by H. Mayor – photo: f1.com |

Looking at the race and the weekend’s developments the question is clear: Did Ferrari plot to help Vettel win the Monaco GP in detriment of Raikkonen? The Finnish driver comfortably led on the Monegasque tarmac up to the controversial strategic  “mistake”  when he was called for his last pit stop which turned the tables around in favour of his team mate. There are different opinions and arguments about what happened.

There is no denying that in the big scheme of things the result was the best possible for Ferrari. Hamilton’s horrendous weekend, which saw him on Sunday stuck on the second line at a circuit where it is virtually impossible to overtake, was a sweet opportunity for Ferrari. Vettel’s final triumph distances him 24 points (129 to 105) on the World Championship, a significant distance at this point in time which could be decisive for the final outcome. But there are some serious ethical and sporting considerations about merits and deserving, particularly towards someone who had done an excellent job (Raikkonen) to win the race.

The strategic “mistake”

Raikkonen was comfortably leading the race in Monaco up until the 34th lap when his team called him into the pit for a tyre change. Meanwhile Vettel remained on the track and squeezed all the power out of his single seater. Kimi was slowed down by the heavy traffic while his German team-mate had secured a substantial margin to guarantee him a leading position after his subsequent pit stop. The character of the circuit itself did the rest restricting the possibilities of any major shake up in the new order. Red Bull did something similar, in this case favouring Ricciardo, although they are not at this point compromising a Championship win.

-“It is a great result for the team and it’s still second place, but it doesn’t count a lot in my books at least”, Raikkonen said after the race, visibly disappointed. Vettel understood although he categorically denied there being a team strategy behind what happened: -“I can understand that Kimi is not happy, I would feel 100 percent the same.”

After a bad race, Hamilton himself went for his own piece of microphone guerilla war: – “It’s very clear Ferrari have chosen their number one driver and are pushing everything to make sure Sebastian will maximise his points”.