LONDON (Dispatches) -  Ferrari are giving Sebastian Vettel the Michael Schumacher treatment, according to the German’s main title rival Lewis Hamilton.
The Briton told reporters after the German handed Ferrari their first Monaco Grand Prix win in 16 years that the Italian team was clearly favoring the championship leader over his team mate Kimi Raikkonen.
Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion, had started on pole position but as a result of strategy ended up anchoring Ferrari’s first one-two since 2010 instead of standing on top of the podium.
Schumacher, the sport’s most successful driver who won five of his seven titles with Ferrari from 2000-2004, famously built a team around him and was seen as the clear number one at Maranello.
Hamilton had started 13th after a nightmare in qualifying, with the Briton unable to get his car’s tyres performing in the requisite window while Ferrari looked suddenly in a league of their own.
Vettel, a four-times world champion and first Ferrari winner in Monaco since Schumacher, has now won three of the six races to Hamilton’s two. Finland’s Valtteri Bottas also winning in Russia for Mercedes.
***Sebastian Vettel has now won three of the six races to Lewis Hamilton’s two.