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Raikkonen: Blaming Vettel for his errors 'pointless'
Kimi Raikkonen believes it is “pointless” for critics to analyse his Ferrari Formula 1 teammate Sebastian Vettel’s season and blame him for his mistakes.
Scott Mitchell Roberto Chinchero
Published: Oct 25, 2018, 8:52 AM
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Vettel went toe-to-toe with Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton in the first half of the year, but has won just once since crashing out of the lead of the German Grand Prix on slick tyres in the rain.
The eight-race period since then has featured several high-profile errors, including a first-lap spin from contact with Hamilton in Italy.
Speaking exclusively to Motorsport.com in Austin last weekend, before Vettel went on to suffer another first-lap spin to weaken his already faint title hopes further, Raikkonen said it is too easy to judge incidents on hindsight.
“I don't know if he made a lot of mistakes,” said Raikkonen. “Germany he went off, but then it was pretty tricky conditions.
“I don't know if that really dictates what happened in the end result. It’s hard to say. There are always people trying to point finger here and there or [say] 'This is why he didn’t win'.
“You know, if you want to point finger on someone, there are millions of things that you can [say], 'ah, he should have done this like that and the end result would be different’.
“But afterwards it is very easy to always say that. You take 10 years backwards you can point, 'oh, you should have done that differently and you would have won'. It’s pointless.”
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari with Roberto Chinchero
Photo by: Ferrari
Vettel’s mistake in the United States could have let Hamilton wrap up the F1 title but he fought back to fourth, while Raikkonen ended a 113-race win drought out front as Hamilton had to settle for third.
Hamilton is still poised to clinch a fifth championship, meaning Ferrari’s wait for a title goes on and Raikkonen will stand as its last world champion for at least one more season.
“I don't really think about it,” said the 2007 title winner. “So maybe one day, whenever I stop, and then you start thinking, 'I am happy to be world champion with the Ferrari'.
“But I am not really thinking that, 'ah, yeah, I am actually the last one'. People say it, but that’s how it played out so far. We'll see what happens this year and next year.”
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