French Grand Prix 2021: Race team radio
145 radio messages were recorded during race at the French Grand Prix 2021, across 20 drivers. 142 of them have a transcript; the rest are audio only. Lewis HAMILTON had the most, with 26.
These are transcripts of real team radio audio, produced by speech recognition and presented as an archive rather than as edited prose. Radio is clipped and noisy, so wording can be imperfect. Each message is attributed to the driver or their engineer, and the original audio is playable in the archive.
Who was on the radio
- Lewis HAMILTON · Mercedes · 26 messages
- Max VERSTAPPEN · Red Bull · 19 messages
- Valtteri BOTTAS · Mercedes · 18 messages
- Daniel RICCIARDO · McLaren · 11 messages
- Esteban OCON · Alpine · 9 messages
- Sergio PEREZ · Red Bull · 8 messages
- Lando NORRIS · McLaren · 8 messages
- Fernando ALONSO · Alpine · 7 messages
- Sebastian VETTEL · Aston Martin · 7 messages
- Yuki TSUNODA · AlphaTauri · 6 messages
- Lance STROLL · Aston Martin · 6 messages
- Carlos SAINZ · Ferrari · 5 messages
- George RUSSELL · Williams · 4 messages
- Mick SCHUMACHER · Haas · 2 messages
- Pierre GASLY · AlphaTauri · 2 messages
- Charles LECLERC · Ferrari · 2 messages
- Nicholas LATIFI · Williams · 2 messages
- Nikita MAZEPIN · Haas · 1 message
- Kimi RAIKKONEN · Alfa Romeo · 1 message
- Antonio GIOVINAZZI · Alfa Romeo · 1 message
Every message, in the order it happened
Max VERSTAPPEN: This medical car is on my way to do practice starts.
Engineer: What's the reason we're not on the other tyre? Uh, we'll need that for the race I'm taking.
Yuki TSUNODA: I think a lot of them want to stay in medium or high speed.
Engineer: So, clutch release was plus four, plus four, and you're a little bit slow on the second release. So, box, checko, box, through the pit lane for another launch. Do you want to flap adjust?
Sergio PEREZ: No.
Engineer: Copy.
Carlos SAINZ: Yeah, I've got spotted these tires.
Engineer: Oh, yeah?
Audio only, no transcript available for this message.
Engineer: Yeah, make sure we get the airflow
George RUSSELL: sources quite disturbed when you've got the upshift tone only in one ear
George RUSSELL: On a couple of occasions there was a bit of vibration from the front axle when braking but nothing crazy
Lewis HAMILTON: Our magic is trimmed down a little bit too much.
Engineer: so procedures exactly as we talked about definitely no rain at all and that goes up to about lap 8 of the race as far as the forecast goes so all looks good Sun's come out a bit expect the wind might start dropping a touch as well maybe just as it clears up so yeah all looks in line with what we're expecting
Engineer: So only things to remember at this point, standard Formation Act procedures, so when the car fires up we'll put the pit limiter on, we'll have recharge off before the burnouts in the place described earlier, remember that burnout button as well, and that'll be us set for a good start I think.
Engineer: Your tyre information, medium starters behind are Russell, Schumacher, Latifi and Tsunoda. The other cars are all on hard tyres.
Engineer: Okay, Mick, tires, Ocon, Vettel, and Giovinazzi ahead are all C2. Russell and Latifi are C3. Kimi and Nikita are C2. Lance is C2. And Tsunoda is starting from pit lane on C3. So both Williams C3, both Alphas C2. And it's two minutes until we go, two minutes. When we fire up, we'll press K1 to wake up the turbo. When we're on the deck, we'll do the static bite point learn. And you'll switch the pit limiter on. You'll use mode slow for the outlap and keep the pit limiter until the line. And then remember to go to mode race start for the start.
Lewis HAMILTON: Marcus questioning, do I go across to him on the left?
Engineer: I think we should just concentrate on getting the best getaway, going straight. Yeah. If there's chance. Figure it out. Yeah, if there's chance then we can.
