Team radio messages again provided some of the most dramatic moments of the season in 2016.

From Sebastian Vettel’s Mexican Grand Prix meltdown to the tense atmosphere at Mercedes during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix title-decider, the radio traffic gave rare insight into the drivers’ real emotions.

During the first half of the year we didn’t get to hear much from them as Formula One Management drastically reduced the amount of radio material being broadcast compared to previous season. That changed heading into the summer break, in a move which coincided with some of the controversial restrictions on radio messages being relaxed.

Here are some of the most memorable moments from this year’s races on the team radios:

Australian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton wasn’t the first driver in 2016 to be frustrated by Max Verstappen:

Lap* Driver Message 10 From Lewis Hamilton I can’t get past this guy. 10 To Lewis Hamilton OK Lewis you can just take it easy and we’ll extend the stint. 13 From Lewis Hamilton There’s go to be another strategy, guys, I can’t be stuck behind this guy for ages. 13 To Lewis Hamilton Yeah copy that Lewis we’ll try and go long on this stint.

But Verstappen had other problems later in the race:

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There was jubilation for Haas after a great performance by Romain Grosjean:

Lap* Driver Message VL To Daniel Ricciardo Haas is sixth. VL From Daniel Ricciardo Impressive. Good on them. And fastest lap? I guess I got it? VL To Daniel Ricciardo I can confirm you did get the fastest lap of the race. VL From Daniel Ricciardo Well that’s worth a drink. VL To Romain Grosjean Chequered flag Romain, absolutely amazing dude! VL From Romain Grosjean Guys, listen to me. This is a win for us. Unbelievable for everyone. I don’t even know where we finished! Unbelievable. VL To Romain Grosjean Amazing, dude. You finished P6. Thanks for an amazing debut for Haas F1 team. VL From Romain Grosjean Oh my goodness! Welcome to Formula One, Gene! This is the day. This is history, guys. VL To Romain Grosjean Thank you brilliant mate, absolutely amazing job. VL From Romain Grosjean Yeah fantastic for everyone. I don’t know how you did that job in such a little time. Well done everyone. VL To Romain Grosjean Well done Romain, happy days. You’re the man.

Bahrain Grand Prix

Manor found themselves consistently at the top of the speed traps thanks to their new Mercedes power units:

Lap* Driver Message 25 From Kevin Magnussen There’s no way I’m going to get past him, He’s like a rocket on the straights. 25 To Kevin Magnussen Okay understood, the Manor is like a rocket on the straights, understood.

The good times continued to roll at Haas but not all of Grosjean’s radio messages would be this positive later in the year:

Lap* Driver Message VL To Romain Grosjean P5 Romain, P5. Amazing job! VL From Romain Grosjean Unbelieavable guys! This is the American dream. This is unbelievable. What a great job from all of you. Some places we can improve but what a job guys! I love you. Beautiful. VL To Romain Grosjean Amazing drive, Romain, amazing. American dream, you said it. Think you got enough passes in there. Brilliant job all race, amazing. VL From Romain Grosjean Yeah I love that car, I love that car. VL To Romain Grosjean Romain, your overtaking was fantastic, thank you very much, we enjoyed that. VL From Romain Grosjean Yeah well I’ve got brakes this year , that helps! VL To Romain Grosjean Nice one.

Chinese Grand Prix

With Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne watching in the pits, Sebastian Vettel needed a good explanation for why he’d just crashed into his team mate:

Lap* Driver Message 1 From Sebastian Vettel Okay I made contact I had no chance I had the Red Bull coming up the inside like a madman and I hit Kimi, I think my nose is damaged. 6 From Sebastian Vettel Just to copy you again, Kvyat attack was suicidal, there was always going to be a crash. No way with the speed he had he could have done the corner. 14 To Sebastian Vettel Good stuff Sebastian good stuff. Push hard.

Grosjean’s problems began at Haas:

Lap* Driver Message 54 From Romain Grosjean That’s what I wanted to ask, if you want to retire, there is a problem with the car, it is undrivable today. 54 To Romain Grosjean Understood but we do not want to retire the car, hang in there.

