Kimi Raikkonen says he will accept to help Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel if need be, labelling team orders “a normal thing”.
The German moved up to P2 in the Drivers’ standings behind Lewis Hamilton, courtesy of his second-place finish and Nico Rosberg’s retirement in last Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix. Although he trails the championship leader by a significant 66 points, Vettel remains in contention ahead of the last four rounds of the season.
Asked whether he would be open to support his team-mate’s title bid, Raikkonen replied: “Everybody knows what the rules are and this is a normal thing. Obviously I’m not in the championship fight so if it comes to that it’s fine.
“It’s a normal thing. I try to make the maximum for the team.
“That’s not an issue.”
Raikkonen and Vettel actually battled for position during the Sochi event after the Finn enjoyed a better getaway from P5 and jumped his fellow world champion off the line.
Having also overtaken Williams’ Valtteri Bottas, Raikkonen occupied third in the opening stages but was caught napping after each of the two early Safety Car periods, which dropped him back to fifth.
“On both restarts I did not necessarily have the speed on the straight line to overtake and I missed the tow,” added the 35-year-old.
“Then the Williams was very fast and able to cut the tow. [Vettel] got passed me. Fair enough. I was following him. The car was behaving well, especially after the pit stop. But then there was traffic and I had to try to get past other people.”
As Vettel made further progress through the field, Raikkonen would end up shadowing Bottas all the way before attempting a clumsy move on the final lap and punting his fellow Finn out. The ailing Ferrari managed to limp home in fifth but its driver was given a 30-second time penalty, which effectively handed the Constructors’ title to Mercedes.
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