Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, Monza, 2018

Unhappy Vettel refuses to explain “speak after” comment

2018 Italian Grand Prix

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Sebastian Vettel refused to explain why he told Ferrari he wanted to “speak after” with them at the end of his qualifying run.

Vettel had been quickest in Q1 and Q2 but qualified second behind team mate Kimi Raikkonen. His only remark on the radio after qualifying was “speak after”, when told Raikkonen had beaten him to pole position.

“Clearly I wasn’t happy but I don’t tell you why,” he told media when asked about his message in the press conference after qualifying.

Pressed again for an explanation Vettel said: “I don’t tell you. That’s the same question as I had before. Sorry.”

Raikkonen had the benefit of running behind Vettel during their final attempts in Q3, giving him the benefit of his team mate’s slipstream. Vettel said it was Raikkonen’s turn to follow.

“We have an order that changes every weekend and this weekend it was Kimi to go second. Simple.”

Vettel’s final lap in Q3 was “not tidy”, he admitted. “I think the other laps were actually better.

“I lost a bit in the first chicane, the second chicane, the Lesmos, pretty much a bit everywhere. I think the last sector was OK but also not fantastic. It was just not a good lap and not good enough. Obviously lucky to get second instead of third but… Just not good enough.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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72 comments on “Unhappy Vettel refuses to explain “speak after” comment”

  1. I hope his frustrations create opportunities for the Merc tomorrow.

  2. All a bit weird.

    I have a theory that Raikkonen accepts all the number two treatment from Ferrari early on in the season, but it comes at a price: he does what he wants at critical moments with little interest in how it affects Vettel’s championship bid. Last season’s Singapore first corner pile up being a case in point. Not sure what Vettel was unhappy about, but Raikkonen showing he’s the faster Ferrari driver at the moment, at Monza, must feel a bit ominous.

    1. I’d say it’s a pure speculation. Vettel’s displeasure about the tow sounds more like right explanation.
      That brings me to a question – when you look at Raikkonen’s pole lap video, Vettel often disappears behind the corner a few seconds before he even thinks about braking. For me, the distance between them is like 300-400 meters at least. Is that still enough to make such a huge impact at Monza?

    2. That last sentence might go a tad too far, since Vettel was quicker in (almost?) all other sessions in the weekend, including all saturday sessions up to q3.

      1. Maybe, but it’s pole and the race that counts, and I was more describing how it must feel (trying to fathom the very glum Vettel face). Raikkonen has definitely been better this year, compared to last year and before, and would probably have beaten Vettel at Spa too. He seems to get on a roll midway through the season, which may or may not be a good thing for Vettel. One thing is putting Raikkonen on a compromising strategy or telling him to pull over and let Vettel past, another is telling him how to battle the first corner.

    3. @david-br can’t believe you’re saying that Singapore last year was Kimi’s fault when it seriously wasn’t.

      1. @fer-no65 That’s because I didn’t say it was his fault. I think it was largely down to Vettel. However my point is that he was going for the corner full out irrespective of where Vettel was or what would happen.

        1. However my point is that he was going for the corner full out irrespective of where Vettel was or what would happen.

          What on earth are you talking about? Kimi was trying to pass verstappen and vettel moved over and destroyed them all. It is bonkers to even hint that kimi was at fault… have you ever seen this video:
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi-qitmfvlI

    4. What Kimi did at Singapore?

      I only saw Vettel closing the door on Verstappen unecessarely.

      1. He started very well. Raikkonen was a necessary piece of that pile-up. Without him starting well and getting ahead of Max, Vettel’s squeeze out would’ve been dangerous but not race ending for all of them (plus Alonso)

      2. You didn’t see the whole picture.Hamilton did the same at Monza .Without kimi’s start it would have been fine.

      3. Alex, I agree Vettel closed the door. The question is where Raikkonen was going. He never backed out even when there was no way he’d have made the corner without colliding with Vettel (remembering watching the incident a lot of times last year), irrespective of the Verstappen sandwich. To repeat: I’m not saying he was wrong to do so, just that he does his own thing.

    5. Aww come on @david-br, when Raikkonen doesn’t beat Vettel, he’s seen as “past it”, but if he does something good he’s an inconvenience?! He can’t be put at fault for having a good start in Singapore and neither can he for getting pole today. This is Formula 1!

      1. @3dom Why do you think I’m complaining? I loved the fact he got pole today! Hope he wins the race too.