But after his third consecutive win Nico Rosberg was riding high:

Lap* Driver Message VL To Nico Rosberg Well done excellent drive absolutely dominant. Brilliant. VL From Nico Rosberg Wow thanks a lot everybody, that was the most incredible balance I probably ever had in a race, that car. Really spectacular.

And after a fine podium finish things were looking up for Daniil Kvyat:

Lap* Driver Message VL To Daniil Kvyat OK well done Dany, P3 mate, well done. VL From Daniil Kvyat Thank you. Thanks guys, excellent, excellent day. Thanks for my second podium, you’ve been fantastic. VL To Daniil Kvyat Great job Dany, second podium of your career, that’s a brilliant drive.

Russian Grand Prix

Vettel did not conceal his disappointment at being rammed out of the race by Kvyat:

Lap* Driver Message 1 From Sebastian Vettel Oh for [censored by FOM] sake man! Who the [censored by FOM]? Oh I’m out! Crash! Somebody hit me in the [censored by FOM] rear, T2, Somebody hit me in the [censored by FOM] rear again T3, for [censored by FOM] sake, honestly. What the [censored by FOM] are we doing here?

A power unit fault hampered Hamilton in qualifying and more problems hit both Mercedes’ drivers during the race:

Lap* Driver Message 32 From Lewis Hamilton You there Bono? 33 To Lewis Hamilton Affirm Lewis, we’ve got a bit on at the moment mate. so Lewis it looks lke we’ve got a water pressure issue, water pressure issue. 39 To Lewis Hamilton Lewis the situation has stabilised.

Spanish Grand Prix

The blue flag guidelines were toughened up later in the year as the front runners complained slower cars were holding them up:

Lap* Driver Message 38 To Jolyon Palmer OK Jo we have solid blue for Ricciardo behind, he is the race leader, two seconds behind. 38 From Jolyon Palmer I can barely see him in the mirrors. 38 To Jolyon Palmer I know, you’re doing same lap time as him.

Vettel didn’t appreciate Daniel Ricciardo’s attempt to overtake him:

Lap* Driver Message 59 From Sebastian Vettel [Censored by FOM] if I don’t avoid that. He’s just going straight to my car. Honestly, what are we doing? Racing or ping-pong?

In his first race for Red Bull, Max Verstappen scored a stunning victory:

Lap* Driver Message VL From Max Verstappen Yes! Yes! VL To Max Verstappen Unbelievable, Max. Unbelievable. VL To Max Verstappen Max Verstappen you are a race winner. Fantastic. What a great debut. Great job. VL From Max Verstappen Thank you very much, Christian. VL To Max Verstappen Max you nursed that tyre set home brilliantly, mate. Well done. VL From Max Verstappen It was like driving on ice the last ten laps. Unbelievable.

Monaco Grand Prix

Felipe Nasr did not agree with Sauber’s call for him to let Marcus Ericsson by. His frustrated team mate then tried to pass at Rascasse, with inevitable consequences:

A frustrated Ricciardo saw victory slip away due to a fumbled Red Bull pit stop:

Lap* Driver Message 37 From Daniel Ricciardo What the [censored by FOM] was that? 39 To Daniel Ricciardo OK mate, let’s get your head together, you are quicker than him, let’s do it. VL From Daniel Ricciardo Save it. Nothing you could say can make that any better. Just save it.

Canadian Grand Prix

The unflappable Kimi Raikkonen gave his race engineer a dose of reality:

Lap* Driver Message 21 To Kimi Raikkonen Take it easy Kimi, take it easy. 21 From Kimi Raikkonen I cannot take it easy and keep them behind at the same time.

Meanwhile his team mate was getting increasingly agitated after losing the lead due to a questionable strategy call:

Lap* Driver Message 21 From Sebastian Vettel Get this traffic out of the way! 35 From Sebastian Vettel Mamma mia, what the hell is going on? 59 From Sebastian Vettel What the [censored by FOM] is this Manor doing?

European Grand Prix

New regulations which prevented engineers from assisting the drivers became a hot topic when Lewis Hamilton spent a significant portion of the race stuck in the wrong engine setting:

Meanwhile Raikkonen was experiencing a similar problem:

Lap* Driver Message 46 From Kimi Raikkonen If the handle is normal, it is the same like last race, let’s say? 46 To Kimi Raikkonen I can’t answer Kimi, I can’t answer, I’m sorry. 46 From Kimi Raikkonen For sure you can say yes or no. 46 To Kimi Raikkonen I can’t Kimi, I can’t.