Engineer: And you keep be careful a lot of people in the pit lane so obviously they will move but watch yourself as well
Engineer: Staff, 1.4bhp I'm on my left rear
Lewis HAMILTON: No grip out here
Lando NORRIS: What's Daniel doing? He's giving me no space!
Engineer: Paris dropped two seconds behind already.
Daniel RICCIARDO: Just quite low grip at the moment, similar to lapse of grip. Copy, copy.
George RUSSELL: It's in! It's in! Oh look!
Engineer: Okay, Giovinazzi behind has DRS.
Engineer: If you're looking for more entry support from the DIF, display 5, position 12. Display 1-5, position 12.
Lance STROLL: I'm not happy with the grip, the temperature is rising.
Engineer: It's similar for most people at the moment.
Engineer: Radio is poor at the moment, try to give me the comms in the low speed.
Lando NORRIS: Pacing is pretty slow at the moment, I don't know if the guy's ahead but yeah, pace 5 or 6
Engineer: You're doing a great job, anything is possible.
Engineer: Alonso's complaining about tires.
Daniel RICCIARDO: Yep, yeah I've got a little bit more than him, I think he clear out.
Engineer: OK.
Lewis HAMILTON: Time to get hot
Lance STROLL: Just stuck behind this train.
Engineer: And Sainz is still reporting big tyre issues, big balance issues for Sainz.
Engineer: Leclerc last lap was 1.41.1. There's opportunities with the cars ahead.
Daniel RICCIARDO: Understood.
Engineer: The
Fernando ALONSO: car is very oversteering.
Engineer: Okay, understood.
Lewis HAMILTON: Ready on the front.
Engineer: I lose the reporting raining on the front yeah
Valtteri BOTTAS: for me also starting tiny bit now but still not affecting the grip yet
Fernando ALONSO: From greening.
Engineer: Okay, understood.
Engineer: Good move, good move. Use the pace now.
Audio only, no transcript available for this message.
Lewis HAMILTON: Tyres are dropping, left rear.
Engineer: OK copy, just keep us updated on your tyre switch.
Engineer: Just watch the slip angles through Turn 9 and Turn 15, just seeing the front sliding a little bit.
Fernando ALONSO: I think everyone is struggling, so yeah, think about it.
Engineer: Yeah, copy that. Even training spot on the hard runners as well.
Fernando ALONSO: Yeah, plan B.
Engineer: Bottas is starting to struggle his lap at 39.4
Engineer: Well done mate. Next one is Gasly. Gasly car ahead.
Engineer: Well done mate. Next one is Gasly. Gasly car ahead. Let's f***ing go.
Engineer: So Verstappen mistake turn 1-2, that gap is now at 3 seconds, let's just keep opening it up.
Engineer: Keep pushing hard, try to avoid curbs on the front left.
Engineer: Bring it!
Engineer: So Sebastian the four cars ahead will be probably pitting quite soon. They will get some traffic and you'll get free air It's about going along on this tire
Engineer: Daniel, box to overtake Gasly. Box to overtake Gasly.
Engineer: Our lap will be critical.
Lewis HAMILTON: Pace is still okay.
Engineer: Copy.
Audio only, no transcript available for this message.
Engineer: OK Esteban, keep stroll behind us, that's the target right now.
Engineer: So it's hammer time for Staffan in the pits.
Engineer: OK, and we are boxing the slab. Boxing the slab, please confirm.
Fernando ALONSO: Yeah, box.
Engineer: And still on plan A.
Engineer: Am I using it all up or are we coming in? We're coming in. Use it all. Got to come in. So box, box.
Engineer: Agulis not sure what happened there mate
Engineer: Ty,
Lance STROLL: is it just overheating?
Lance STROLL: It's a f***ing disaster, the rears.
Engineer: Gatmaid, hello! 0.9 and mode 7 please Max. Alright, calm yourself down.
