Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2023: Race team radio
127 radio messages were recorded during race at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2023, across 20 drivers. 125 of them have a transcript; the rest are audio only. Fernando ALONSO had the most, with 16.
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
- Fernando ALONSO · Aston Martin · 16 messages
- George RUSSELL · Mercedes · 14 messages
- Max VERSTAPPEN · Red Bull · 13 messages
- Sergio PEREZ · Red Bull · 11 messages
- Nico HULKENBERG · Haas · 10 messages
- Charles LECLERC · Ferrari · 8 messages
- Lance STROLL · Aston Martin · 7 messages
- Logan SARGEANT · Williams · 6 messages
- Valtteri BOTTAS · Alfa Romeo · 6 messages
- Lewis HAMILTON · Mercedes · 5 messages
- Lando NORRIS · McLaren · 5 messages
- Carlos SAINZ · Ferrari · 4 messages
- ZHOU Guanyu · Alfa Romeo · 4 messages
- Oscar PIASTRI · McLaren · 4 messages
- Esteban OCON · Alpine · 3 messages
- Kevin MAGNUSSEN · Haas · 3 messages
- Nyck DE VRIES · AlphaTauri · 2 messages
- Yuki TSUNODA · AlphaTauri · 2 messages
- Pierre GASLY · Alpine · 2 messages
- Alexander ALBON · Williams · 2 messages
Every message, in the order it happened
Nyck DE VRIES: Radio check, radio check Radio
Engineer: is good, can you please go 50m on
Charles LECLERC: When I box, I mean when we stop on the green, please check the, I took a tear off, so just to make sure that he didn't go in the brake duct on the rear or something.
Engineer: So Lance, wind is 18 kph, headwind sector 1, so tyres are good, tyres are looking good there for now.
Engineer: Okay Lance, we'll box again through the pit lane for a start. You were minus seven, drive out was aggressive but the reaction to the tone very good. Box, box through the pit lane for another start.
Max VERSTAPPEN: I keep sliding off my heel rest on the brake pedal, maybe we need to clean it, it's really slippery
Engineer: Understood, thank you
Engineer: And we were two tenths faster in high speed, same everywhere else, that's compared to Sainz.
Engineer: Abort. Pull away. Abort. Go out on track. Abort. Engine. Engine. So abort. Pull on track. Gentle pull away. Out on track.
Lance STROLL: What do you mean pull away?
Engineer: I said gentle pull away. Gentle pull away.
Lance STROLL: You're good. I'm just driving.
Yuki TSUNODA: I felt a bit of, just a tiny bit more understeer in this lap, in high speed especially, not in medium slow speed.
Engineer: OK, so when you get to the back of the grid, switch the car to P1 and stay in P1 please.
Pierre GASLY: Why can't I synchronize the first gear?
Engineer: Just checking that. OK, go to the left on the grid please.
Pierre GASLY: I think it came in at the last one.
Engineer: Yeah, we got it, thank you.
Pierre GASLY: I had to do it a couple of times before it worked.
Engineer: Copy, I'll review that for the next race.
George RUSSELL: Felt like a few torque spikes exiting the launch
Engineer: Okay, Logan, radio check.
Logan SARGEANT: Copy, radio check.
Engineer: Copy, loud and clear. Remember to call the car out of turn 24 and check your drinks.
Engineer: it's
Lewis HAMILTON: pretty dark down here is that how you turn the lights up?
Engineer: I think they did as soon as you put onto the grip they did the best a bit brighter
Engineer: All right, so we're gonna be disconnecting the blankets in about a minute and a half Firing up another four minutes Should
Esteban OCON: be,
Engineer: I will confirm that with Brodie now
Engineer: OK, so for the full manage in Lapland, mode 12 for the dummy launch, pit limiter on today please, pit limiter on, static 5.5 once the car is on the ground, carry out your launch, and we are looking for a minimum of plus 5 on the dash for the rears, plus 5, a reminder from turn 24, keep the boost under control, so avoid that red icon on the dash, and then after 27 no more than 50%, 50% on the dash, then from the STC bridge, looking for 5 long burnouts, and the extra ramp rather coasting into your star position, so 5 long burnouts, obvious reminder today, stationary time much reduced, should be of the order of only 15, 1.5 seconds.