Austrian Grand Prix

More angst at Mercedes as their drivers collided on the final lap:

Lap* Driver Message VL To Lewis Hamilton OK Lewis well done mate not the race we were after but good result. VL From Lewis Hamilton I was on the outside. It wasn’t me that crashed.

British Grand Prix

With a lot of standing water at the start of the race drivers faced the tricky decision about which tyre to switch to after the Safety Car came in:

Lap* Driver Message 5 To Daniel Ricciardo OK Daniel Safety Car is in this lap, what do you think about tyres at the moment. Inters or [full wets]? 5 From Daniel Ricciardo If we can survive the aquaplaning I think the inters.

Sure enough the conditions quickly caught some of them out:

Lap* Driver Message 7 From Pascal Wehrlein Yeah I’m out. Aquaplaning first corner, No chance.

Rosberg was the first driver to fall foul of the team radio restrictions and receive a penalty. Mercedes only discovered he was under investigation when they heard Red Bull discussing it on their radio:

Hungarian Grand Prix

Verstappen couldn’t resist pointing out how easily he was keeping up with his team mate:

Lap* Driver Message 8 To Max Verstappen You are still within DRS of Ricciardo. 8 From Max Verstappen I’m driving like a grandma.

Jenson Button followed Rosberg in receiving a penalty for receiving assistance on the radio, but this latest controversy proved the final nail in the coffin for this contentious rule:

Lap* Driver Message 14 From Jenson Button So the brake pedal going to the floor isn’t classed as a safety issue. That’s quite interesting. Think someone needs to read up on what is safe and what isn’t.

Not for the first or last time, Mercedes became concerned Hamilton was compromising Rosberg’s race:

Lap* Driver Message 33 To Lewis Hamilton OK Lewis so Ricciardo’s about to get onto the back of the train so we really need to open this gap up. 33 From Lewis Hamilton Well I’m driving to the best of my ability on these tyres. 33 To Lewis Hamilton OK copy that Lewis. If these cars bunch up then we’ll be bringing Nico in first. 33 From Lewis Hamilton Well why would they do that? It’s not like I’m driving slow, I’m trying. 33 To Lewis Hamilton Yeah Lewis just the risk is we’re putting the win in jeopardy.

Behind the leaders Raikkonen saw red as he tried to pass Verstappen:

Lap* Driver Message 58 From Kimi Raikkonen He moved right and then back to left when I was going there. I took my [censored by FOM] front wing off. 58 To Kimi Raikkonen Copy, copy, keep pushing on the way in. 61 From Max Verstappen Kimi is going out of the track limits. 70 From Kimi Raikkonen He’s not stopping moving then we will hit each other. 70 To Kimi Raikkonen Understood. 70 From Kimi Raikkonen Because I move first so [censored by FOM] don’t move after that. I have nothing that I could do once I decided that I go inside and he turns after that in front of me.

German Grand Prix

From the British Grand Prix teams were able to listen in to all of their rivals’ messages in real-time, including everything not broadcast on television by FOM. At times they passed on what they heard to their drivers:

Lap* Driver Message 3 To Max Verstappen OK Max solid couple of laps. Hamilton has also been instructed about looking after his tyres so we’ll do the same mate at this stage

Rosberg was the latest driver to come off second-best in a scrap with Verstappen, though only after the stewards intervened:

Lap* Driver Message 30 From Max Verstappen He pushed me off the track. 35 To Nico Rosberg So Nico important you keep pushing. You’ve got a five-second penalty that we need to take at the next pit stop. 35 From Nico Rosberg Can you explain to them that I was full lock on the steering wheel and I couldn’t steer more. And he moved in braking, that was the big problem. That’s completely not allowed.

One particular driver distinguished himself by being a problem for the front runners:

Lap* Driver Message 55 From Daniel Ricciardo Esteban [Gutierrez] is my favourite, I love this guy. 55 To Daniel Ricciardo OK Daniel you can rest assured he’s doing the same to everyone, he’s not just picking on you.