        1. @david-br easy to misinterpret the tone of a written statement I suppose. Agree nice to see Kimi on form, he had some bad luck at the start of the season.

          1. @3dom He’s quite hard to fathom. The last few years have been largely mediocre and last year in particular I thought was hugely disappointing given the car was beginning to look good and Vettel showed its potential. This year has been much better, though with bad luck and unfavourable team decisions, and of course Vettel usually delivering in qualifying, which has always been his strongest point (along with leading a race). I kind of expect Vettel to get past in the first lap tomorrow, or ‘get’ past during the race with some team help, but I’d like it not to be so.

        2. @david-br – I believe Kimi will win some races out of the final eight this season. He might win this weekend. Ferrari is strong right now. If Vettel is not perfect each race weekend (like not getting pole), Kimi can win.

          He still has a decent chance in the championship. Some may laugh at that. That’s ok. This is the best car Ferrari have had in a long while. The car is obviously to Kimi’s liking. Vettel tends to show his weaknesses when things don’t go his way. At this point Kimi has nothing to lose. This is getting interesting.

          1. @bullmello Yes, it’s crossed my mind too that he still has an outside chance (2007 being a precedent). I just don’t see Ferrari allowing it to happen under normal circumstances. But those could change (e.g. Vettel goes out early in a few races). They may also accept him winning this race, definitely an interesting prospect.

          2. @david-br Well, the scenario was there, the tire strategy just didn’t quite work out. Still think Kimi can win a couple of races this season.

  3. Sebastian whining already? Yikes. No wonder they Ferrari work so hard to keep Kimi as a hard #2 driver. Sebastian was totally rattled simply by missing pole. Reminiscent of the Red Bull days with Mark Webber.

    1. It just might also be seen as a good sign, in two ways:
      1) To get really annoyed about missing pole position is actually a good thing, no?
      2) He won’t volunteer what he was mad about, in terms of Ferrari – a little different from some other drivers on the grid, who do vent their frustrations with their teams in front of the media.

      Having said that, Seb in that mood annoys the hell out of me.

    2. Could you point out where the whining is? I don’t see/hear it.

  4. He made a mistake on the lap and Ferrari did not give him the tow.

    What’s there to imagine? Fine result for the team for sure, but you expect him to be jumping for joy because he’se second and could have been the clear first with the slipstream?

    1. As explained earlier.. they switch positions like VER and RIC at RBR during the season.
      It was RAI turn this time.. he made good use of it.
      And VET ruined his own lap, so not happy be he just has to accept this time Kimi made the Tifosi happy ( again)

      1. last sentence: by winning races, you mean?

  5. His joy thinking his “rubbish” lap was enough got outburst in a second, surely the guy won’t wanna talk anything. Since he reckoned he blew up his lap alone, fair enough. Carry on.

  6. Heh and people think HAM is a whinger.

    1. The whinging is where, exactly?

      1. See @billbranch ‘s comment below. Plus I never said Vettel was whinging. I merely make the comment people like you are all over Hamilton like a rash for any perceived comment.

        1. Ok, you may not have said it explicitly, but you surely implied it seeing as this article is about Vettel. And…. people like me? I have no hate for Hamilton.

    2. And they also think Alonso is a whiner.

      1. I don’t. I think he’s just utterly fed up.

    3. Vettel and Ham are both whiners.

  7. I watch Hamilton, who has learned much from his media training, and saw him sincerely congratulate Bottas for winning pole. A classy champion.
    I heard not one word from Vettel congratulating Kimi for winning the pole. I have seen little more from Vettel than boorish, childish language and behavior, hardly befitting an ex-champion, and surely not the level of sportsmanship we expect from Ferrari.

    1. Michael Brown (@)
      1st September 2018, 19:56

      And then Hamilton expresses disappointment like in Germany and suddenly he’s a huge whiner. This whole thing is pointless.

    2. Lewis has his moments as well. He has certainly matured over the years but still he can whine. Remember Austria?

      Vettel has certainly improved from 2016 but he has some way to go.

      1. Haha, joke of the day. What was Baku 2017 or Singapore 2017 or Hokenheim 2018?

    3. Suppose that is true. Hamilton is only positive when bottas suprises us.

    4. The “classy” champion whined a week ago about “tricks” Ferrari is using. I think it’s more fair to say that Seb and Lewis are fighting for the championship so they have more reasons to be “moody”. Bottas and Kimi aren’t. Yet, while Bottas is being used as a mop to wipe the floor in Lewis’ service and, might I add, doing a very good job at it, Kimi not only hasn’t helped Seb nearly as much (although Seb carries some blame as well), but now is also creating problems. Truth is, Ferrari today should have given Seb a tow just like Mercedes gave Lewis a tow.

