Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene says both his drivers would have finished on the podium in Bahrain had Sebastian Vettel’s race not been compromised by mistakes.
He also confirmed that Kimi Raikkonen’s strategy of using medium tyres in the middle stint was decided before the race.
“We had a clear strategy for the two drivers,” said Arrivabene. “Seb made two little mistakes, the big one was at the beginning so we were obliged to change the strategy for Seb. We told Kimi to follow our strategy, at a certain point he was not really convinced, and we said no, we stay as we are. He was brave enough and disciplined enough to follow, and it was a good result.
“With Seb we changed the strategy and we went to Plan B, but with Kimi we were following exactly what we preferred.”
Arrivabene said the team choose Kimi’s strategy after conditions turned out to be cooler for the race than in Friday practice, which led to the decision to use mediums in the middle of the race.
“Today we put together an aggressive strategy, and this is exactly what we discussed. Today we recognised the gap that we have with Mercedes, so the only way is to be aggressive, because at this stage you can make a mistake if you are aggressive. If you are not it’s not the right time. If one day, I don’t know when, we are able to catch them, of course the strategy must be put together in a way that is a bit different.
“You saw on Friday that our pace was quite good, but the temperature was different versus today. This is the reason why were changing the strategy that we had in mind before to the new one, due to the conditions of the track, which were changing. If everything was going well I’m sure we were going to have two drivers up to the podium. I don’t tell you which positions, but two drivers for sure. I don’t tell you the position because I don’t know! But one was very, very interesting.
“Regarding Seb I have to say he two little mistakes, but we don’t have to forget what he has done until now, he won one race, two podiums. Sometimes it happens, we are human beings, thanks God, and this is the beauty of the sport. I’m happy for Kimi because now I can officially, not that I signed a contract, that Kimi’s back. We have two strong drivers.”
Adam Cooper's F1 Blog 
I love Arrivabene’s positive attitude. I am not such a huge fan with how he sort of holds a new deal over Kimi’s head so publicly. That is fine behind closed doors, but I think there is no doubt Kimi works very well there and is well worth the final year of his deal so no need for this drama in public.
I can’t help but agree, it’s not good for anyone
I do agree, however I don’t think Kimi is going to let anything get in the way of his performance this year, he is showing that he is still very much a strong driver and at the end of the day he lets the driving do the talking like he always has, and if he has a good year, they will likely re sign him because the way he is driving right now, if Ferrari can improve their car to the same level of Mercedes, Kimi is a legitimate contender for the driver championship just as much as Sebetian Vettel, in fact his race pace has been better than Vettel, King Kimi !!