Vettel victory not orchestrated by Ferrari – Wolff

When asked for his view on Ferrari’s strategy, Wolff said: “It wasn’t clear how the tyre would perform”.

Sebastian Vettel won the Monaco GP extending his lead over his contender Lewis Hamilton by 25 points.

With Raikkonen taking pole ahead of Vettel, Ferrari’s prospects of ending their wait for a first Monaco triumph since Michael Schumacher’s success in 2001 always looked extremely good.

Grid position can be hugely important in Monaco, a narrow and twisty circuit where overtaking is notoriously hard. Vettel would have received seven fewer points if he had finished Sunday’s race at No. 2.

Hamilton was unable to put a lap together during the qualifying session, lining up thirteenth for the race in Monaco.

“Our vehicle is not working everywhere we go, but the more races we do, the more we learn and the stronger we get. When you get safety vehicle, these tires are like driving on ice”.

With new regulations created to make cars wider, heavier and faster this year, Ferrari seems to have worked wonders in the factory while Mercedes appears to be going backward.

“We are racing, we get on well”. We still believe we can win this thing, 25 points is a long way away.

Verstappen took advantage of the pause to pit for fresh ultra-soft tyres before, when the action resumed after 66 laps, the final chase, and battle of attrition, began.

In what turned out to be a hard weekend for Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas’ fourth place finish was the best the reigning world champions could manage, as Hamilton recovered from 13th on the grid to cross the line seventh, following his early qualifying exit.

“It was not a happy auto, that’s for sure”, said Hamilton.

“We can always say “If” as much as we want but it doesn’t change things”, Raikkonen said, shrugging his shoulders.

NEXT UP The drivers have a week off before heading to Montreal, where they will have more room for manoeuvre at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in the Canadian Grand Prix. This will now be the focus of his attention when returning to the UK.

“It’s really important that we work as a team, more than anything, as we have been”.

“Valtteri’s doing a great job”.

The result means Mercedes are now second in the constructors’ standings, with 179 points to Ferrari’s 196.

But the Briton insists he has no intentions on seeking the number one status at Mercedes for the remaining 14 races of the season.

Despite that, there was some hope for Hamilton that Vettel might not win the race as Kimi Raikkonen qualified first. The team principal, Maurizio Arrivabene, stated that Raikkonen’s stop had been taken as planned and the Finn had been unfortunate to lose time behind a backmarker.

“It’s hard for the leader here to be passed – unless the team decides to favour one vehicle”, Lewis Hamilton, now 25 points behind Vettel after six races, said. He did not rule it out later in the season, though. “As a matter of fact, I think we have been since the beginning of the season. Who knows what is going to happen?”