Max VERSTAPPEN: I just want to know my Gatmaid so I know when to defend or not.
Lewis HAMILTON: Come on guys!
Engineer: Just keep the pressure on Lewis, you can do this!
Engineer: okay Lando turn six is marginal our aim here now changes we're a little bit worried about Alonso we need to try and clear Vettel a bit he's the car behind clear Vettel a bit
Engineer: Russell 2 behind Alonso 5 in front we did the 23 laps
Lando NORRIS: Yeah, I don't know what to expect from you, I can't tell you where the tyres are going to go, I mean I'm struggling and it's getting worse, but it's not that bad at the moment, so.
Engineer: We're enjoying this, Valtteri. Keep going.
Engineer: just for info Alonso has pitted onto the hard he's about half a second quicker and just coming into our pit window but we're not going to react to that
Engineer: Okay, some of the hard runners that stopped behind you are now going slower, so pace is okay at the moment.
Engineer: OK, we think tyres are good and healthy. We think tyres are good.
Engineer: Happy to press the overtake button
Engineer: OK, nicely. Leclerc is still stuck behind Ocon. Ocon on hard from the race start.
Daniel RICCIARDO: OK,
Engineer: are
Daniel RICCIARDO: you happy with turn 10 in 8th gear?
Engineer: Turn 10 is good in 8th.
Engineer: Connect McClurk is five seconds ahead.
Lando NORRIS: Yeah, I can see everyone, it's fine.
Engineer: Very nice
Engineer: Okay, Sainz then Gasly behind, 10-lap Old Hards.
Max VERSTAPPEN: We cannot
Engineer: keep this up
Max VERSTAPPEN: till the end of the race, that's for sure.
Engineer: Yeah Lewis, Mustafen doesn't think these tyres will last to the end if you keep this pressure on. I agree, let's make sure we undercut them this time.
Lando NORRIS: He forced me off. What's this idiot doing? He even went off himself.
Valtteri BOTTAS: I'm thinking of Lampy.
Valtteri BOTTAS: If I push any more than this, there's no chance to get to the end with these tires.
Engineer: Okay Hamilton last lap 38.5. Gap is at 2.2, 2.2.
Engineer: Box and pick and firm please max box pick and firm
Engineer: And Lewis, we've got 21 laps remaining, let us know what you think. No,
Lewis HAMILTON: this left front's already messed up.
Sebastian VETTEL: I can squeeze some more laps, but times are getting quite a bit worse. Yeah, copy that.
Lewis HAMILTON: My rear is a good view, just my left front.
Charles LECLERC: The raining seems to be clearing a little bit. Won't be enough though to overtake the gas in front so fancy.
Lewis HAMILTON: Does Valtteri have any training?
Engineer: Very firm
Max VERSTAPPEN: Thank you for that.
Engineer: The race is on
Sergio PEREZ: They're here to push. Let's get them.
Engineer: Is he
Lewis HAMILTON: expected to catch me at this age?
Engineer: Copy Lewis, depends on how easy it is for him to get through Valtteri
Nicholas LATIFI: I'm telling you something's wrong with this month axle, I think.
Fernando ALONSO: Okay, which position are we in the real race?
Engineer: Currently, you're P10.
Max VERSTAPPEN: what's up yeah
Engineer: apologies max your radio is still poor no didn't copy see if you can move your microphone at the next available opportunity
Lewis HAMILTON: Serpents are catching up quicker.
Engineer: Yeah, copy. Have to see everyone's tyres drop off.
Engineer: No. Radio is full max.
Engineer: Okay, so it will be tight with Tsunoda. It will be tight with Tsunoda. He's on 20 lap hold hards.
Engineer: How's this place?
Lewis HAMILTON: Can't hear you man.
Engineer: 36 Verstappen
Engineer: Okay, Leclerc has boxed and come out behind us going for two stops
Engineer: Okay, we can just see that light band of graining on the front left starting, let's just get on top of that.
