29/10/2013
NEWS STORY
Lotus team boss Eric Boullier has apologised for the colourful language used by his team during Sunday's Indian Grand Prix.
As Romain Grosjean, already under attack from Felipe Massa, struggled to pass teammate Kimi Raikkonen, whose tyres were clearly shot to pieces, the Finn had no intention of surrendering his position without a fight.
As the team watched its French driver pushed off the track and the two actually touching, it all got a bit too much for Trackside Operations Director, Alan Permane, who visualised his team leaving the Buddh International Circuit with nothing.
"Kimi, get out of the f**ing way," shouted the Englishman.
"Don't f**ing shout at me," was the Iceman's response.
"Romain was two seconds per lap faster than Kimi at that time," said Boullier, explaining the fiery exchange, "so it was not even a team order. By asking Kimi to let Romain pass, we just made the obvious choice, as Massa could have stolen our podium.
"With hindsight, this radio message could have been sent in a less emotional way," he admitted. "There was a lot of tension, a lot of potential technical problems, and some of the words that flew around were simply not appropriate. I know that quite a few people were surprised and I can only apologise for that on behalf of the team. It won’t happen again."
It's understood, but denied, that since Raikkonen announced his move to Ferrari, his relationship with the team has become frosty, to say the least.
Nonetheless, claims that during Sunday's exchange, Raikkonen also said; 'you can tell that f***ing f***er Alonso that he's in for plenty of this f***ing s**t next year so he'd better be f***ing prepared' remain unconfirmed.