idea. We can be up there and give ourselves a good chance to fight at the front. What the end result will be it's hard to say but hopefully we'll find out we're in a strong position.
"We had some races where we were surprised how close we were to the leaders and if we can be up there, at least mixing it up, it would be good. If we can be stronger that's fine, we'll take it but it's very hard to predict."
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Sun Sep 18, 2016 9:12 pm
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