Russian Grand Prix 2021: Race team radio
151 radio messages were recorded during race at the Russian Grand Prix 2021, across 19 drivers. Max VERSTAPPEN had the most, with 20.
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
- Max VERSTAPPEN · Red Bull · 20 messages
- Lando NORRIS · McLaren · 18 messages
- Lewis HAMILTON · Mercedes · 18 messages
- Daniel RICCIARDO · McLaren · 14 messages
- Lance STROLL · Aston Martin · 13 messages
- Carlos SAINZ · Ferrari · 9 messages
- Fernando ALONSO · Alpine · 8 messages
- Sergio PEREZ · Red Bull · 7 messages
- George RUSSELL · Williams · 6 messages
- Pierre GASLY · AlphaTauri · 6 messages
- Valtteri BOTTAS · Mercedes · 6 messages
- Charles LECLERC · Ferrari · 5 messages
- Kimi RAIKKONEN · Alfa Romeo · 4 messages
- Sebastian VETTEL · Aston Martin · 4 messages
- Esteban OCON · Alpine · 3 messages
- Nikita MAZEPIN · Haas · 3 messages
- Yuki TSUNODA · AlphaTauri · 3 messages
- Nicholas LATIFI · Williams · 2 messages
- Mick SCHUMACHER · Haas · 2 messages
Every message, in the order it happened
Engineer: Okay Kimi, that will be 40 seconds.
Engineer: OK, quick radio check please. OK. OK, for me too, you can push.
Engineer: And ready to check out of 10-10, Lando?
Lando NORRIS: Yeah, all good.
Engineer: That was clear.
Engineer: So, go race, and you can push to turn 10, and then call the kart.
Engineer: And Daniel, launch feedback, clutch drop was good, throttle was initial late.
Daniel RICCIARDO: OK, understood.
Engineer: How's the front wing, Max?
Max VERSTAPPEN: Ah, front wing is good.
Engineer: Copy.
Engineer: Box, box, box, box.
Pierre GASLY: Can we do flat adjust or not?
Engineer: It's not really going to help for this next lap. We focus on the start. We have a plan.
Engineer: OK, so box in the slab please, box the slab for a drive-through and another start from the end of the pit lane please, and are you happy with front wing?
Fernando ALONSO: Yes, OK.
Engineer: OK, so a bit of a queue of cars ahead of you, we've got 60 seconds margin on temps.
Fernando ALONSO: I think our pit box was wet.
Engineer: Yeah, AFEM.
George RUSSELL: Would be good to see a wind map.
Engineer: I felt there was quite a few corners sheltered on the drivers parade
Engineer: Okay, Kimmy, we need mode charge, mode charge.
Engineer: OK, to the grid Max, leave the engine running when you get there, all OK Max? Yeah, all OK.
Engineer: Copy that, right, I'll see you on the grid shortly.
Esteban OCON: I think the drink is leaking a bit in the helmet.
Engineer: Understood, we'll take a look at that.
Engineer: And we need more lift and coast than before for last part, more lift and coast and to the grid
Nikita MAZEPIN: The steering rack is feeling strange, it's quite a little offset to the right and yeah it'll be nice to have a look at it because it hasn't been like that before.
Engineer: Yep, copy that, we'll have a look.
Engineer: Confirmed, just to confirm we don't need a by-point fine so you can hop out now Copy, Terrywood could you get a head rest?
Engineer: So Lewis, the rain that we're seeing on the forecast, on the radar rather, there is a little bit that may come towards the very beginning of the race but it may just miss us. It's sort of fizzling out but very unpredictable at the moment.
Carlos SAINZ: Where will the rain hit first, which corner?
Engineer: Turn 5, turn 6. It will be light, intensity light rain expected, if anything. And some brakes please. So we are expecting a bit more than Q1 level.
Engineer: Usual reminders, so once the engine fires up it will be pit speed limiter on, then
Fernando ALONSO: you
Engineer: keep pit speed limiter on until you're past pole position and work these tires on the formation lap. Think about energy management as well.
Engineer: So Sebastian, ahead is Alonso in P6 on hard, Perez P8 on hard, behind is Gasly on hard, and then it's at the back Bottas, Giovinazzi hard, Leclerc, Verstappen hard.
