Raikkonen: Ferrari orders didn’t change an awful lot

Kimi Raikkonen says the confusion surrounding Ferrari’s team orders during the German Grand Prix ultimately didn’t play a key role in his result but was disappointed to settle for third place.

The Finnish driver was heard in a heated radio exchange with Ferrari chief engineer Jock Clear, where he was warned about his tyre temperatures while leading ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel, with Raikkonen responding directly asking if the team wanted him to let Vettel back into the lead.

When pressed about the incident, which happened before Vettel crashed out of the race while in the lead during the late rain showers, Raikkonen accepted the call wasn’t ideal to his race strategy but felt it didn’t impact his drive to third place.

“We have certain rules but it wasn’t clear enough,” Raikkonen said about the radio calls. “I had speed and obviously it was a bit in a moment in the race.

“In the end, it didn't change an awful lot. It was a tricky race with the rain and it was pretty slippery in a few places.”

Raikkonen was more frustrated at losing a place to Mercedes’s Valtteri Bottas in the closing stages after getting caught behind a back-marker.

“I had a small moment with one of the lappers, the Sauber, under braking and Valtteri got past me, so not an easy race,” he said. “I’m happy to finish. A bit disappointed but I’ll take it today and we’ll try next time.”

Despite his frustrations, Raikkonen maintains his rostrum run to four consecutive races to keep hold of his third place in the F1 world drivers’ championship.