      1. Tricked Out
        Adj. form of the phrase trick out.
        describes a vehicle, imported or domestic, that has been modified with as many types of aftermarket parts, perfomance or visual-wise, as are suported by that car
        “We were up at the chevron and this tricked out RX-7 pulled up.”

        1. Hamilton was not complaining that he thought Ferrari were cheating, he was admiring the upgrades they’ve managed to put on their car.

          1. No he wasn’t lol, he was making excuses for why he didn’t win. It’s the same every time he fails to win: There’s always a reason outside of his control, and it’s the first thing he says every time. It’s so funny seeing the one sided comments here, always jumping on anything a Ferrari drivers says, but always excusing everything Hamilton says.

            Oh and btw: While his “trick” comment clearly wasn’t a cheating claim, he does have plenty of form in the past f claiming his rivals are cheating. He’s already done so at least once this year with his idiotic comment after the British GP.

  8. Ferrari evidently took no risks. Either driver on pole in Monza is good enough for the tifosi and for Ferrari management. So they probably don’t care, only Vettel does. And there you have it.

  9. Maybe Vettel will get a delayed tow, to the first corner rather than in qualifying!

  10. There will be team orders at Ferrari so which of their drivers reaching pole first is irrelevant

  11. I believe Ferrari knew what they did. Having Raikkonen giving Vettel a tow in Monza during race is good. If Vettel does not mange to overtake (shame on him) they will do their classic stuff with the pit stops (undercut with Vettel and leave Raikkonen with older tires to keep the First position warm).

    1. Wow, shame on him already! By that very same logic Lewis MUST overtake Seb and if he doesn’t shame on him.

  12. So that sounded like a bit of an odd moment on the radio, this doesn’t make it much better. I mean, yes, sure, of course he’s disappointed when he momentarily thought he got ahead of Hamilton, and on pole, despite a somewhat scruffy lap, only to then lose it. It’s not quite the same magnitude as Massa in Brazil 2008, of course, but he has right to be disappointed, so could be that he didn’t want to talk about that over radio, knowing FOM would like that on air, but why not just say that, and leave it? Also, I think Massa’s reaction at that moment in 2008 was a great one (in later years he seemed a bit bitter about the year, but not in the moment), maybe Vettel needs to look at that (or maybe Massa was never 4 times WDC for a reason, ie. not egocentric enough?).

    1. So that sounded like a bit of an odd moment on the radio, this doesn’t make it much better.

      +1 to this, but at least good he kept his reasons to himself instead of airing them via radio or later.

      I mean, yes, sure, of course he’s disappointed when he momentarily thought he got ahead of Hamilton, and on pole, despite a somewhat scruffy lap, only to then lose it.

      Yeah, he might have had the delta to Hamilton displayed on his dash, so he was ecstatic at having beaten him, only to then be informed by his race engineer that the pair of them were beaten to pole by Kimi.

      Gotta say, for all his Q3 chokeups, Kimi came good at Monza.

      1. About damn time too.

        He’s been a genuine contender for pole on many occasions this year – Bahrain, China, Baku, Canada, Monaco (well, sort of… Ricciardo was basically untouchable in the end), Silverstone, Germany, Hungary, Belgium.

        He messed up China, Baku, Canada, was too cautious in Silverstone and Germany, got unlucky in Belgium and Hungary due to the drying tracks and fuel snafu, and narrowly missed out in Bahrain and China due to also pretty epic laps by the respective polesitters.

  13. Extra pace for q3 comes at a cost, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was annoyed that whatever quali setting he was told to use cooked his engine, they never expected Hamilton to be ahead after the first run.

  14. Vettel has literally had nothing in his career to whinge about. He’s had a silver spoon since day 1 of his career. On the rare occasions a team mate has been (allowed) to beat him he’s utterly unable to take it and his faux “one of the lads” persona quickly slips.

    1. He won the 2010 and 2012 championships out of nowhere, it’s unfair to say everything has been given to him on a silver platter

      1. Thank you. A lot of people don’t seem to remember those years very well. Seb didn’t always start from the front and run off into the distance, he had to fight his way through the pack after penalties on races and battled like mad with Fernando on many occasions, especially at Monza. And the reason he was out front so often was his stunning ability to just sit in the garage until the last few minutes of qually and then just drop the mic on one flying lap to put him on pole. I was hoping to see that guy again, and there’s been some of it this year where he snatches pole at the last moment.

