Kimi Raikkonen says he is still trying to understand why he was pitted before team-mate Sebastian Vettel which led to him missing out on a first career victory in four years.
Raikkonen secured his first pole position in 129 races in qualifying, and led away from pole position, building a small gap to Vettel until the pitstop phase.
Ferrari opted to pit the Finn on lap 34 – which allowed Vettel to post a series of quick laps whilst Raikkonen struggled to negotiate traffic.
Vettel pitted five laps later and rejoined ahead of Raikkonen, who was seemingly frustrated that a potential victory was lost through the wrong strategy.
“I’m trying to figure out something that is impossible to know right now, at least from my side,” said Räikkönen.
“It obviously wasn’t ideal to end up behind a lapped car, it’s something that definitely doesn’t help. But the end result is what it is, so I have to see, we just finished the race. For the team it’s good, but not for myself.”
Asked if he would contemplate ignoring team orders in the future, the 2007 world champion added: “If you don’t believe what you’ve been told, or how we work, it will get very complicated.
“We always try to work as best as we can. Today, as a team we wanted a 1-2, which happened, but for myself…
“Like I said, we just finished the race. Who knows? I guess there’s some reason for everything that happens in life, but we’ll have to see.”