Belgian Grand Prix

Raikkonen and Verstappen resumed their battle from the Hungaroring and the Ferrari driver’s wrath proved too much for FOM’s censor:

Lap* Driver Message 13 From Kimi Raikkonen Do I have to let the Red Bull past? Because it’s clear his only interest is pushing me off the circuit completely. If I wouldn’t go straight he’s just hitting me. 13 From Kimi Raikkonen Hey come on this is [censored by FOM] ridiculous now, he’s just fucking turning when I’m going full speed on the right. 13 To Kimi Raikkonen Copy, copy, ridiculous.

Despite the encouragement, Valtteri Bottas wasn’t able to get past Alonso:

Lap* Driver Message 42 To Valtteri Bottas We can get him, he’s going to be a sitting duck, so let’s hunt Alonso down.

Italian Grand Prix

Alonso’s race was ruined by an unusual problem at his pit stop:

Lap* Driver Message 18 From Fernando Alonso Yeah the traffic light didn’t work, man. The [censored by FOM] traffic light. [Censored by FOM] hell.

Even Ricciardo’s engineer marvelled at his spectacular, long-range pass on Bottas:

Lap* Driver Message VL To Daniel Ricciardo I know you like coming from a long way back but that might be a new record. VL From Daniel Ricciardo That was good fun. Cheers guys.

Singapore Grand Prix

Raikkonen sprang a surprise attack on Hamilton to take third:

Lap* Driver Message 33 To Kimi Raikkonen Raikkonen passed Hamilton.

Awesome job, and all while we were having a chat as well!

But Hamilton regained the place by under-cutting the Ferrari driver with an extra pit stop:

Without a trace of irony, Alonso was surprised not to benefit from a Safety Car in the closing stages:

Lap* Driver Message 55 To Fernando Alonso OK Fernando we are still P7, seven laps to go. Perez is +6 so no threat from behind. Manage the tyres and dash target. Let’s bank this race. 55 From Fernando Alonso Yep. I think we need. We are doing good. It’s the first Singapore that nothing happened in front. Unbelievable.

Malaysian Grand Prix

Carlos Sainz Jnr lost his engine at the start but fortuinatley Ferrari’s power unit can be restarted using the MGU-K:

Lap* Driver Message 1 From Carlos Sainz Jnr Vettel hit Rosberg while trying to pass Verstappen.

The engine switched off. How is it possible? Engine off. 1 To Carlos Sainz Jnr MGU-K, MGU-K start.

Having been blamed by the Ferrari driver for a first-lap collision in Belgium, Verstappen made sure everyone knew who was at fault in Malaysia:

Lap* Driver Message 1 From Sebastian Vettel I made contact with the Mercedes. I had nowhere to go. I think that’s it. Front suspension is damaged. 1 From Max Verstappen Really, Sebastian is crazy. 1 To Max Verstappen Yeah, agreed. 2 From Max Verstappen Yeah mate I mean he [censored by FOM] crashed into Rosberg like an idiot.

Australia and Bahrain must have seemed a long time ago for Grosjean as a brake problem put him out:

Lap* Driver Message 9 From Romain Grosjean OK I braked but the brakes ‘breaked’.

The engine failure which cost Hamilton victory struck while he was lapping traffic:

Lap* Driver Message 41 From Lewis Hamilton Charlie are you listening to me? Blue flags. Oh no! No! 41 To Lewis Hamilton Alright Lewis just find a fire marshal, jump out, jump out. You’ve got a fire onboard, jump out. 41 To Nico Rosberg Lewis is stopped, Lewis is out of the race. The two Red Bulls are leading now. Possible oil into turn one, OK.

Japanese Grand Prix

Hamilton’s slow start eventually proved to be the final nail in his title hopes:

A strong qualifying performance by Gutierrez was wasted when he spun trying to pass Sainz. Soon afterwards he lost his place at the team for 2017.

Lap* Driver Message 21 From Esteban Gutierrez What the hell was he doing? 21 To Esteban Gutierrez What happened? We’ll report it. 21 From Esteban Gutierrez He blocked me completely. 21 To Esteban Gutierrez OK, understood.

