F1 2020: Sebastian Vettel scolds team in radio blow up during Spanish Grand Prix

Former world champion Sebastian Vettel’s contempt for his own Ferrari team was revealed to the world in a seething radio tirade.

Sebastian Vettel is almost free of Ferrari.

Sebastian Vettel’s contempt for his own Ferrari team has been exposed in the former world champion’s response to his Spanish Grand Prix radio tirade.

The 33-year-old who has been forced out of the Scuderia Ferrari Garage and is without a drive for 2021 is enduring a miserable end to his six-year stretch with the Prancing Horse.

Former F1 team principal and high profile F1 commentator Ross Brawn on Monday described Vettel’s awkward departure at the end of the season as a “messy divorce”.

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His judgment was proven to be spot on by Vettel’s scathing responses when asked about his heated radio exchange late in his phenomenal drive in the middle of the field.

Vettel drove his out-of-sorts Ferrari from 11th on the grid to finish P7, after a freakishly long run on soft tyres — resulting from a bungled tactical strategy from the Ferrari pit wall.

The Sky Sports broadcast captured the tense radio exchange when Vettel was told he was going to have to drive his deteriorating soft tyres to the end as part of a 37-lap run.

When asked what he thought about his tyres by his race engineer, Vettel responded: “Oh for f***’s sake. I asked you this before. Now I’ve been pushing for three laps (further chewing up his tyres)”.

Sebastian Vettel reportedly has one foot in the door at Racing Point.

He showed little respect for his garage when scolding them like schoolboys when they failed to provide him with the data needed to assess whether he could make it to the end of the race on his quickly-failing tyres.

“OK, here’s the task for you. 22.6 to the end (of the race) and then what do I have to do to stay ahead,” he asked.

He was later heard on team radio saying: “Absolutely nothing left in this tyre. I had nothing left”.

When asked about the exchange after the race, a dispirited Vettel didn’t hide his frustrations.

“I had asked a few times what we were going to do because I had already thought that we could go to the end with the tyres,” he said.

“The answer was to push. I did that, then three laps later, ‘Ah we might stay out till the end’.”

He was even more scathing when asked what his team needs to do to escape its form slump.

“My opinion is not important anymore,” he said.

Vettel clearly has one foot already out the door in a situation that could blow up in Ferrari’s face before the end of the season.

Sebastian Vettel can be the class clown until the end of the season.

Sky F1 commentator Martin Brundle said: “It’s just not a happy camp, is it. Seb just doesn’t feel like they’re on his side any more — it’s tetchy to say the least.”

Brawn wrote in his post-race column for Formula1.com that it is an “awkward” situation for everyone involved.

“It’s tough to watch Sebastian and Ferrari go through the motions right now, with both sides knowing that the end of their relationship is almost upon them.

“They are in that period of a divorce where the papers have been served, but the divorce hasn’t gone through. It’s very awkward.

“The chemistry between a driver and their team is so important. You’re part of a team and you succeed as a team, and fail as a team. Managing that dynamic is always a challenge.

“When a driver has been told he is no longer needed, it’s one of the most difficult times. He knows you no longer want him and the cracks appear quickly. From my own painful experience, I know drivers in this situation can be a handful.”