Sebastian Vettel says he is ‘happy’ to fight his teammate Kimi Raikkonen should Ferrari not impose team orders to help his Formula 1 title fight.
A disgruntled German let his emotions out after a disappointing Italian Grand Prix slamming his team’s approach in qualifying which then left him vulnerable to the attack from Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap which saw him spun around after contact.
Vettel argued he had to “race three cars”, including Raikkonen, as some speculated the Finn was no longer interested in playing the team game, but either way the 31-year-old claims he does not care.
“Obviously I can see the questions coming up, but for me it’s pretty clear: I’m happy to fight three cars, I’m happy to actually fight 19 cars,” he was quoted by Crash.net.
“I think I’ve never been in a different position to that. That’s fine. I don’t expect anything else.”
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According to former McLaren driver Mika Hakkinen, however, opting not to work together would be the worst thing the two drivers could do as Vettel looks for a fifth F1 title.
“There are seven races remaining in this year’s world championship and Ferrari cannot afford to have further battles between their drivers, mistakes by Sebastian or errors in race strategy,” the double world champion wrote on his Unibet column.
“To beat Lewis, Valtteri and the Mercedes team, Ferrari now needs to do a perfect job every weekend and hope that Mercedes has some problems.”
The ‘flying Finn’ also heaped praise on the German manufacturer for their performance in the wake of a strong Ferrari car.
“No one can say that Lewis is there because the Mercedes has a major advantage,” he said. “He is there because he and the Mercedes team are doing a better job.”