Lance STROLL: Make sure to use the pit board as I might not hear you very well
Engineer: So the rain, we expect to come between five past three and quarter past three. We think it's going to be light and potentially other teams think it'll be lighter than we do. That's probably quite important. Anything, it means that it's more and more plan A. More and more plan A.
Max VERSTAPPEN: My battery is just draining, I don't know what's going on.
Max VERSTAPPEN: All good now
Pierre GASLY: Mode 6, offset 1.0. Can you check the car, there's so much of a steer. And someone is near the tractor and run.
Engineer: Yes, we're on it.
Engineer: And look after your tyres. Behind Lando is Russell, Stroll, Alonso and then Hamilton P6.
Engineer: We need liftoff if you're not overtaking.
Engineer: Nice move, let's stay on Hamilton.
Nicholas LATIFI: Look after the front left as well. Copy. Tires are sliding around though. Just getting off of it early.
Engineer: OK George, gap at 0.5
Engineer: Can we think rain is reducing rain reducing so we need to do something about Russell
Engineer: Gap at point seven, he is struggling to follow in sector three.
Nicholas LATIFI: Flap adjust, plus one.
Engineer: Okay, for info we're seeing some separation on front brake temps
Lando NORRIS: Yeah, ties a little bit of our TR3 rear. Definitely being held up a little bit.
Engineer: OK, so then the next six cars ahead are all being held up by Russell at the moment. How are the tyres?
Esteban OCON: They're OK at the moment.
Engineer: Okay, race info max, Sainz and Norris up front, lap times 41.5, then there's a 5 second gap back to Russell, and that is the train ahead of you.
Engineer: And more info, currently Hamilton 6th, Checo is right behind him.
Engineer: Daniel, could be plan B, could be plan B.
Daniel RICCIARDO: OK.
Engineer: So try to stay close to Verstappen Ghazali might move out of the way
Lando NORRIS: Yeah, he's starting to hold me up a lot, but should be okay.
Engineer: OK, so Hamilton's still sixth. Gap is just 8.6 ahead.
Lewis HAMILTON: Right now my left front
Daniel RICCIARDO: Yep, so Russell seems pretty consistent, Stroll losing a little bit of rear.
Engineer: Copy.
Daniel RICCIARDO: I'm pretty even at the moment, tyres. Both axles similar deck.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, nice job keeping... Is my front wing okay? Yeah, I'll check the front wing.
Engineer: We'll have a look.
Engineer: Daniel, is plan B possible? Plan B possible?
Daniel RICCIARDO: Yes. At this stage, yes.
Engineer: Good. Good news.
Engineer: Yeah, my front left is completely gone
Engineer: So stay on top of the tools. Hand baits there when you need it.
Sergio PEREZ: There's some on your side. I'm happy with them.
Engineer: Yeah, just look after that front left. Look after the front left. We need them later.
Engineer: Some people are starting to struggle. Just make sure that front left, look after it. Handbrake for the right hand turns when you need it.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, I'm first through the last sector, it's incredible.
Engineer: Okay Mick, Sonoda ahead, also struggling with graining. Other people in traffic too. Nikita's under pressure now from Giovinazzi. Hopefully this graining will clear a bit. I guess you can hang back there with a bit of a gap until an opportunity comes. At this point though we want to just keep going because opportunities will come by running longer.
Lando NORRIS: Got him
Engineer: So things are starting to move around up front Stroll has pitted, Russell has now pitted Okay,
Max VERSTAPPEN: let's see what pace we got now
Engineer: Fighting Matsupina off the pits will be take available.
Engineer: And if you can update your tyre switch.
Lando NORRIS: I think I still have good faith, so I can continue.
Engineer: Fernando, what do you think about target lap? How far past it?
Lando NORRIS: Everything seems okay, I'm picking up some vibrations now, that's the only thing.
Engineer: Max, could I have a front wing update for the next stint please? I need a bit more, like two, three clicks. Understood, thank you.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, because the left one is ****, like it just doesn't turn.
Engineer: Understood.
Engineer: Okay, so that lap time is to protect against cars that haven't stopped yet, so we're looking for high 41 lap times.
Lando NORRIS: I think the track improvement is masking the deck at the moment, but pace is still good.
Engineer: So this pace is good. You're matching Ricciardo who's still on the medium at the front. So this pace is strong, Sebastian.
