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Monaco hasn't changed Ferrari future - Raikkonen
By alley - Jun 8, 2017, 1:30 PM ET

Monaco hasn't changed Ferrari future - Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen says he is not mad at Ferrari after losing out to Sebastian Vettel in Monaco and insists the race will have no bearing on his future with the team.

Ferrari opted to pit race leader Raikkonen first in Monte Carlo but released him into traffic, resulting in the Finn losing time while Sebastian Vettel increased his pace in clear air. Vettel took the lead when he pit four laps later and Raikkonen was visibly unhappy after the race, having failed to win from pole position.

Raikkonen was asked if he had extended his contract at Ferrari off the back of discussions after Monaco, but said his situation remains unchanged having signed a one-year deal during last season.

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"I have no contract for next year!" Raikkonen said. "There's always a lot of rumors about my contract and what happened in Monaco has got nothing to do with my contract or anything. It's how it happened in the race and, obviously, I was not happy with being second, but it was not like I was not happy with the team. I wasn't happy being second, I wanted to win and that's as simple as that.

"I don't know how many times I've been second, maybe 30-odd times and if I'd won those 30-odd races I would have been happier. Our main goal is to win, I was very happy the team got a one-two. The contract has not changed."

When pressed on if he knows what he wants to do in 2018, Raikkonen replied: "I have, but it's nothing I need to share with any of you. It's none of your business and you keep writing anyhow, it doesn't change. We'll see in the future.

"There's a lot of things I don't know in my life, simple as that! The people who need to know, know, and we'll see what happens. Every year it's the same story – maybe check what you've written before and do the same again. It's a normal story... it doesn't surprise me."

With Lewis Hamilton saying Ferrari's strategy in Monaco made clear who the team views as the number one driver, Raikkonen also dismissed the triple world champion's comments.

"Unless he knows about the whole thing, however he thinks is fine for me. We know what we do and sometimes things happen and it's nothing unusual.

"I end up in second and Seb won, it's great for the team and I was not happy just because I wanted to win – nothing else. If people think I should be smiling that's up to them – I'll be smiling when I have the results from myself that I expect, simple as that. I think it would be much more worrying if I was happy with second, third, or whatever. I don't really care what people think."

Elaborating on the situation within Ferrari, Raikkonen added that he would back Vettel if required later in the season but is happy they are free to race at present.

"No, we don't have anything [in terms of team orders]. But obviously when it comes to that part of the season that one guy has a chance and one guy doesn't have a chance it's normal; it's like it's always been at any team, [even] McLaren. I don't have any issue with that, it's a fair game. We fight until we can and then if we have to do something else then fair enough."

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