Engineer: Hi Fernanda, we heard a message from Sergio to be managing his tyres, looking after his tyres for the first couple of laps. So there's a chance he's on a soft, but we'll see. And we've seen Ocon is medium. OK Fernanda, so everyone is medium except Hamilton P7 is hard. So Hamilton P7 hard. Leclerc P12 is soft. And Norris P19 soft. Sargent at the back, hard. So that's Hamilton P7 hard. And then Leclerc P12 soft.
Engineer: All right, mate. Let's have another good one. Let's build on what we got from last week. We're in a much better position already, so let's get some good points.
Logan SARGEANT: My hold revs still didn't feel great.
Engineer: Remember we're looking for you to weave in sweatline
Engineer: Click overtake, two times tyre warming, on mode 3. And I
Nyck DE VRIES: get nearer to the grid.
Engineer: We can go to strat 12 whenever you're ready. Strat 12, Perez is 0.8 behind.
Engineer: And some potential debris here, 3 to 5.
Engineer: Okay Fernandes, so we have got a five-second penalty at the pit stop for grid position at the start So we will bear that in mind five-second penalty at the first pit stop
Fernando ALONSO: Coming
Nico HULKENBERG: It's a big piece of carbon fluid to my front wing. Check front wing.
Engineer: Understood. Checking front wing.
Engineer: Excellent move Lance. Let yellow is latched. Strat 12. Strat 12. The
Lance STROLL: yellow is not unlatching.
Engineer: Copy, we're checking.
Lewis HAMILTON: I'm not going to sue him
Engineer: You're opening the gap to Sonoda. He's 1.2, so he's out of DRS.
Audio only, no transcript available for this message.
Engineer: I am faster, but you are restrained Copy I look after the tires, obviously
Engineer: Joe, you're matching the lap times from Gasly ahead. Good job so far. Matching lap times from Gasly ahead.
ZHOU Guanyu: Copy. I'm locking up in turn 13 a bit. Have a look.
Engineer: Copy. We'll check.
Nico HULKENBERG: I've got quite a bit more caper, he's
Engineer: a
Nico HULKENBERG: Kevin, he's sliding a lot, he's too aggressive, especially at 13, tell him.
Engineer: Understood Niko, we're passing the message, just watch the last bit of throttle when you go up the last 10%.
Engineer: And Lando, what pace is this, please?
Lando NORRIS: Pace 3 or 4. Pace 3.
Engineer: OK, understood. Can you do pace 2?
Lando NORRIS: Yeah.
Engineer: But plan A, definitely plan A.
Fernando ALONSO: Yeah, I'm trying mate, I'm trying.
Lewis HAMILTON: I've got such a good start.
Max VERSTAPPEN: I've let him over, so an entry to the corner.
Engineer: Okay, your tires are looking good. Kevin's first set looked fine, so we're all good on tires. For plan A, would you take some more flat for the next tire?
Nico HULKENBERG: Probably, yes.
Engineer: okay Fernando's drop back gap now 1.5
Engineer: So Fernando the heart is not looking great so far so we'll be looking at extending
Engineer: Okay, front right is our primary concern.
Carlos SAINZ: Yeah, the air is a bit loose in traffic.
Engineer: Understood.
Logan SARGEANT: The car is so nervous
Fernando ALONSO: Papayas feel good. We can keep going.
Engineer: Okay, front wing update for the next set please.
Max VERSTAPPEN: One degree less I think.
Engineer: Understood.
Engineer: And flap update when you can.
Charles LECLERC: Flap update.
Engineer: Copy.
Engineer: Run switch race, run switch race, tight with Albon, tight with Albon, run switch race, tight with Albon Albon is 12 lap hold medium Reset brake balance, reset brake balance So Albon right behind you, 12 lap hold medium
ZHOU Guanyu: Man, I'm having so much understeer.
Engineer: So we will be staying out staying out
Engineer: So Flandre, the only thing you can do to save the rears a bit more is in turn 7. A little bit management turn 7 will help the rears. Russell still 7.3 behind. Also we're happy... Copy. Another click forwards brake balance, probably good.
Engineer: We've done nothing,
Lance STROLL: guys. Yeah,
Engineer: we know, mate. We're monitoring it. Do the K0 when you can, middle of the lap. Do what you can. No energy presses, lads.
Fernando ALONSO: Still on target, because I'm still on level 4.
Engineer: Lance, stop the car. Lance, stop the car. Stop on track.
Max VERSTAPPEN: I'm just getting more on my board than in the beginning, it was really tricky.
Engineer: Yeah that was the effective tailwind so I'd like a heads up on the front wing update for the next stint in free air please. Max, if you see a safety car or VSC we are pitting, okay? If you see safety car or VSC we are pitting.