Engineer: So Lewis, pace to the cars that have stopped already, it's slightly slower but it's not a big difference, we are still going to go for that target plus 8.
Engineer: Still looking at the top five finish.
Engineer: Okay, good job in corner 10. We're happy to push, just watch the slips at the peak.
Lance STROLL: Repeat, Ben, I can't hear you.
Engineer: Tyres are good, just watch slip for performance.
Lance STROLL: I'm sorry, man, I'm really trying to hear you, but I can't. Can you talk to me in
Engineer: the
Lance STROLL: low speed of the last sector?
Engineer: Okay, tyres are good, tyres are good. Russell 3 behind, Russell 3 behind, so this is a good position. Let's keep working on this.
Lewis HAMILTON: Get ready to run the car
Engineer: ham 0.9 correction ham does not have DRS
Engineer: Okay Lando, gap to Vettel 25.4. This is almost the Germany situation. We want to extend if we can, but no risk. Pace is good.
Engineer: Ham 0.9. Nine lap tyre delta to Russell. Can you overtake him? He is doing 41.2.
Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah let's try. Let's do it. Box
Engineer: this lap. Box this lap.
Engineer: He's lost his toe, come on!
Engineer: I can't turn the car.
Max VERSTAPPEN: I've got your message, Max. Yeah, now Lumos is just pulling away while your left is going super close.
Engineer: There's not much space behind to be honest with you.
Max VERSTAPPEN: I'll try to hang in there
Engineer: Okay
Engineer: And update on tires when you can.
Pierre GASLY: Yeah, f***ing ugly.
Engineer: We are looking to a p5 finish going ahead like this you're doing a good job
Engineer: Lando, how many more laps at this pace can you do?
Lando NORRIS: I don't know, it feels very consistent at the moment. I feel like 10, but I'm not sure.
Engineer: OK, Lando, 100% pace, please, 100% pace. Confirm.
Engineer: But just look after the front left please, it's a long stint, long stint.
Engineer: OK Lando, we will be boxing this lap, we are going to box this lap.
Lando NORRIS: Confirmed.
Engineer: And the car behind you is now Verstappen on medium. He pitted same lap as Hamilton.
Engineer: As I say, this is a long stint for this compound max, so please be careful with it initially. It will be a deg race at the end.
Engineer: And tires are healthy, try to give it a go with Gasly.
Engineer: And tires are healthy, try to give it a go with Gasly.
Carlos SAINZ: Tires are?
Engineer: Healthy, you can push.
Engineer: So it's a front left limitation as you may know. We've got Sainz ahead. He's on 12 lap older tyres. He's already stopped. Gasly ahead of him has yet to stop.
Engineer: Luis you can win this race
Pierre GASLY: Can you check the front left of the wing? I'm touching a lot, I don't know if it's
Engineer: sparkles Yes we are checking, we are checking Reminder we have greening there
Engineer: Keep on pushing on here, Checo. It's a really good pace.
Sergio PEREZ: Not the pace of the people around. Give me more information.
Engineer: Hamilton's cleared the traffic. It's the last lap of 38.0. He's obviously on fresh tyres. This is right on the money.
Fernando ALONSO: White cloudy in 10-16, any weather forecasts?
Engineer: OK, copy that. Significant rain expected in the next 15 minutes. Copy.
Engineer: Mick we have to box now box to retire the car we cannot resolve the issue and it's a decaying situation I'm sorry about that. So box now, please to retire the car
Engineer: Box, box, box, box!
Engineer: Walter we get those guys in front of you for points
Engineer: OK, Alonso 25 ahead, so we need to follow these guys to get him out of our window.
Engineer: Verstappen 0.9 Alonso is close to our pit window if there's a way to get past Sainz we need it
Engineer: Beautiful work, Lewis.
Engineer: Nice, nice. Next car, Sainz.
Engineer: This pace is very good Lewis, we've got Norris at 38.8, he's got Alonso ahead of him doing 40.1
Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, it's just hard with the tyres, this course.
Engineer: Copy. Alonso's picked his pace up, 40.1.
Engineer: This pace is very good Lewis
Engineer: We think Alonso is boxing. Let's push as much as we can now. And
Lance STROLL: pushing.
Engineer: OK, Russell 5 behind, same age tyres, this is P8, this is a good job, keep pushing like this.
Engineer: Okay, let's be smart here what we do with that front left.
