Mercedes insinuations 'shameful' - Arrivabene

Mercedes insinuations 'shameful' - Arrivabene

Originally written by Joas van Wingerden. This version is a translation.

Sunday 8 July 2018 18:32

The bitter row between Mercedes and Ferrari following the British Grand Prix prompted Scuderia chief Maurizio Arrivabene to claim that Mercedes technical director, and former Ferrari employee, James Allison should be "ashamed" over insinuations that Kimi Raikkonen deliberately crashed into Lewis Hamilton.

A poor getaway saw Hamilton fall behind Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas into the clutches of Raikkonen, who made contact with the Mercedes at turn three and sent the champion into a spin.

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A 10-second penalty followed for the Finn and Hamilton fought back from last on-track to finish second, but the Briton fumed after missing out on a record-breaking sixth win at his home race, hitting out at Ferrari's "tactics", with obvious connotations of conspiracy.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff quoted Allison as questioning whether Raikkonen was "deliberate or incompetent".

READ MORE: Vettel sticks up for Raikkonen
READ MORE: Hamilton snipes at Ferrari 'tactics'

When the line was put to Arrivabene, the Scuderia chief reacted furiously.

"If he really said that, he should be ashamed," he told Sky Italia.

"He worked for Ferrari for many years. You have to be elegant. We are in England, they want to teach us how to be a gentleman, but he should be the first [to learn].

"And incompetent who? Kimi? Who is he to judge what a driver does in the car? I accept anything from Jacques [Villeneuve], because he was a driver, but from that guy [Allison], no."