Vettel’s criticism of Raikkonen is unfounded: he should focus on the title fight

A drama seems to be developing at Ferrari. Sebastien Vettel, who collided with Lewis Hamilton in Monza and lost ground in the championship, has now criticized Ferrari and Kimi Raikkonen for the disaster. However, his criticism is unfounded.

Raikkonen took the pole position ahead of Vettel in qualifying and defended his lead coming into the first corner as Vettel was trying to get past. The Iceman kept on defending his lead in the second chicane and this is where things went wrong for Vettel. “When I had to evade him [Raikkonen] in the next chicane, Lewis could get past,” commented Vettel. Hamilton got past, Vettel hit the Mercedes driver, damaged his car and spun. Vettel went on to finish fourth as Hamilton won. Vettel said later that he is not “particularly happy with the way Ferrari managed things on Saturday. It should've been me starting from pole position. For me, it's clear: I have to race three cars, including my teammate.”

If the words are reported correctly, those are harsh ones towards Ferrari and Raikkonen with whom Vettel has enjoyed a harmonious relationship until now. To sum it up, Vettel feels he should have been behind Raikkonen in qualifying so he would have got the tow from his team-mate (and the pole position). Vettel made his opinion clear already in the team radio after qualifying. In addition, he clearly feels Raikkonen should have let him pass at the start or at least in the second chicane. However, these complaints are baseless.

First of all, Vettel started his last attempt in qualifying behind Lewis Hamilton and it is quite possible (or even likely) he got a tow from the Mercedes driver. It is difficult to say how much tow he actually got from Hamilton (Lewis thinks he gave the tow to Vettel), but it is true that Raikkonen was closer to Vettel than Vettel was to Hamilton.

However, the main reason why Vettel lost the pole was his error on his last lap. Had he made a perfect lap, he would probably have taken the pole position, despite Raikkonen having the tow advantage. After the qualifying, he admitted his lap was not good enough. In terms of the race, firstly, there was no need to try to pass Raikkonen in the first two chicanes. Hamilton was trailing the Ferraris in close distance, so there was no chance for any team play.

Secondly, Vettel was too eager to pass Kimi in the second chicane and moved his car too much to the left: this left the door wide open for Hamilton. A driver of Hamilton’s caliber won’t leave an opportunity like that unused. Then Vettel made a desperate attempt to hang on to the second place and that ended in a collision with Hamilton. All this was unnecessary. Vettel had all the time in the world (and the car) to win the race: he could have settled for second behind Raikkonen and attacked later in the race. Even when Hamilton passed him, he could have backed off and attacked the Mercedes later. So, Vettel’s complaints about Raikkonen are baseless: Kimi did not cost the win for Vettel.

This whole fiasco seems to be a part of a bigger drama in Ferrari. The latest rumor tells that Charles Leclerc is going to take Raikkonen’s drive for 2019 season. If it is true and Kimi knows he has no future in Ferrari, he can drive just for himself and try to take a win or two to crown his career. This could mean he won’t move over for Vettel anymore. This might evoke memories from 2012 when Mark Webber defended his position against his then team-mate Vettel in Brazil. That was a move which in part led to Vettel’s spin and almost cost him the championship. This was also one of the reasons which led to the infamous “multi 21” meltdown in the following year.

Good thing for Vettel is that Raikkonen is not a political person and he does not play dirty tricks on his team-mates. That is why we should not see any sparks flying like they did with Vettel and Webber. However, the pressure is growing on Vettel as he lost points to Hamilton in the championship.

He has the best car (or at least an equal car to Mercedes), but his own mistakes are the reason why Hamilton is leading the title battle. All is not lost for Vettel, but the last thing he needs is disruption at Ferrari as Mercedes is united and working for Hamilton's success. This is why Vettel should focus totally on his own performance and not criticize his team-mate who was not the reason the German lost points to Hamilton in Monza.