Ecclestone praises Ferrari's Austria behaviour

Bernie Ecclestone has praised Ferrari's "sportsmanship" after Kimi Raikkonen was not instructed to let Sebastian Vettel finish ahead of him at the Austrian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton's DNF in Spielberg opened the door for Vettel to move to the top of the championship, although his lead is just one point after finishing behind his team-mate at the Red Bull Ring.

Mercedes' strategy blunder opened the door for Vettel to leapfrog Hamilton and for Ferrari to replace the Silver Arrows atop the team standings ahead of the British Grand Prix.

Hamilton has won at Silverstone in each of the past four years, so will be expected to reclaim top spot, and the tight nature of the championship means the three points Vettel missed out on by finishing third in Austria could be crucial.

Although Ferrari's history is littered with incidents of team orders, they opted to let Raikkonen keep his second place in Austria, a move that impressed Ecclestone.

"Everyone can take an example from Ferrari's sportsmanship," Ecclestone told Sport Bild.

"It would have been easy to wave Vettel past shortly before the end, but Ferrari didn't.

"So they kept up not only sporting fairness, but also Kimi's morale.

"Ferrari has finally made the step I was waiting for so long.

"Sebastian really deserves the title. Hopefully it doesn't hurt him that Ferrari gave up those three points."