Sebastian Vettel came home third in the Italian Grand Prix today, at the Monza circuit. Kimi Raikkonen delivered a gritty, well managed drive to fourth, coming home six seconds behind his team-mate. Nico Rosberg won for Mercedes.
Maurizio Arrivabene
”Today we did our best, especially at the start which was very good. We chose the fastest possible strategy for the race, trying to achieve the best possible result. It was a good race, but of course we would have liked to do much better, as a way to pay back our fantastic fans who never failed to give us their support and were always close to us, in particular here in our home race at Monza. The team worked well and unitedly, both here and in Maranello, and we’ve seen some positive signs. Now the focus has already shifted to the next round at Singapore.”
Kimi Raikkonen
”I think that today we were closer to our rivals than we expected after qualifying. Obviously we were on different tactics, but we did the correct things, the right choice with tires and the fastest race we could. We had a pretty good speed but we were not fast enough for gaining a better position. Fourth position is not exactly what we were looking for, but this is not the easiest circuit for us against the Mercedes, and we did our maximum. With Sebastian we were more or less driving behind each other and when you race against your teammate there’s not much that you can do, we both know what the other guy is going to do. After the start it was a bit tricky, I got close after the first pit stop, but then he was able to pull away. In the last few weekends it seems that we are going in the right direction, now we have to keep trying and improving doing our maximum. Every race is a different story, a small mistake here and there from somebody might give us a chance, who knows..”
Sebastian Vettel
”Of course I am very happy for all the team. It is a very special race for us, to stand on the podium here in Monza, is just great. But for sure you are always aiming for the top step, so well done to our rivals, they have been in a league on their own in the race. Yet, we tried our optimum, this is the perfect result for us, the whole weekend has been very smooth, no issues with the car. We brought an engine update, so grazie anche to the guys at Maranello, for their support. I feel things are changing: it will still take a little bit, but we are heading the right way. And on a day like this, you realize that life is to enjoy, to get so much support is just unbelievalble. I feel we have the best fans in the world, it is difficult to find the right words. This podium here, it’s not the Adriatic sea, it is the sea of tifosi.. We had a rough season, we had high expectations, we have put ourselves on high pressure, we have also done mistakes, but the most important thing is that we stay a team, that we stay together. We have a lot of races ahead, we know we have a good car, unfortunately not yet quick enough for being able to say, here ‘we have the best car’, but I am sure that one day we will be.”