Kimi Raikkonen has dismissed rumours that his Scuderia Ferrari team is favouring team-mate Sebastian Vettel, and that there is no number one driver this season – yet.
The Finn secured his first pole position since 2008 last time out in Monaco but lost out to his team-mate during the race, but Raikkonen insists that the two drivers are still free to race each other, at least until it is clear that one or other has a clear championship advantage.
Vettel leads the championship with 129 points after the first six events, with three race victories, while Raikkonen trails in fourth on 67 points, but the Finn insists it is still too early to favour Vettel.
“No, we don’t have anything,” said Raikkonen to Autosport. “But when it comes to that point in the season, when one guy has a chance and the other guy doesn’t have chance, it’s normal.
“It’s like it’s always been in any team I’ve been in F1. I don’t have any issues with that, I think it’s fair game. We fight until we can and if we have to do something else, then fair enough.
“We know what we do and sometimes this kind of things happen – it’s nothing unusual. Yes, as always [we are free to race].
“We know our rules in the team, we know what the team wants and it’s simple as that. We race as hard as we can.
“We always try to beat each other, one guy will be in front every time. This time it happened like that. It happens.”
