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Vettel explains his frustrated radio messages at Spanish Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel explained why he cursed at Ferrari during the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday after growing frustrated with their communication about his race strategy.

Vettel finished seventh in Barcelona after a well-executed one-stop strategy, which saw him jump ahead of a group of two-stopping rivals and complete 36 laps on the soft tyre.

When that decision was made, the F1 broadcast played a radio exchange between the four-time world champion and the Ferrari pit-wall.

His engineer asked: "What do you think about going to the end with these tyres?"

Vettel's response was partially bleeped out:: "Ah, f--- sake! I asked you this before!"

After the race, Vettel explained that the team had told him to push several laps earlier, which goes against the logic of a tyre-saving one-stop strategy.

Speaking about the exchange after the race, he said: "It's quite simple; we didn't have anything to lose. We were P11 and trying to offset until the end of the race.

"We were catching the cars in front and then they pitted for their second stop, but I was not in a rush to catch them, managing my tyres, then I was told to push. Which I did, and then I was asked if I could make it to the end I said 'well, you could have asked that a couple of laps before', because I'd asked a couple of times what's the target and how long we want to go, so I could look after my tyres. I said we'll try to make it."

He added: "We took that risk because we had nothing to lose and it did pay off, but it was not the plan before the race to do close to 40 laps on the soft tyre."

It was a welcome return to the points for Vettel, who struggled through the two races at Silverstone prior to this weekend's race.

Despite the encouraging afternoon, he admitted there are still improvements he can make.

"Mixed [weekend], to be honest. Still up and down.

"Some sessions feel better than others. The first stint was quite poor, the second stint I felt much more in control of the car, so still some work to do on my side."