Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene has revealed he quickly called to apologise to Valtteri Bottas after calling him a "butler" after the Italian Grand Prix.

The Italian was clearly frustrated after the Scuderia missed the chance to score their first victory at Monza since 2010 and particularly with how Mercedes had used Bottas to slow up Kimi Raikkonen during the pit-stop phase.

"We have drivers, not butlers," he snapped, explaining why Raikkonen had been less servant-like towards his teammate Sebastian Vettel.

Talking ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, however, Arrivabene admitted it was a rash response.

"As soon as I said it in the heat of the battle, I knew it would create a controversy," he told Italy's Autosprint.

"Since then I have exchanged messages with Valtteri. I wanted to apologise to him and understand what I meant. It had slipped out but it's not a label I want to use for Bottas.

"I appreciate his response very much that he understood."

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Going into Ferrari's own use of team orders further, which came under scrutiny after Monza, Arrivabene claimed it was not the policy to use such instructions from the start of the race.

"I just instructed them to not do anything stupid," he said.

"It was said that Kimi did something unfavourable to Sebastian, but what should he have done? What he did is exactly what Lewis Hamilton or Sebastian Vettel would have done.

"What happened with Vettel and Hamilton (their first lap clash) had nothing to do with team orders," he concluded.