Raikkonen seethes as Vettel wins Monaco GP

Did Ferrari set Kimi Raikkonen up to fail and gift Sebastian Vettel a second Monaco Grand Prix title? That was a popular theory in Monte Carlo on Sunday.

Kimi Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen will start the Monaco F1 grand prix from pole position. (AAP)

Sebastian Vettel won the Monaco Grand Prix from teammate Kimi Raikkonen and Australia's Daniel Ricciardo but the big question is... was it a deliberate move from Ferrari or wasn't it?

Different strategies saw championship leader Vettel leapfrog Raikkonen in the pits and go on to win, while Ricciardo benefited from a similar strategy.

While former Red Bull teammates Vettel and Ricciardo laughed and joked, whispering to each other at the press conference, Raikkonen sat stony-faced.

And arguably with good reason.

In a reaction to Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas pitting and trying for an undercut, Ferrari told Raikkonen to "box" earlier than expected, releasing him into traffic after his pit stop.

It was all Vettel needed to put his foot down on a clear track, and when he pitted several laps later he came out with the lead of the Grand Prix and never relinquished it.

Ricciardo achieved a similar result, jumping from fifth to third, which teammate Verstappen called "a f***ing disaster" on the team radio.

Raikkonen was more measured but the anger was radiating from him.

"I was called in and that's about it," Raikkonen said of the tactics.

"Obviously it didn't work out very well for me. I got the bad end of the story today."

Still it was put to Raikkonen, a veteran of 259 races that he could have said something, stayed out, but he poured cold water on that notion.

"Obviously I can stop the car if I want! I'm driving it," Raikkonen said.

"We have a team, we work as a team and if you start... if you don't believe what you've been told or how we work then it will get very complicated sometimes."

Vettel said he felt for Raikkonen.

"I was surprised myself when I came out ahead," Vettel said.

"I can understand that Kimi's not entirely happy today. He drove well in the first stint and then obviously you get the message to go in.

"Obviously it's a bad surprise when somebody comes out ahead.

"For me, I take it, there's no reason to lie, obviously I'm very happy but I can understand obviously that he's upset."

As for Ricciardo, he was happy to be back on the podium again, showing real pace as Red Bull continued to improve.

"I'm really pleased to be up here, Ricciardo said.

"You don't often start fifth and get a podium here."

Behind him were Bottas, Verstappen and Carlos Sainz while Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton made an impressive move, finishing seventh after starting from 12th on the grid to pick up six points.

In his final Grand Prix, Jenson Button crashed out when he flipped the Sauber of Pascal Wehrlein into the wall at Portier on lap 61.


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Source: AAP


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