George Russell warned Williams his car’s erratic braking performance was almost dangerous and he was considering retiring because of it in a series of radio messages during the Japanese Grand Prix.

Following the race Russell said his run to 18th place at Suzuka had been “incredibly tricky” in a statement issued by the team. “We had some brake issues throughout which made it quite difficult. It was definitely one of the tougher races of the season.”

Russell’s comments during the race reveal just how serious his problem was. Early in the race he told the team the braking performance was “atrocious”, and the team tried a series of settings changes to improve them.

However Russell reported his braking performance varied wildly from lap to lap: “Very good” on some occasions but “very poor” on others. After 13 laps he warned he might have to retire the car as the situation was “getting to the point of danger”.

Russell made it to the chequered flag, but told his engineer afterwards “we cannot continue with these brakes”.

Williams did not elaborate on the nature of Russell’s problem when contacted by RaceFans, but said the layout of the Suzuka exacerbated the difficulties the team were having with its brakes.

2019 Japanese Grand Prix: Selected radio messages from George Russell

Russell’s brake problems began within a few laps of the race starting.

Lap Exchange Message (notes in italics) 6 Russell: Check the brakes, they feel atrocious. Car’s not stopping. 6 To Russell: Switch blue six position three 6 To Russell: And mode seven when you can. 6 Russell: Brakes feel incredibly poor. Car is just not stopping. 7 To Russell: Suggest rearwards on brake bias by two percent. 7 Russell: Exit three for less oversteer, exit turn six. 8 Russell: Exit three? 8 To Russell: Affirm. 8 To Russell: Let me know if the brakes start to improve. Norris now 1.5 behind. 8 Russell: They’re especially bad into turn nine. 9 To Russell: Blue four position two when you can. Norris within half a second. 9 Russell: No rear support entry 14. 11 Russell: Mate the car is moving all over the show in the brakes. Especially this lap into 16. 12 To Russell: Try blue four position three. 13 Russell: Mate if these brakes don’t improve, we’re going to have to stop. It’s getting to the point of danger. Check that halt into turn 15. 13 To Russell: (Unclear) copy.

The team made a series of settings changes in an attempt to improve braking performance.

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Lap Exchange Message (notes in italics) 15 To Russell: Go forwards on brake balance by two percent and then blue four position four. 15 To Russell: Forward two percent and blue four position four. 17 To Russell: Any change on the brakes? 17 Russell: Small improvement. 17 To Russell: Blue four position five when you can. 19 To Russell: Lap times are looking much better now. How the balance for… 19 Russell: Can’t hear anything. Go again. Repeat. 19 To Russell: How’s the balance for a flap adjust? 19 To Russell: Balance is all over the place. Leave it as it is.

Russell did not make his first pit stop until almost half-distance. Some midfield drivers who pitted and came out behind the Williams caught and overtook him.

Lap Exchange Message (notes in italics) 20 To Russell: Let’s stop the lift-and-coast into 16. Grosjean within 1.5. 21 To Russell: Blue nine position 12 when you can, but Grosjean close by. No rush. 22 To Russell: OK this is good, you’re doing a good job. 22 To Russell: We’re looking at stop lap minus three. Grosjean behind battling with Giovinazzi. 23 Russell: Brakes were very good into turn three that lap, whilst Grosjean overtook me. 23 To Russell: Copy you have six hits on the overtake. Raikkonen and Magnussen behind. 23 Russell: Do we really need to leave me out getting overtaken like this? 23 Russell: Pit me. 23 To Russell: Stay out, stay out. 23 Russell: Come on, we don’t want to risk anything. 24 To Russell: Tyre temp and tyre life is good from our side. Bottas seven seconds back. 25 To Russell: We’re looking at the Plan B tyre choice. 25 To Russell: Black S2. 28 To Russell: This pace is good if you can manage this, this pace is good. 29 To Russell: Pace is good.

As the race wore on, Russell’s braking problem resurfaced and seems to have become more unpredictable.

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Lap Exchange Message (notes in italics) 29 Russell: (Unclear) was very good into turn 16 that lap. 31 To Russell: That’s a blue flag for Vettel. Blue four position three. It’s clear behind Vettel. 32 Russell: Brakes were very poor into turn 16 when Vettel overtook. 33 Russell: They were very good this lap. Into 16. 35 To Russell: Suggest a full lift into turn one for fuel saving. 38 To Russell: Let’s get a full lift into turn 11 for fuel, so full lift into one and 11. 38 Russell: Is the lift OK into turn one? 39 Russell: When I do (unclear) the brakes do not work. 39 To Russell: Yes. 39 Russell: Same into one, into nine. 39 To Russell: Yes got a bit more, affirm. 39 Russell: I don’t know what that is. 39 To Russell: Yep, copy that.

Russell had to do a lot of fuel-saving later in the race, which may have eased the strain on his brakes. However once it became clear race leader Valtteri Bottas would lap him for a second time before the race ended, he was able to push harder again.

Lap Exchange Message (notes in italics) 41 To Russell: We need more saving into one, bigger lift into one if you can. Albon within five seconds. 43 To Russell: OK we’re going to need bigger savings through four, five, six for fuel. 45 To Russell: George we’re going to need to manage the fuel a bit more. Need to lift and coast into 11 and 16. 46 To Russell: Maintain this fuel saving. Leclerc pitted again so big gap behind, 25 seconds. 50 Russell: Do I still need to lift-and-coast with Bottas lapping? 50 To Russell: Yeah we should get lapped next time around so we should stop that now. Stop the lift-and-coast, Bottas within three seconds. 51 To Russell: OK chequered flag just watch for Perez at turn two, gone off. 51 To Russell: Blue one, position 14. Well done, there was a lot of things to manage there. 51 Russell: Thank you. I don’t know where to start. We cannot continue with these brakes. I was getting ready to retire at one point they were that bad. We really, really need to sort this out.

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2019 F1 season