Engineer: What kind of
Lewis HAMILTON: places are you going to, quite quick?
Engineer: Norris 38.9, 38.9
Engineer: Alonso has passed Verstappen, Perez 1.1. Let's see if we can close up to Sainz to keep the tow, make defending easier.
Daniel RICCIARDO: Yep, I'll try.
Engineer: Expecting light drops in around 10 laps.
Engineer: Perez 0.9 he's on medium the longer you can hold him up the easier it gets
Charles LECLERC: What's going on with the stop guys? Why am I so low?
Engineer: Avoid K1
Engineer: Verstappen is struggling a lot on medium
Carlos SAINZ: From left, starting to go.
Engineer: OK, understood.
Engineer: Lewis, there's still a threat of rain towards the end.
Engineer: That's 11 laps to go dude, 11 laps. Keep going, you're doing a good job mate.
Nikita MAZEPIN: Trying to improve my balance.
Engineer: Threat of rain 5 to 10 minutes, hitting 10-5-7.
Engineer: Control the slip in sector 3, plus 1 on brake balance.
Lance STROLL: I can't hear you!
Engineer: Torque 8! Torque 8!
Lance STROLL: Where did that loss of rear grip come from? The temperature!
Engineer: Temps are too low, temps are too low. Torque 8, torque 8 and push as hard as you can.
Engineer: His tyres are almost 30 laps old. Free air. You've got him.
Engineer: There is a risk of rain increasing, it would arrive around turn 5 area first.
Lewis HAMILTON: Starts getting closer.
Fernando ALONSO: It's darker and darker in 10-7.
Engineer: Copy that.
Fernando ALONSO: Yeah, definitely some drops of rain, 10-7 and 8.
Engineer: Copy that.
Engineer: How are conditions, Max?
Max VERSTAPPEN: No, it's frizzling a little bit there.
Engineer: And Lando, umbrellas are going up.
Lando NORRIS: Spit it quite a bit.
Engineer: We think rain coming turn five we think rain coming turn five keep us posted if you see anything
Carlos SAINZ: Okay, be ready with the inters, be ready with the soft.
Valtteri BOTTAS: Tires are okay, just I really struggle to follow because I've not passed on the straights
Carlos SAINZ: Okay, it's nearly enter.
Engineer: We think the rain might get worse before it gets better.
Engineer: OK, let's box for inters then, box for inters.
Engineer: Box, box, box, box! Box, box, box!
Engineer: It's
Lewis HAMILTON: pretty slippery, but it's not raining much.
Engineer: Box, box, box, box for Inters.
Engineer: Track very slippery from here to turn 10, lots of cars going off. Yeah,
Lando NORRIS: shut up!
Engineer: Lando, what do you think about it in Inter, what do you think about it in Inter?
Lando NORRIS: No!
Lando NORRIS: I need three flags, what are they doing?
Lewis HAMILTON: It's stopped raining man!
Engineer: So box, box, box, box, pick and burn. There's more coming.
Engineer: OK, Lando, Hamilton has taken it. He's gone to an inter. Yes, I've seen. I've seen.
Lando NORRIS: We've just got to commit to staying.
Engineer: So if Norris tries to hang this out, he's going to be in trouble.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Heavy rain here mate, heavy rain!
Engineer: Copy mate, copy, keep it on the black stuff.
Lando NORRIS: It's so wet boys.
Engineer: I got a box. I want to shove. Yeah, we're gonna come I can't do this. We're gonna come in We're gonna box
Engineer: P2 is on here mate
Charles LECLERC: I cannot stop the car guys
Engineer: Get in there Lewis. That's it mate. That's the 100. Yeah, well reacted at the end there Lewis. Beautiful drive mate.
Lewis HAMILTON: Great effort guys. That was hard work man. It's taken us a long time to get that 100. But so grateful for all of you, for all the work back in the factory and here. Thanks so much for not giving up on me.
Engineer: Well done Lewis. Great job man. Really well done.
Lewis HAMILTON: Fantastic call on the rain tyres. Thank you.
Engineer: Nicely done Max, we'll take that. P2, nice job. We definitely take that one. Wow, that was at the end a good call. I think we took the right lap. Well done Max, you judged that well, you got the right lap there. We didn't lose too many points today, so that's really, really good.
Engineer: MP3, Carlos. Nice job. Well managed. How bizarre.