Engineer: So Verstappen is dropping off that tyre a little bit. It'll be the last three or four laps that are painful ones.
Lewis HAMILTON: How about Valtteri?
Engineer: Valtteri currently 38.0. The gap to him 2.8.
Lewis HAMILTON: Does he have vibrations?
Engineer: No vibrations to worry about. We're happy with you at the moment.
Engineer: Hamilton last lap at 38.2. Gap is at 7.2.
Lewis HAMILTON: That tyre's not doing it great.
Engineer: Okay, copy.
Engineer: So the last four laps will be very difficult, so we're stopping eight lap all-medium now.
Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, I have no front anymore, so it is difficult.
Engineer: So, 39.6, target lap time to go to the end, and Vettel behind 4.3 seconds, he pitted for medium.
Engineer: Click overtake, click overtake.
Engineer: And Perez predicted to catch it in the last four laps.
Engineer: Bottas really struggling in the first sector, he's 7 tenths slower than you, struggling with front tyres.
Lewis HAMILTON: What time do I need to do?
Engineer: It'll just be about having the tyres to race him.
Yuki TSUNODA: Sorry, I couldn't do it much.
Engineer: Copy, Yuki. Let's keep up the pace. Ten laps to go. Ten laps to go.
Engineer: So gap still one second, doing a good job, we can see Verstappen starting to struggle with these tires.
Engineer: Gap 0.6, on V3, bring it.
Valtteri BOTTAS: Why the f*** no one listened to me when I said it's gonna be a two-stopper. F***ing hell.
Engineer: Which
Sebastian VETTEL: pace is required to catch Alonso two laps to the end?
Engineer: Alonso has been doing 37.8s, 37.8s, he's an 8th second ahead. 9 laps to go.
Engineer: My tires are f***ing finished. Poppy, we understand.
Fernando ALONSO: Give me post-it every sector, basically.
Lewis HAMILTON: Zepney, just hit a big curve.
Engineer: Copy, okay, we'll look at it.
Engineer: We've got 1.1. You can do this.
Engineer: Gap is 3.6
Lewis HAMILTON: Ok, just leave me to it Copy
Engineer: Okay, check out this build for Scout. Nice move.
Engineer: Okay, Max, that's your man ahead. Four laps remaining.
Engineer: Okay, last lap for Lewis, 37.9, gap is at 1.6, I'll lead you to it, three laps to go.
Engineer: Now let us know if Perez got you passing out of the track.
Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, to make that corner flat he had to go off.
Engineer: Walter, you're going to look into it.
Engineer: Simply lovely. Come on, mate.
Engineer: Ah mate, it is sweet being a hunter. You've won that race. Excellent job.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Wow, what a f***. What a strategy, guys. Amazing. Well done, mate. Payback. Well done. Great job. Great job. I hope you guys can hear me, but what a race, man. Thank you so much.
Engineer: So
Max VERSTAPPEN: good.
Engineer: OK Lewis, well done mate, so that's P2, so we'll have a look at what happened at that stop, but yeah, real great job, just trying to get that tyre to the end, nearly had it.
Lewis HAMILTON: I did tell you this morning I'll replace.
Engineer: Alright Lewis, this one's on us, thank you for doing everything you could to recover that race, you drove incredibly well. So
Lewis HAMILTON: good man, we did our best, still got good points.
Engineer: That's the checker, that's the checker. Good drive on your side mate. That was a very difficult drive to judge, pushing both the tires right to the end. But good work on your side mate, we finished close to Mick. Really good job.