Engineer: Okay Valtteri, we would like to go back to the medium, we can box this lap, box box. Perfect.
Engineer: Okay Kev, we're only going to lose one place, so Sunoda's going to benefit from this, so you're going to be P11. Still very good.
Engineer: OK mate, so if we can... there you go, dash clear, that's good. OK, so in terms of order, even with that safety car, it's not worked out too bad for us, I don't believe. I'll let you know on order shortly. So we are racing Tsunoda, who just jumped a couple of places because of that safety car. Sergeant in front hasn't stopped yet, he's still on the hard tyre. Pierre is the car behind, hard tyre's two laps older than yours.
Engineer: Okay, so race update, everyone behind us pitted, we've got yourself, Fernando, Russell, Max, Sainz, Hamilton and Leclerc.
George RUSSELL: What was the pace of Sainz before the safety car compared to us?
Engineer: Sainz was high 35s and then on the hard it was hard to tell. It was in traffic.
George RUSSELL: Same strategy with the tyres as we did on the medium.
Engineer: Affirm.
Engineer: And try to push from safety car line one for Hamilton, he just beat it. Xavi, you need to tell me that before. Copy. No, but come on!
Engineer: Okay, so recommend mode race around turn 22.
Lewis HAMILTON: Once we had
Engineer: free air and that hard tyre came to us, it was looking pretty strong.
Lando NORRIS: Can you tell me where the leader goes?
Engineer: I can try my best, the safety car is coming into the pit lane now, Prez is just out to the final corner.
Engineer: Boat push
Engineer: Just look after them until safety DRS gets enabled. Hamilton is the car behind.
Fernando ALONSO: Yeah tires they feel very good. I like this tire.
Engineer: Copy mate copy
Engineer: If we can't get De Vries, we'll have to let Lando have a go. So let's try and get De Vries now. And if Lando attacks, do not make it too difficult.
Alexander ALBON: Guys, if we have the pack like this, it's not me.
Engineer: Copy, radio is not clear, but the early overtake is costly on pack.
ZHOU Guanyu: They just go off to the distance into turn 16, I really love
Alexander ALBON: Oh my god, brake failure!
Engineer: So this tyre is going to be very durable so we're happy to lean on it more.
Audio only, no transcript available for this message.
Nico HULKENBERG: And crazy amount of understeer in turn 9.
Engineer: See what we can do here.
Engineer: Wind is still the same, just more intense.
George RUSSELL: Alonzo with a 5 second penalty here, let's play it later but let's manage to tie it a little bit now Alonzo served his penalty at the stop Ah **** Again, info I need
Engineer: So Russell is pushing on a bit now. He's 1.7 behind. He did a 34.0 last lap. So this lap he did a 33.7. He's trying to get into the DRS to protect himself from Hamilton.
Fernando ALONSO: Copy. Keep me updated.
Engineer: So pace looks good at the moment
Engineer: And we're happy to lean on the rears a bit more out of turn 13.
Engineer: Sergeant 1.0, you're very close to breaking the tail.
Engineer: So Russell two seconds back, he's pretty much matching that lap time.
Engineer: Main loss to Max, overpushing the entry to 16, compromising apex and exit.
Engineer: And we have one strike for track limits, turn 23.
Charles LECLERC: Yeah, I think the highlight is he's with ***, I don't know what to do.
Engineer: Understood.
Fernando ALONSO: how many places we will lose because of safety
Engineer: you read our mind we were literally just talking about so if you pit now you'd lose four that's the two Mercedes two Ferraris but Leclerc is right on that bubble what's your thoughts on restarting this tyre with 17 to go I
Fernando ALONSO: mean tyres feel good but the stop and grip was an over level so it was easy to pass I don't know
Engineer: copy understood I
Fernando ALONSO: will try to open a little bit of margin and see how many positions we keep losing
Engineer: yeah copy that
Fernando ALONSO: keep updating me on the Russell time lap
Engineer: last lap was at 33.5 Russell 33.5
Engineer: Keep doing what you're doing. We'll have him. We have a plan. We'll have him stay close
Fernando ALONSO: We are much faster, so let's keep an eye on the safety car in case it happens. The rest is under control.
Engineer: Gap 1.3. Really good laps. Incredible.
Engineer: And we are happy with the tyres, you are doing a good job. Sainz lap time 33.5
Engineer: It's just the b-bell offset that's left max, can't do anything on the b-bell map itself. Okay, stand by.
