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Lotus apologises for Raikkonen radio language
Lotus team principal Eric Boullier has apologised for the language used over team radio towards the end of the Indian Grand Prix.
Romain Grosjean had caught the back of Kimi Raikkonen quickly as Raikkonen's tyres had gone off, and Grosjean needed to be allowed past his team-mate quickly with Felipe Massa close behind. However, Raikkonen fought Grosjean hard in to Turn 4 and forced him off-track at the exit of the corner, prompting a radio message from Lotus which said: "Kimi, get the f**k out of the way!"
Following the race, Boullier explained why the conversation had got so heated and said Lotus would not use similar language in the future.
"Romain was two seconds per lap faster than Kimi at that time, so it was not even a team order," Boullier said. "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. 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."
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