Vettel sees no reason for team orders at Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel insists he does not expect Ferrari to impose team orders on his Formula 1 teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

Vettel clashed with title rival Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap of the Italian Grand Prix and fell to the back of the field, before turning in a strong recovery drive to finish fourth despite damage to his car.

Hamilton took advantage to beat Raikkonen to victory at Monza and extend his advantage at the top of the drivers’ standings to 30 points over Vettel, after Mercedes’ strategy to run Valtteri Bottas long into his opening stint helped Hamilton close up to the back of Raikkonen during a key phase of the race.

Vettel and Raikkonen raced each other at the start, with the Finn holding off his teammate’s attack to narrowly maintain his advantage from pole position into Turn 1. The German lost momentum in the squabble and came under attack from Hamilton, but felt there was no need to discuss the start.

"I think we are old enough and we don't need to go through the start. I'm doing my job and I'm prepared to race everybody," he said.

"I was trying to use my chances in the first corner, a little bit in the second chicane, but it didn't work. Then it was a bit unfortunate with how things turned out.

"Everybody's free to have whatever approach they want. But for us, it's pretty clear and straightforward."

Vettel stressed he does not feel at a disadvantage having to fight Raikkonen while Hamilton did not have to race his teammate, adding he is happy to go wheel-to-wheel with any driver on track in his aspirations to beat Hamilton to a fifth world championship.

“Obviously I can see the questions coming up, but for me it's pretty clear: I'm happy to fight three cars, I'm happy to actually fight 19 cars,” he said.

"I think I've never been in a different position to that. That's fine. I don't expect anything else."

Mercedes claimed Bottas’ strategy had been pre-planned and actually proved beneficial in his rise to the podium, while Toto Wolff said the team wanted to push back using team orders as far as possible.

The team previously stated it would re-assess the possibility of moving Bottas into a support role to Hamilton's title bid on a race-by-race basis after Italy.