Engineer: OK, Oscar, so there's three cars on medium in this group ahead. Sergeant Joe and Lando all on medium. Looks like the cars on medium, particularly Sergeant, are starting to struggle a bit more.
Engineer: It
Max VERSTAPPEN: makes like a weird noise in high speed.
Engineer: Okay understood Max, we are monitoring, I'll let you know. We are happy at the moment Max.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Wait there's something wrong.
Engineer: Okay stand by, keep going for the moment.
Engineer: Okay, Max, that was track limits at 23 again. So we'd like to target a 33.0, 33.0.
Engineer: Lando, if there was a safety car, would you be happy with a soft?
Lando NORRIS: Yeah, I'd take the tires to be honest with you.
Engineer: Max, any more feedback on that issue from before?
Max VERSTAPPEN: Well, yeah, it's still there.
Engineer: Yeah, understood.
Sergio PEREZ: I'm having a bit of a long pedal. Freak pedal.
Engineer: Yeah copy Treco, having a look.
Engineer: And try to do a radio reset. Radio reset.
Charles LECLERC: I cannot hear, sorry.
Engineer: We're happy with the brake pedal, just a little bit of wear.
Engineer: So last lap was seven tenths quicker than everyone else seven tenths quicker you How many
Fernando ALONSO: laps to the end?
Engineer: So at the end of this one is nine more laps nine and both Ferraris are outside the safety car windows So it's just the two Mercedes
Fernando ALONSO: copy level four and not curbs
Engineer: copy understood
Engineer: Ok, target 32.6, plus 0.4
Sergio PEREZ: Is Max doing the same?
Engineer: Max's last lap, 32.6 I
Sergio PEREZ: mean, so why are you telling me 33.0?
Engineer: It's target plus 0.4, drops are good
Sergio PEREZ: We are pushing without a reason guys, but, have to do
Oscar PIASTRI: If the soft looks better on others, then soft, but up to you really.
Engineer: Ok, soft looks poor on Bottas, we'll handle it though, all good, you get stuck into these guys.
Engineer: Eight laps to go, tyres are okay, to push even more, try to push even more for tyres.
Sergio PEREZ: Right, we don't really need this. So, we're pushing now?
Engineer: You're free to push. Free to push.
Valtteri BOTTAS: Can you see any damage in the car?
Engineer: So far no feedback, stand by
Valtteri BOTTAS: Something is not right Copy Something is
Engineer: not
Valtteri BOTTAS: sliding at all
Engineer: Landon, I'd like to close the safety car window, please. I'm closing it.
Lando NORRIS: Close what?
Engineer: This safety car window is closed now.
Lando NORRIS: Safe car, mate.
Max VERSTAPPEN: What's the process now?
Engineer: We are not concerned about that at the moment, Max.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, but I am.
Valtteri BOTTAS: Can you see any damage in the car? So far no feedback, stand by There's something is not right There's some sliding error Worse? No, it's pretty... pretty stable
Engineer: Okay
Engineer: AHH!
Engineer: And no, do not make it too difficult for Oscar.
Engineer: So gap ahead 4.6, Alonso has just been given the hurry up so let's push on hard, close up to him.
Engineer: Okay, four laps to go, Nico, four laps. Let's close this gap to Sonoda a bit in case he falls off.
Engineer: So there could be a possible five-second penalty for Alonso end of the race gap 4.5
Sergio PEREZ: What is the fastest lap at the moment?
Engineer: You've got the fastest lap 32.1
Engineer: So currently Russell is 4.3 behind be nice to have five seconds in just in case but we think we're all clean
George RUSSELL: Is he getting a penalty or not?
Engineer: I'm
George RUSSELL: pushing like a madman at the moment. Just keep pushing like a madman.
Engineer: Wicked job, wicked job.
Sergio PEREZ: Wicked! Nice job guys, well done, excellent result for the team.
Engineer: Fantastic Dzeko, absolutely fantastic. Really, really amazing drive, that last time was on fire, well done mate.
Sergio PEREZ: Well done guys, it's been an awesome first two races. Let's keep it up, let's keep pushing, plenty more fun to have.
Engineer: So, great recovery, well done.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, not bad, that's a good
Engineer: result for the whole team. Great recovery, Max, that was a really good drive, fastest lap at the end, 31.9, 1-2 finish. Sorry about yesterday, but great points today.
Fernando ALONSO: Well done guys fantastic.
