Lewis Hamilton is absolutely sure that Ferrari favors Sebastian Vettel, especially after the Formula 1 Monaco Grand prix. The Scuderia’s tactics for both its drivers was largely discussed after the race.
Kimi Raikkonen started from pole position in Monaco and controlled the early part of the race. His pace suddenly worsened from lap 22 and 12 laps later Ferrari called him in for a pitstop. The Finn went out in traffic after his tyre change, while Vettel stayed on track for five more laps and kept the leadership after his own pit.
“It’s clear to me that Ferrari have chosen their number one driver. So they are pushing everything to make sure that Sebastian will maximise all of his weekends”, Lewis Hamilton explained.
“With the leading car, it is very hard for him to get jumped by the second car, unless the team decide to favour the other car, so that is very clear.”
Lewis Hamilton: “It’s clear to me that Ferrari have chosen their number one driver”
According to the triple world champion Mercedes does not have to favor one of its drivers. Hamilton added that he has no intention of talking to the team about that.
“Valtteri [Bottas] has been doing a great job and I don’t feel like we have to favour one over the other. I think it’s really important now that we collectively work as a team more than ever before in the battle to beat Ferrari in the Constructors’ (Championship). But there might be some things along the way, positioning-wise, which at some stage might become valuable, but who knows what’s going to happen? The Ferrari seems to work everywhere, so the next 14 races are going to be very, very difficult”, he said.
“We know they are not bulletproof, they have got things [penalties] potentially coming up, with all of the turbos they have used, or potentially used or not, so we’ll see.”
Lewis Hamilton had an awful qualifying and started from 13th on the grid. He recovered to seventh and was really happy about that.
“The strategists said P10 was probably the maximum, so it feels great to have beaten that target. To score six points, considering where I was on the grid after a disastrous day on Saturday is a good recovery. It it was impossible to overtake and I tried everything to get past Carlos [Sainz] at the end! I’m just grateful to have ended up in P7. I went on the radio at the end there to make sure the team know that this battle isn’t over. We’ll be sure to push those red cars hard next time out in Canada. We’ve got a real fight on our hands, but there are still 14 races to go”, the driver said.
Thank God. ??
? x @paulripke pic.twitter.com/MHvFmwKTXp— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) May 29, 2017
