Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen reached the podium in the Mexican Grand prix but neither of them was especially thrilled with the result. Despite that, both of them, as well as the Ferrari team, congratulated Lewis Hamilton on his 5th Formula 1 title.
“I’m glad that Kimi and I were on the podium and also because the atmosphere here is always great, but obviously I am disappointed for the result of the drivers’ championship”, Vettel said
“At the beginning of the race I was looking after my tyres a little bit. Then, after passing Lewis, we thought about putting some pressure on Max [Verstappen], also trying something different in case they would start to struggle with their tyres towards the end, but he was too quick to catch. I want to congratulate him for this race and Lewis on winning the championship. This is not a very happy day for me, but one thing is being down and another is not being able to get back up, and I know that in two weeks I will be back up and try my best to finish the season well and fight for the Constructors’ championship.”
“I told him it was well deserved and to enjoy it. Number five, it’s something incredible. He drove superbly all year. He was the better one of us two”
– Sebastian Vettel pic.twitter.com/hxL6x6UujX
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 29, 2018
“It’s Max’s day, and mostly Lewis’ day, so congrats to them”
Gracious in defeat, but determined to give Ferrari a chance in the constructors’ championship. Seb’s not done for this season yet… ?#MexicoGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/shZjSVTF5T
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 29, 2018
Team principal Maurizio Arrivabene added that the double podium reflected the determination of the entire team.
“Seb and Kimi both drove great races. Thanks to the efforts of the team, both here at the track and back in Maranello, the Constructors’ Championship is still undecided and the team has closed the points gap over the past two races. We are therefore determined to fight all the way to the finish, starting with the next GP in Brazil. Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton on his fifth Drivers’ World Championship title”, Arrivabene commented.
Meanwhile, Raikkonen said that he was happy with the car during the race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
“Obviously the result is not ideal but from where we started we did our maximum. We got two cars on the podium and some more points for the team. The first set of tyres was a bit tricky, for sure the second one was better, but that’s what we expected to be”, he said.
“In the first stint we tried to pass the Mercedes, but we did not manage and the tyres suffered from this attempt. Then we changed from two stops to a one-stop strategy, knowing it would be a long race; the tyres were actually really good in this phase. In the end, we ran out a little bit with the left front, but it still worked pretty good. Hopefully, we can close up in the Constructor Championship in the last two races. Congratulations to Lewis; he has done the best job of any of us this year and he deserved to win.”
