Lewis Hamilton told reporters after that the Monaco Grand Prix that it is now clear to him that Sebastian Vettel will get number one treatment from Ferrari in this year’s title battle, as the German led home his teammate Kimi Raikkonen in Monte Carlo.
Hamilton said, “It’s very clear Ferrari have chosen their number one driver and are pushing everything to make sure Sebastian will maximise his points. It is very hard for the leading car to get jumped unless the team decide to favour the other car.”
The Briton was alluding to the fact that Raikkonen led the first half of the race, but he was called in early and Vettel allowed to stay out and rack-up a series of very fast laps which enabled him to lead after his pit stop.
Vettel stayed ahead, unchallenged, to take his third victory of the season and extend his lead at the top of the standings to 25 points. Raikkonen was second, his disdain plain for all to see when he ‘celebrated’ on the podium.
Hamilton does not believe that Mercedes need to copy their rivals, “I haven’t spoken to the team and I don’t really plan to. Valtteri has been doing a great job and I don’t currently feel we have to favour one or the other.
“It is really important we collectively work as a team more than ever before, as we have been, because our work is to beat the Ferraris in the constructors’ but there might be some things along the way positioning-wise that might become valuable.
“Who knows what will happen? It might be the other way. We might need to give him the upper hand. We just need to make sure we are ahead of them so we are not in the same scenario as we are today.”
Hamilton had a an uncharacteristic below par weekend at the Principality, “Common sense is of course I cannot afford another weekend like this at the going rate when the Ferraris are quick; of course not.”
“Just because I can’t afford for something doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen. There is no point worrying about it. You just work towards trying to rectify whatever issues you have and hope you don’t have them again. Things just didn’t come right to us, the car was in a difficult place.
“The Ferrari seems to work everywhere so these next 14 races are going to be very difficult. This car is not working everywhere we go but the more races we do the more learn and the stronger we get.”
“The Ferraris are not bullet-proof they have things coming up potentially with all the turbos they have used, so we will see,” added Hamilton who started the race from 13th on the grid and finished the race in seventh.
Big Question: Is Sebastian number one and Kimi n umber two at Ferrari?
Read the full story at GRAND PRIX 247
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