Lotus has apologised for the heated radio exchange between Trackside Operations Director Alan Permane and Kimi Räikkönen in the late stages of the Indian Grand Prix.

With Räikkönen putting up a fight against team-mate Romain Grosjean on heavily degraded tyres, Permane shouted “get out of the f***ing way” over the radio, to which the Finn responded “don’t shout there f***er, I get out of the way when I get a chance”.

Grosjean had been forced wide while attempting to make a pass, but was eventually allowed to take the runner-up spot on the approach to the final corner, following which Räikkönen entered the pit lane for a fresh set of tyres and dropped to seventh place.

Discussing the outburst on Monday, Lotus team boss Eric Boullier said it could have been handled in a “less emotional” manner and vowed for there to be no repeat.

“Romain was two seconds per lap faster than Kimi at that time, so it was not even a team order,” Boullier said of the situation. “By asking Kimi to let Romain pass, we just made the obvious choice, as [Felipe] Massa could have stolen our podium.

“With hindsight, this 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 quite a few people were surprised and I can only apologise for that on behalf of the team. It won’t happen again.”

Lotus is set to speak to both drivers ahead of this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.