Arrivabene praises 'great racing' by Ferrari drivers
Maurizio Arrivabene defended his team’s strategy to bring Kimi Räikkönen to the pit while he was battling with Lewis Hamilton for the last podium position. The Italian also hailed Sebastian Vettel’s drive which ended in a fifth place finish after the German started the race from the very back of the grid.
Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene was delighted to see Kimi Räikkönen driving in a very aggressive way on the narrow streets of Singapore. The Finnish driver was hunting down Lewis Hamilton in the majority of the GP and capitalized on Hamilton’s mistake when to move up into third, only to lose it again in the final round of pit stops.
”It’s fair to say that we drove an aggressive race today! Kimi’s move on Hamilton to pass him on track shows that he’s not a world champion by chance.
”Considering the distance to cover to the end of the race, and tire degradation, it made sense to call him to box one more time to cover Mercedes’ strategy.”
The Brescia-born Italian praised his team for its brilliant strategy which allowed Sebastian Vettel to make up ground after a disastrous qualifying session when the German encountered serious technical problems and could not set a competitive lap time.
"As for Seb, it’s a shame that he was so penalized by his starting position, but he drove a fantastic race, supported by perfect strategy.
"There are six more races to the end of the season, and all of them will be important.”
