No team orders at Ferrari - Vettel

Monza, August 31: Sebastian Vettel has dismissed talk of Ferrari imposing team orders on Kimi Raikkonen as the German battles for a fifth Formula One title.

There was talk of the Scuderia favouring Vettel after he finished ahead of his team-mate in one-two finishes at both the Monaco and Hungarian Grands Prix.

Vettel leads Lewis Hamilton by seven points in the battle to be crowned champion, with Raikkonen 92 adrift of the German.

But the leader said he is not benefiting from preferential treatment ahead of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza this weekend.

Vettel plays peacemaker

"I am a bit surprised by the way things are put," said the 30-year-old. "I can't speak for other people, but Kimi and myself were racing each other the whole year.

"I read or heard after Hungarian GP that he was protecting me. If you speak to him, he'll make it pretty clear.

"I don't think he was leaving anything behind, if he had opportunity properly to pass me he would have tried, and that is fair enough.

"It would have been the same the other way around – we're racing for the team, we're both trying to do our best. I don't know what other teams are doing, but for us we both go flat out, and then see what happens."

Source: OPTA