No wonder all the talk during and subsequently following the Monaco Grand Prix was about Ferrari.
Returning 2009 Formula One World Champion Jenson Button joked with interviewee Natalie Pinkham before the race that there wouldn’t be any overtaking.
He was even prepared to put his money where his mouth was and offered to pay her £10 if there was.
The Brit however will not have to take an earlier withdrawal from his retirement fund however as he was proved right.
He tried his hardest to be proved wrong, attempting his own manoeuvre on Sauber’s Wehrlein, but even with attempting to dump the German in the harbour to get past him he failed.
Other than that incident there was little else to pluck interest or intrigue, so why not consider the notion that Ferrari engineered the victory for 2017 Formula One World Championship leader Sebastian Vettel at the expense of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen?
Especially on a weekend when title contender Lewis Hamilton was having issues with the set-up of his Mercedes and would only pick up a handful of points?
Ferrari and Vettel denied this to be the case with the German four-time former Formula One World Champion claiming it was all down to his hot laps in clean air and whilst that’s true, the over-cut was to be considered the better racing strategy and yet Ferrari opted to give Vettel this tyre strategy and call in Kimi.
The Finn doesn’t say much at the best of times and whilst you won’t find a quote bemoaning the situation, his face and body language spoke for him. He was certainly crying foul even if he wasn’t verbally.
“There was no plan of any team orders or anything.” Vettel told the media after the race.
Raikkonen said: “I don’t know what happened other than that we had one and two and l got a lesser result than l wanted.
But what’s the fuss? Yes Kimi is arguably the most popular driver on the grid and he’s been robbed of a victory at Monte Carlo, something he earned on merit with his qualifying lap.
But in a sport where team orders are legal and looking towards a championship where the point swing for Vettel over Hamilton from Monaco could be the difference, was it really the wrong call from Ferrari?
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