Ferrari: Vettel Celebrates, Räikkönen Sulks in Monaco

Sebastian Vettel was the main challenger to the Mercedes team during this Monaco Grand Prix.

« Today, we did everything we could, and this 2nd place is a good result. » commented the German driver after the finish.

« I tried to be aggressive at the start but I couldn’t reclaim 2nd place (editor’s note: to Rosberg). » The four-time World Champion indeed stayed in the wake of Nico Rosberg, even taking advantage of the traffic to run within less than a second. « We had a good pace and were able to put pressure on Mercedes. Unfortunately, the undercut wasn’t enough to overtake Rosberg during the tire change. »

The driver of the Ferrari marked with number 5 made a good move on the 65th lap by narrowly passing the Englishman who was coming out of the pits.

He admitted that this Grand Prix finish against Hamilton was difficult: « Lewis was putting a lot of pressure on me with his Super-Soft tires, it was really critical during the restart because my tires were too cold. I focused mainly on getting good exits from the corner. »

Even after this good result, he nevertheless outlines the work axis: «We need to improve our tire work when it’s cold.»

But he once again praises his team’s work: « The engine was very efficient on the straightaways. I am delighted, it was a great race and the team gives 100%. »

With a strong outsider position, as the third in the World Drivers’ Championship, 28 points from the lead, Vettel is eagerly anticipating the rest of the season: « In Canada, the track layout is completely different, but we will try to be just as competitive. »

On Kimi Räikkönen’s side, the race was complicated: the Red Bulls gave him a tough time this afternoon. Qualified just behind them in 6th position, he spent the entire race battling against Ricciardo: « We knew the race would be difficult from my position on the grid. I stayed behind slower cars the whole race. »

After overtaking him thanks to his pit stop, he was passed again by the Australian on the 73rd lap. Iceman was particularly upset about Ricciardo’s maneuver at Mirabeau: «We gained a position thanks to my pit stop but we lost it afterwards for a stupid reason. I was following the normal racing line when Ricciardo hit my right rear tire to take my place. We don’t know if this overtaking was very fair or not, the decision not to penalize him is really strange.»

Now trailing his teammate by 38 points, Räikkönen wants to bounce back starting in Canada: « We must do a better overall job to ensure the tires work well, starting from Saturday in Qualifying. This will allow us to have more interesting races on Sunday. »