Alesi, Prost defend Ferrari amid team order accusations
- Published on 31 May 2017 10:50
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- By: Fergal Walsh
Jean Alesi has spoken in defence of his former team, stating that Ferrari did not use team orders to aid Sebastian Vettel's race. Vettel was behind teammate Kimi Raikkonen for the first half of the race, but when the two made their pit stops, Vettel was in the lead.
Ferrari brought Raikkonen in first which allowed Vettel to push hard in clean air. He built up enough of a gap to get him out in front of Raikkonen and went on to win the race, infuriating some in the community who believe that Ferrari used this strategy deliberately to allow Vettel to win.
Alesi, most famous for driving for Ferrari in the 90s, said: "I can understand Kimi's disappointment -- he had a great weekend. But Vettel won with a clear victory. It reminded me a bit of the final at Roland-Garros: when one wins, the other is always unhappy. But everything was decided on the track. The team did nothing to favour a driver and I have nothing to add."
Alain Prost, who also drove for Ferrari, said: "We did not know how Ferrari would react at Monaco, especially in comparison to Mercedes with its long wheelbase but also relative to Red Bull who perform very well. Now we have the answer: Ferrari is good everywhere.
"They have a great chassis and two great drivers. Both drivers are able to be ahead, even Kimi Raikkonen, so I do not believe there is a number 1 driver in the team. I would just say that Sebastian is a notch above as he is very consistent and will be very hard to beat."
Fergal Walsh
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Look at it from Ferraris point of view: Mercedes have Bottas, who is clearly assuming the number two position, so to defeat Hamilton they have to focus on one driver so that the points don't get diluted between their two drivers. Who cares if they implemented team orders by stealth? They got the 1-2 for the team, and they got their favoured driver into P1 without a direct 'let Seb through' radio message. Yes it would have been nice to see Kimi win, but he should have driven off into the distance when he had the chance if he wanted to make it his victory in my opinion.