Carlos SAINZ: Vamos! Well managed, guys. Probably the toughest scenario that we could face. We did it perfect. Vamos!
Engineer: Yeah, it was a team effort there. You picked up the right calls. Good job.
Carlos SAINZ: Yeah, no, definitely. Thank you, guys. Perfect job.
Engineer: Okay Daniel, that's P4 mate, P4, good job. It got pretty tasty at the end, well done buddy, that was a good call with the inters. Okay,
Daniel RICCIARDO: yeah, that was, spiced it up a little. Okay, yeah, I think that was a good call, so we did what we could, thank you.
Engineer: Lando tried to stay out on the slick tyres and it just got too wet.
Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, it was really bad through turn 5, this part of the track. Where you guys are wasn't too bad, but yeah, it got very heavy the last couple laps.
Engineer: Ok man, so that's the checker, that's the checker. Brilliant start and opening lap and that first stint was really good defending against those faster cars and then crazy end and good call on the inters. Lots of other people didn't do that as quick as you did and then as you saw struggled so nice race mate, that was good.
Nikita MAZEPIN: Copy man. I had a lock up when I was fighting with the faster cars on the first stint and after that lock up I never had the same grip unfortunately. So yeah, we'll analyse in the comebacks from then.
Engineer: Yeah man, nice job, nice job. We'll have the in button please, the in button.
Engineer: And that's P5, so we were at the first car stop in there for the inters, that's a good call there.
Engineer: We'll check the effect Sorry
Yuki TSUNODA: for the start
Engineer: Yeah, we'll have a look later together
Yuki TSUNODA: Yeah, but also, like, the oversteer was quite crazy in the first lap, I don't know what's going on, but...
Engineer: Yeah, I know, I know, we need to have a good look
Engineer: Okay mate, that's still P6, shame we lost out a few positions there but it was a very good race mate. What's more in it for us?
Fernando ALONSO: Yeah we were close to the podium maybe.
Engineer: Yeah Sainz was struggling in P3 so it was definitely on the table, good fight for new mate.
Fernando ALONSO: How Sainz finished in front of us?
Engineer: We were in front of him no? Yeah he stopped two laps earlier than us. Okay,
Fernando ALONSO: they are so lucky, you know a little bit less rain. Yeah
Engineer: so Leclerc and Norris tried to stay out, they lost out even more. So Leclerc finished P15, he was right behind you.
Fernando ALONSO: Yeah yeah sure, I mean nobody predicts the weather and the intensity of the rain so it's just a pure luck.
Engineer: And P15
Engineer: That's it Kimi, fantastic, P8, but actually Norris has a penalty, so that's P7 mate, P7 very likely, fantastic race, fantastic race, well done.
Engineer: How's up, how are you doing?
Sergio PEREZ: F***, I'm very well. I'm lucky we are.
Engineer: It's the one that got away.
Engineer: OK, lovely job, well done mate, well done, that is P10, that's P10
George RUSSELL: Yeah, well done guys, I think that was a really good stint, some of the slicks Except for the last few laps, really struggling for overall
Engineer: grip
George RUSSELL: I don't know if it was on my old tyres, or what, but nevertheless, that was a good result, well done
Engineer: Yeah, mega drive mate, that was really good, really good
Engineer: That's checkered flag Lance p11 p11 that was tough with the hard tires. It was tough with the hard tires We know they were worn. We know they were worn
Engineer: OK, checkered flag, checkered flag, P12, sorry about that.
Sebastian VETTEL: Well, we tried. One risky many, maybe, but yeah. Yeah, it was drying up, you know, again, but then there was a big shower coming, so I didn't see that lap before.
Engineer: Yeah, exactly.
Sebastian VETTEL: I think if we stop one lap sooner, we are at the best spot, but hey,
Engineer: took
Sebastian VETTEL: the gamble. Yeah.
Pierre GASLY: Guys, whatever we do with the weather forecast, we need to change. Hockenheim, Spa, here, whatever we do is wrong, so... This was a golden opportunity, we didn't take it. Yeah, I think we are on the line with that. Well, I tried my best in these conditions, but... I know you did, there was nothing you could do, we just did the wrong one there. That was bad. Yeah. And again, sorry, a lot of work in front of us. But we are there, we are there with the pace. Just need to put it together.
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