Engineer: Checkered flag Mick, checkered flag
Mick SCHUMACHER: Copy
Engineer: You can go mode slow, mode slow, good stint there, very good laps
Mick SCHUMACHER: Yeah, I'm sorry about the mistake at the start That kind of ruined everything and then obviously the guitar fish became wired and the tires were dirty, it took some time to recover But overall really good, the car felt quite good on this stint, so thank you for that The quality was amazing, so also thank you for that Obviously a big thank you to the boys for getting the car back to one piece Yeah, thank you
Engineer: Yep, good job Good C2 stint and plenty to build on, thanks Mick
Engineer: Okay, checkered flag, checkered flag, so you go in, go in, and pick up rubber, pick up rubber. That's P18, finishing 8 tenths from Reconen, around 3 seconds from Leclerc, Giovinazzi's P15, Ocon 14, Tundra 13, and Jordi's P12, George is around, I think, 12 seconds of you. Yeah, I mean,
Nicholas LATIFI: I really don't understand the beginning part of the race at all. Like, it didn't make any sense, there's nothing from the tyres, nothing.
Engineer: Understood, Nicky. Will they brief? Probably a lot to learn, will they brief back in the track?
Engineer: Ok, that's it. So Verstappen won, followed by Hamilton and Perez. It was not easy on our side.
Charles LECLERC: This was incredibly difficult. I felt like the pace was coming back a little bit With the hard, but with a medium. Oh my god I forgot my signal
Engineer: Copy, understood
Engineer: Max Verstappen, I know you've been struggling with your radio throughout the race, but congratulations on the race win. You are also the driver of the day. Huge congratulations.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Thank you very much for that. Thank you to the fans. Not even out there, but thank you for voting. I hope everyone enjoyed that race.
Engineer: That move was absolutely brilliant. You left it right to the last minute, but enjoy the celebrations. And congratulations once again, you're driver of the day.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Thank you very much.
Engineer: Over the line, Motivell, Motivell, so drive offline, we are P15 at the end, give me P17, first stop and one, Hamilton, second and Paris, third.
Engineer: There was a bit going on
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, quite exciting
Engineer: And Checo is P3 as well, Checo P3 as well. Really nice, good job team, amazing
Engineer: Well done mate, well done, great last lap.
Sergio PEREZ: Great job guys, it was a good race there, good course. Let's keep it up man, let's keep it up. Well done to everyone, except pedals.
Engineer: OK Esteban, that is the chequered flag, that is the chequered flag, so let's go to Scenario 12.
Esteban OCON: Yes, it's done. Copy that. Wasn't everything OK in the straight line compared to Fernando, because I seemed to get overtaken by everyone in the straight line.
Engineer: Yeah, copy that Esteban, we'll review later.
Esteban OCON: Yeah, copy. That was a tricky day. Clearly something difficult, yeah, but definitely something wrong today, let's see what it was.
Engineer: OK, so normal in-lap procedures please, make sure you get some fluids on board. Yeah, so some other cars clearly struggled, Leclerc tried to make a two-stop work and obviously that didn't happen, Sainz struggling with pace all day as well. It just wasn't our day unfortunately, but it's alright, we'll bounce back.
Esteban OCON: Yeah, understand. But I think there was clearly something wrong with the car today.
Engineer: Yeah, well we can review that afterwards.
Esteban OCON: Yeah.
Engineer: Okay, so actually that's before the road the Verstappen won it passing Lewis with two laps to go
Engineer: Check reflect, check reflect, P13 Yuki, P13 Fail 84, fail, fail 84, fail Yeah,
Yuki TSUNODA: degradation, the traction was quite worse, I didn't expect that Yeah,
Engineer: big step between the compound anyway, you did a good job The race was ok, and if we started in a further forward position we would win points, but Let's get this learning and move forward Check reflect, check reflect
Lando NORRIS: Great job, mate. Great job. That's P5. P5, get in.
Engineer: Lovely.
Lando NORRIS: Lovely job. Great job, mate. Great job. That's P5. P5, get in.
Engineer: Lovely.
Lando NORRIS: Lovely job. Nice drought. What a Randy. I think it's the first time I'll... I mean, I'm sure it wasn't Randy. Will, Chris as well. Thanks, everyone. Good job. Yeah, first time, I think you did something good with the strategy. Nice. Yeah, good strategy, but you need the pace. You need the driver. That's
Engineer: a
Lando NORRIS: message from Andrea. Well done. Good job. Good job, mate. Same as last year. Very good recovery. Very good recovery. Fantastic drive. Sensational. Thank you very much. Well done. Cheers, Jose. Gracias. I'll see you in like two minutes when I get out of the car. Cheers,
Engineer: sir.
