Hours after Lewis Hamilton suggested her husband had deliberately driven into him during the British Grand Prix, Minttu Raikkonen took a swipe at people who “cry like a girl” when they lose.
Lewis Hamilton’s hopes of a fifth consecutive Silverstone victory went up in smoke within moments of the start: after a poor getaway from pole, the world champion was punted at Turn 3 by Raikkonen as they tussled for third position. It left Hamilton facing a recovery drive through the field, which he executed well to return to second position behind championship leader Sebastian Vettel.
After the race, Hamilton said the Turn 1 incident had been “interesting tactics” by Ferrari, while Mercedes boss Toto Wolff called it “either incompetence or deliberate”. Mercedes was referring to the fact it is the second time in three races one of its cars has been hit by Ferrari — in France, Sebastian Vettel hit Valtteri Bottas at Turn 1.
Although Vettel called the suggestion “silly” after the race, Raikkonen refused to be drawn into commenting. However, his wife left a cryptic message on her Instagram story several hours after the chequered flag.
Kimi’s wife, Minttu, with a message… for Lewis Hamilton? pic.twitter.com/L8PgmezGLE
— Nate Saunders (@natesaundersF1) July 9, 2018
Immediately after the race, Raikkonen accepted blame for the Turn 1 clash, saying he deserved the 10-second time penalty which came with it.
The Silverstone result saw Vettel open up an eight point lead over Hamilton. Ferrari is now 20 points clear of Mercedes in the constructors’ championship after 10 races of 21.