Arrivabene rues missed double podium
Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene says both his drivers would have finished on the podium in Bahrain had Sebastian Vettel's race not been compromised by mistakes.
He also confirmed that Kimi Raikkonen's strategy of using medium tyres in the middle stint was decided before the race.
"We had a clear strategy for the two drivers," said Arrivabene.
"Seb made two little mistakes, the big one was at the beginning so we were obliged to change the strategy for Seb. We told Kimi to follow our strategy, at a certain point he was not really convinced, and we said no, we stay as we are. He was brave enough and disciplined enough to follow, and it was a good result.
"With Seb we changed the strategy and we went to Plan B, but with Kimi we were following exactly what we preferred."
Cool conditions key
Arrivabene said the team choose Kimi's strategy after conditions turned out to be cooler for the race than in Friday practice, which led to the decision to use mediums in the middle of the race.
"Today we put together an aggressive strategy, and this is exactly what we discussed. Today we recognised the gap that we have with Mercedes, so the only way is to be aggressive, because at this stage you can make a mistake if you are aggressive. If you are not it's not the right time.
"If one day, I don't know when, we are able to catch them, of course the strategy must be put together in a way that is a bit different.
"You saw on Friday that our pace was quite good, but the temperature was different versus today. This is the reason why were changing the strategy that we had in mind before to the new one, due to the conditions of the track, which were changing.
"If everything was going well I'm sure we were going to have two drivers up to the podium. I don't tell you which positions, but two drivers for sure. I don't tell you the position because I don't know! But one was very, very interesting.
"Regarding Seb I have to say he two little mistakes, but we don't have to forget what he has done until now, he won one race, two podiums. Sometimes it happens, we are human beings, thank God, and this is the beauty of the sport.
"I'm happy for Kimi because now I can officially say, not that I signed a contract, that Kimi's back. We have two strong drivers."
Share Or Save This Story
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
On this day: Michael Schumacher wins… and stuns tifosi with F1 retirement
Red Bull signs Kimi Raikkonen’s son as junior driver
Who belongs on F1's Mount Rushmore? Pick your four greatest drivers
Why Ferrari won't switch focus to 2027 F1 car yet
Lewis Hamilton “lucky to make it round” after Spanish GP brake failure
Lewis Hamilton and Fred Vasseur recall GP2 title and 'most impressive race ever', 20 years on
Max Verstappen takes just 14 laps to overtake 100 amateur karters in manic event
Hendrick to bring back iconic neon yellow car numbers for 2027
NASCAR changes wet-weather tire policy for Bristol to give teams more control
Max Verstappen beats the 100 in blistering time as it happened
F1 doesn't need to change its VSC rules despite Lando Norris' Spain loss
Why Lando Norris doesn’t buy George Russell’s driving style theory
How Kimi Antonelli is proving unbeatable, even when he's beaten
How Norris unfurled a surprising - and "unrepeatable" - Spanish GP pole lap
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments