SILVERSTONE, U.K. — Kimi Raikkonen says it is still too early in the season for him to start supporting teammate Sebastian Vettel in the championship.
Raikkonen finished second ahead of Vettel at the last round in Austria, but given his position in the drivers’ championship, there were some suggestions he might be asked to move aside and let his teammate through. But Raikkonen says the rules dictating team orders are clear at Ferrari and there was never any suggestion that he would have to give up second place at the Red Bull Ring.
“We’ve always said that we have very clear rules and that’s what we go by since I’ve been in this team,” he said. “We know what will happen and when, and if it comes to that then it’s very normal for us.
“It’s only from all you [the media] that you make a big story out of this. At a certain point it’s always going to happen and that’s more than fair. but right now it’s not the time yet.”
Raikkonen is 45 points adrift of Vettel at the top of the drivers’ championship and has yet to win a race compared to his teammate’s three victories.
Asked if he was still in with a shot at the title, he added: “For sure it’s better than a few races ago!
“Obviously Mercedes had two non-finishes, that’s definitively helping me and also helping the team, but that’s part of the game, unfortunately. Apart from that I think we’ve been doing a pretty solid job but it could always be better.
“We need to make sure those things don’t happen again because you cannot just expect that everybody else has days like that. Maybe ten years ago it was more likely that every team, every car, would stop at some point in a race but we’ve seen in the last few years that’s very unlikely that it will happen.
“It may happen sometimes but you cannot expect it to happen to the others because it has happened to you. It doesn’t work like that anymore. Apart from that it hasn’t been too bad and we try to keep it up and do the best we can and, hopefully, keep scoring good points.”