Engineer: Yeah, well, I mean I was proper driving. Well done.
Fernando ALONSO: I Still need to buy some beers in Australia. Well done guys. Well deserved
Max VERSTAPPEN: You have to be a bit careful the first few laps. It's quite tricky. You gave us the willies about hearing
Engineer: those noises, that's for sure.
Engineer: Louis, great recovery drive. It's getting better. Thanks, Otto.
Engineer: OK, P4, the gap in the end there was 5.1 Ah, that's close.
George RUSSELL: Did he get a penalty or not?
Engineer: We'll have to see after the race.
George RUSSELL: Well done guys. I don't know if we'll maximise the weekend, especially off the back of Bahrain. What to do, but I think we did a really good job with the package we had. So, good job.
Engineer: Yeah, nice work all weekend.
George RUSSELL: Well done George, we're getting there, slowly but surely. Thanks Toto.
Valtteri BOTTAS: I'm sorry about today, I know it was a very painful one, but we'll do a good job with the car tonight and we'll go through the data and we'll learn something from today. Yeah copy, something was wrong, for sure the whole weekend but today especially. On lap 1 I ran over some massive debris which I felt like a **** so that could be something there. Okay copy, we'll do a good check of the floor tonight.
Engineer: Good
Nico HULKENBERG: lap there, Nico, and good job. Didn't get any luck with the safety car timing, but holding off Sargent was really impressive with no DRS. That was a good run. Kevin got 10th, so we got the first point for Haas today. Yeah, great. Good job, guys. Happy for that. Kevin did a good race. Not bad for us either. A couple of things didn't go as good as they should maybe, but all fun and learning, eh? I felt it was not a bad effort.
Engineer: Let's
Nico HULKENBERG: do it again.
Engineer: Good job, Nico. Next time we have got both in the points, it's possible. Good job. Thank you for hanging in there.
Sergio PEREZ: That was a wicked job, guys. Well done. One
Engineer: more lap! Yeah, boy.
Sergio PEREZ: Did we get the first lap in the end, or...?
Engineer: You were pipped on the last lap. Ah,
Sergio PEREZ: great.
Engineer: Enjoy the win. That's the number one job.
Sergio PEREZ: Let's enjoy it, guys. Well done. Well done to everyone, to all the boys. It's been a really tough weekend for you guys, so let's enjoy it for now.
Engineer: That's it, Kev. P10. Fantastic, mate. Superb. First points. Yep. There
Kevin MAGNUSSEN: you go, guys. There you go. Nice job. Nice job. Good job, Kevin. You can be proud of yourself. You know what I mean? Yeah, you too, Gunnar. You too.
Engineer: You did a good job there, very consistent and no mistakes.
Engineer: Yeah Joel, so P13 at the end, good job from your side, a difficult one, unfortunately out of the points. Magnussen got the last point, P10.
ZHOU Guanyu: Yeah, obviously I was happy with my side and after the first set was difficult, the window, we'll discuss later. But yeah, let's keep pushing for Melbourne, thank you.
Engineer: I think a typical race, it was the end of the option overall, a lot of learnings, you should be going please, a lot of learnings, second race finished, didn't do mistakes, good fights, good learnings, I can debut when you're back.
Logan SARGEANT: Low goodness James, well done, well driven with what we had, we'll come back stronger next time. Thanks guys, tough one, sorry it wasn't quicker today.
Engineer: OK, and that's the checkered flag, well done.
Esteban OCON: Coppola, good job this weekend guys, good job, solid result. Good to score with the two cars. Season started, let's call it like that.
Engineer: Yep, very good job.
Engineer: okay buddy that's the checkered flag uh it's recharge on with the in-lap recharge on and cool the car finished p15 well done uh squeezing past that williams that was pretty exciting there and the straight speed was a bit different to us and it was a good overtake well done
Oscar PIASTRI: yeah thanks i don't really know how i lost the front wing at the start to be honest but have a look thanks
Engineer: for
Oscar PIASTRI: all the effort yesterday was a very encouraging day so uh push on to melbourne
Engineer: yeah i mean you've done the whole race on one set of tires pretty much so uh pace at the end was good our pace or race was good but tire management everything's good in uh in melbourne we'll try and put it all together let's go on sunday there's that park verme thing as well so when you get to the fia you need to turn the car fully off that means kill the engine wait five and uh and then switch it fully off the uh well done mate i know that that's again not the result we wanted but the pace is there and uh it's coming yeah
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