Ferrari won’t employ team orders to favour Sebastian Vettel according to team boss Maurizio Arrivabene who scoffed at such suggestions.
Ferrari has emerged as a potential threat to the championship after Vettel’s victory in Malaysia. He has also finished on the podium at every race this season so far, putting him just 13 points behind leader Lewis Hamilton.
Kimi Raikkonen however hasn’t been able to match Vettel because of poor qualifying positions and has less than half his team-mate’s points tally.
Arrivabene has no plans to impose team orders in future though.
“We will give him [Raikkonen] all of the necessary support,” he is quoted by Autosprint. “I do not want to hear about team orders.”
Ferrari have been known for imposing such orders on their drivers in the past, but the Italian says that isn’t his style.
“When I arrived at Maranello I saw the old rules of engagement, and I made some changes in the presence of both drivers and their race engineers – so that everybody is informed.”
He added: “As long as both of them are in the battle [for the title], Seb and Kimi are free to fight each other, but not cause problems.”