    2. If HAM can win in an ex-Minardi then what you said would be valid. Otherwise, HAM is the one who’s had the silver spoon in F1 since day 1. Until HAM will win in “class B” car, he always will be the one who’s got all the silver spoons.

      1. Ham has had competent teammates fighting him all along the way. Not push-over no.2 drivers.

        1. Mind you, Webber was no push-over at all and, mind you, he also beat Rosberg as a teammate who then went on to beat Lewis in 2016. Mind you, Lewis also got beat by Button. Finally, are you saying Bottas is no push-over?

        2. Can’t stop laughing

  15. “Multi-21, Seb.” – Mark Webber.

    1. Never gets old :)

      1. Especially when people dont know about Multi 12 which Webber ignored in a previous race.

        1. Which previous race?

  16. If I was Vettel, I would be happy how qualifying turned out, said congrats to Kimi and been on my way.

    They are on home turf, Sergio just past away, and Ferrari is gaining momentum each race weekend. They don’t need to win this weekend, they have to. There is no way around it. A Ferrari driver has to be standing on the top step come the end of the race for the sake of the team regardless of which one of the two of them it is. If it is Kimi then so be it. His pole run was spot on and Seb just pushed out into the track limits too hard and paid for it, so he needs to own up to it and do something for the team this weekend. Next race weekend he can go back to his normal self.

    1. I think you right. I think Seb did come across a bit whinny with his post race comment. I think it was just down to his own disappointment but he should have just congratulated Kimi and left it at that.

      I thought it was odd how cheerful Lewis was in his post race interviews. However, thinking about it maybe he was just trying to get under Seb’s skin by appearing cheerful when he knew Seb would be disappointed. He’s been quite clever there I think.

    2. I do wish Seb would demonstrate more grace. He’s still one of the hungriest competitors in F1 and he gets so goal oriented and focused on the prize, it punches him in the gut when there’s disappointment. Maybe being a little more philosophical would help, but then again, maybe he wouldn’t be as good a racer. Who knows.

      I really like it when Lewis congratulates his teammate, and other competitors, on days he loses out to them. I feel that most of the time he is being genuine and he still shows he is disappointed, but even if he isn’t and he just sells it well, it’s graceful to do so and shows maturity. Seb could do better there.

  17. Maybe he just did not want to speak now (he was disappointed after all) and said he wanted to ‘speak later’.

    But if that’s too logical then maybe he’s just an avid reader of Racefans.net and enjoys the whole discussion about what it could mean and see people dragging Hamilton into this discussion as well :P

    1. It really gets so toxic around F1. I wish people would exercise empathy more and understand that these guys are human being like the rest of us, except under the biggest microscope in motorsports media and fandom. And the stakes they are playing for are so high, wanting to be remembered as one of the greatest driver in history. The media are mercenary and cut right to the quick with really classless questions. Seb has called them on it a couple times, especially when they’ve gone after other drivers like Lewis. I can totally get why he just didn’t want to deal with it today.

      This weekend means a hell of a lot for Ferrari, and Seb is one of those deep into the history and glory of the sport. He naturally wants to be the driver to bring Ferrari back to the top step in Monza after far too long. Losing pole to Kimi wasn’t losing the race, but it was a punch in the gut. He’s unhappy because he expected more of himself and that kind of pain and unearned shame entices people to try to assign blame. Tow or not, Kimi drove better than he did in Q3 and inside he knows it. He could show more emotional intelligence and be gracious about it, but he wasn’t because he’s human.

  18. I think he is unhappy because ferari mechanic failed to press “screw kimi’s sector 3” button this time. Hence “we will talk later”

  19. Seb could have slowed and let Kimi past, no?

  20. As great a driver as Sebastian Vettel is, I find it a bit sad that at 31 he still hasn’t and now probably never will be able to view special moments like yesterday’s three driver breaking of Juan Pablo Montoya’s fastest F1 lap ever from any perspective but his own.

    Of course he’s disappointed at not being on the pole, but what Vettel would gain if he praised his teammate and Lewis Hamilton, sharing with race fans how truly special the last minute of Q3 had been for each driver, it’s the kind of character moment that would stay with most of us long after Vettel has stopped driving.

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