Ferrari victory showed great courage in tricky time – Arrivabene

Ferrari Formula 1 team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has praised the Italian squad for showing “great courage at such a tricky time” by claiming victory at the United States Grand Prix.

Kimi Raikkonen jumped polesitter Lewis Hamilton at the start of Sunday’s race and withstood a late attack from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and the championship leader to take his first win since the 2013 Australian Grand Prix.

The victory – which also marked Raikkonen’s first in Ferrari colours since 2009 – ended the Scuderia’s run of four races without a win and helped delay Hamilton’s title celebrations.

“Today’s win came courtesy of Kimi who drove a great race and the team, which at such a tricky time, showed great courage in taking a step back, fighting our closest rivals on equal terms,” Arrivabene said.

Teammate Sebastian Vettel was forced into his latest recovery drive after being sent into a spin on the opening lap as he battled Daniel Ricciardo for fourth place – with the German looking to make up early ground from fifth on the grid following a penalty for speeding under red flags during practice.

While Hamilton’s championship coronation was put on hold in Austin, Vettel’s slim hopes ultimately took another blow. Vettel now heads into this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix knowing he must win to keep the title battle going.

Arrivabene insisted Ferrari will continue to fight despite conceding that “the numbers are against us”.

“Seb was unfortunate and had to fight his way back up the order after the collision on the opening lap,” he added.

“In the championship, the numbers are against us, but we will knuckle down and fight all the way to the end, just as we did today.”