Lando NORRIS: All good. Just where was Danny? Was he behind? He was behind, P6. Nice. Good job. Good one for the team. More than everyone.
Engineer: Are you here? The race was difficult for everybody, a lot of cars were struggling. Stop FIA bridge, so a lot of cars were struggling with front and rear limitation, greening and so on, so you were not alone out there.
Engineer: P12, lovely work, lovely work. You said you can't pass right now.
George RUSSELL: Great job guys, great great job especially after my terrible start. Great job, the car was very good today. That hard stint was very very well managed, very good job everyone, very very good job.
Engineer: We should be proud of that. Yeah nice drive, that's back to P9 in the teams I think.
George RUSSELL: Yeah I can't believe that's what's important. We were there on merit today, no messing around today mate.
Engineer: You should be proud of that one mate, well done.
George RUSSELL: That was a really good team effort, nice way to start the three weeks. I'm going to serve it next week, cheers.
Engineer: Yes, Daniel. Well done. P6. P6. ACS off for the in-lap, please. ACS off.
Daniel RICCIARDO: Nice one. Nice one, guys.
Engineer: I
Daniel RICCIARDO: think that was, yeah, that was really good with what we had. That was a good day.
Engineer: Well done, everyone. Yeah, definitely. And well done for you, mate. It's been a really positive weekend, I think. We're back in the game now. We are back in the game. It's a
Daniel RICCIARDO: good day for the team. Good points. Well done, guys.
Engineer: And P11, P11, difficult one, but you try really hard, good job out there.
Carlos SAINZ: Yeah, I tried my best guys, but yeah, we need to understand what happened, right from Lab 1 it was very tricky, I'm sure we will find out, but tough one.
Engineer: Copy that, and Charles, battle on. What happened when Charles put the medium, nothing still, but... He wasn't able to get past from cars behind and got stuck with blue flags and so on, so it was a painful one.
Engineer: P7 Pierre, good job, good job. What a hard day.
Pierre GASLY: Yeah.
Engineer: You should be pleased. P7 in front of Alonso. Good points in the bag again.
Pierre GASLY: Thanks guys.
Engineer: Fade 84 please. I wish we could
Pierre GASLY: have done better but it was very difficult today.
Engineer: I'm
Pierre GASLY: happy to take the points and McLaren, they were just
Engineer: too
Pierre GASLY: fast. We beat the Alpines, Aston and Ferraris. Pretty
Engineer: good day. Thank you very much. You didn't do the fail, sorry. 84 please.
Engineer: Well done, Lance. Well done, P10. Good job, mate. Vettel P9 ahead. Take the pick up. On the way in, take the pick up.
Lance STROLL: Yeah, good job. Great pace. Good strategy.
Engineer: That's nice work mate, you got lucky there to be on the back of Ricciardo. Great race, well managed.
Fernando ALONSO: Yeah I think without Ricciardo it was possible, that's okay.
Engineer: Yeah he was lucky today.
Fernando ALONSO: Yeah well done guys, first 16, a lot of graining unfortunately, but good start and good strategy I think.
Engineer: Well done mate, P9, P9, that was a big push all the way, Lance P10 behind Well done, well done, good points for the team Ah, I had the off in the middle of the first end
Sebastian VETTEL: which
Engineer: cost us probably the fight in the end of the race But anyways, well done. Thank you. Car was good in the race Strategy was good Copy that mate, yeah, you were pushing So just come in nice and slow and get lots of pick up on the tires Verstappen two stopped and he got Hamilton last couple laps And a little bit sorry for the pit stop, I think I overshot. I think the front tires were dead actually Yeah, we were pushing our luck there, I was worried Copy that
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