Kimi Raikkonen has no complaints with Ferrari approach after Hungarian GP

Kimi Raikkonen has denied team orders prevented him winning the Hungarian GP and instead blamed himself for a mistake in qualifying which cost him pole position.

Despite appearing to possess far more speed during the race than eventual race winner Sebastian Vettel after the championship leader's car suffered a handling malfunction mid-race, Raikkonen declined to challenge his team-mate for the win.

Raikkonen, who is yet to sign a new deal with Ferrari for next season, repeatedly told his race engineer he was being held up by Vettel but never threatened the German for the lead.

Vettel extends title lead with Hungary victory

"I didn't say 'let me pass', I just said 'I have more speed'," Raikkonen later clarified to Sky F1. "My car was great all day and I really didn't want to end up in a position where l lost second place for, let's say, the wrong reasons.

"Even following [Vettel] closely, the car was great. I had one lap free and the speed was great and a lot quicker. But this is a circuit where overtaking is difficult and l can only look in the mirror at the mistake l made in qualifying.

"This was one of the days when you can't really use what you have but the main thing is that we got a one-two for the team."

It's understood that an announcement could be made in the Italian GP in early September confirming both Raikkonen and Vettel will be retained for 2018.

"It has been a very good weekend for us, it was a great result and today couldn't be better," said Vettel after extending his world championship lead to 14 points.

Asked by Sky F1 about his relationship with Raikkonen, Vettel responded: "He is very valuable. We respect each other. There are some days that are a bit tricky but we are both very straightforward. There's no trying to hide something, we are transparent. He hasn't changed, l haven't changed for as long as we have known each other."

After taking pole position at the Hungaroring, Vettel took aim at Ferrari's critics and in the wake of his victory argued the SF70-H was the class of the field.

"I think we have the best car," the four-time world champion said. "Here and there we have haven't been quick enough but we know where we have to work. We know where the strengths and weaknesses are. We have done the biggest jump of any team and a lot of teams have done copycat and looked at the things we have brought."

If you are using skysports.com you can comment below to get involved in the debate, but please adhere to our House Rules. If you wish to report any comment, simply click on the down arrow next to the offending comment and click 'Report'.