Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene says he has "zero problem" with Sebastian Vettel being emotional at times but insists his driver is not frustrated.
Vettel was forced to apologise to FIA race director Charlie Whiting for making offensive comments to him over team radio during the Mexican Grand Prix, telling Whiting to "f**k off" as the stewards deliberated whether to penalise Max Verstappen.
While Vettel admits he lost his cool on that occasion, the German said it was not due to frustration and Arrivabene says he does not mind is driver showing so much emotion even if he had to interject on the radio in Mexico.
"I have zero problem with Sebastian," Arrivabene said. "I mean, as I said many, many times, Sebastian is quite emotional. Sometimes he looks a bit more Latino than German. I think Christian [Horner] knows the matter like I do.
"He’s very emotional, he’s very passionate, especially when he’s driving and it’s in a racing battle. It’s not a question of frustration. Sometimes he can be unhappy as we are unhappy because our expectations are different. But he’s not a guy who is giving up; he’s a guy that is pushing like hell.
"Sometimes when the adrenalin is going up to the sky, maybe he’s choosing a word more than what is expected, but then my role, like in Mexico, is also to call him and to invite him to be focused on what he’s doing."
And Arrivabene says his decision to tell Vettel to focus on his driving was not meant in a negative way towards the four time world champion.
"I spoke every day with Sebastian, and not only after the Mexican race. Somebody maybe thinks we have tension or things like this. No, we are honest with each other. The word honesty must sometimes be put in the script or in the article, because we have an honest, open, straightforward relationship and if you are asking me, we are always in agreement, like all human beings, sometimes yes, sometimes no.
"We have a fantastic relationship and it’s based on an honest, day after day feedback. I respect him as a driver, he was four times World Champion. He’s putting all of himself into the job that he’s doing. A couple of months ago, I said sometimes even too much but it was not a criticism. I want to make it clear, once and forever.
"It’s because he’s putting all of himself – he tries to put all of himself into everything he’s doing and sometimes you just have to say, like in Mexico, ‘hey Seb, calm down, head down, look in front of you and push.’ And there’s nothing wrong with that so you ask me, you can ask him and you have the same version."
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