Late in the season Vettel’s radio messages became increasingly terse:

There were a lot of frustrated drivers by the time the chequered flag fell:

Lap* Driver Message VL From Romain Grosjean [Censored by FOM] I never had a 11th place that hurt that much. What happened the start was [censored by FOM] but what happened? Honestly, we had the pace to do better. [Censored by FOM] we have bad luck today. VL To Romain Grosjean Yeah man. Palmer made it difficult for us. You did a good drive. Frustrating stuff. You gave it a go at the end, thanks for giving it a go. VL From Romain Grosjean Well that’s my job. Well done everyone. Sorry we couldn’t do better. VL From Carlos Sainz Jnr Yeah what a waste of a race. What a horrible race. All the time behind cars, incredible. Impossible to overtake. I don’t know.

United States Grand Prix

Perez was the latest driver to by hit by Kvyat at the start:

Lap* Driver Message 5 From Sergio Perez What an idiot, man. What a [censored by FOM] idiot. What he was doing? 17 To Daniil Kvyat OK Danny we will have a ten second penalty on the next pit stop for the incident lap one. Keep the head down we need to go as long as possible now and we change the strategy. Keep the head down.

Verstappen produced another of his radio gems:

Lap* Driver Message 20 To Max Verstappen Max just make sure that we can complete the stint we need OK, mate. 20 From Max Verstappen I’m not here to finish fourth.

Though perhaps he should have paid a bit more attention to what he was being told:

Verstappen’s retirement caused a Virtual Safety Car period which scuppered his team mate’s chance of finishing ahead of Rosberg:

Lap* Driver Message 32 From Daniel Ricciardo So they got a free pit stop, basically? 32 To Daniel Ricciardo Yes mate, that is correct. 32 From Daniel Ricciardo That’s so [censored by FOM] up. 44 From Daniel Ricciardo Keep me posted on Rosberg’s times. I would love to catch that [censored by FOM]. VL From Daniel Ricciardo Cheers guys. Not the most exciting but it’s a podium. Thank you. VL To Daniel Ricciardo So we were obviously unfortunate with the VSC. It was due to Verstappen had a gearbox problem obviously and retired. So Rosberg basically would have been five seconds behind us at our pit stop but he got a free ten seconds, came out five seconds in front of us. I think you would have and should have beaten him. I don’t think he had any scary pace, you did a good job today mate. VL From Daniel Ricciardo Yeah I don’t doubt it. Frustrating but what do you do? It sucks. Alright. Thanks anyways, guys. Appreciate it. VL To Daniel Ricciardo Well done Daniel it was a good drive. I think Rosberg on a normal strategy would probably have put the softs on as well because he run that [medium] in the middle [stint]. And they did play out your nice message on the live feed so commentators trying to work out what a ‘mofo’ is. VL From Daniel Ricciardo It means he’s a really nice person, one of my best mates.

A pit stop error at Ferrari was compounded by radio confusion which led to Raikkonen retiring:

Mexican Grand Prix

FOM experimented with talking to the drivers on the formation lap:

Lap* Driver Message FL To Esteban Gutierrez Esteban this is Juan Montoya. I hope you have a great day, how are you feeling? FL From Esteban Gutierrez I’m feeling great. Thanks a lot everybody. It feels great being in Mexico.

Nasr was again instructed to let Ericsson past and this time he complied – eventually:

Vettel’s anger boiled over on the radio at the end of the race as he felt Verstappen needed to let him past and Ferrari incorrectly told him his rival had been instructed to. Vettel later apologised for his remarks aimed at race director Charlie Whiting:

Brazilian Grand Prix

In a new low for Haas, Grosjean crashed on his way to the grid in the very wet conditions:

Lap* Driver Message PR From Romain Grosjean What happened? I crashed. The engine suddenly… I can’t believe it. PR To Romain Grosjean OK copy.

The race was red flagged after Raikkonen lost control of his car on the straight. When Kvyat slower in avoidance he was hit by Palmer:

Lap* Driver Message 21 From Sebastian Vettel I mean this is just mad, honestly, it’s just stupid. Red flag. That’s what it is. 21 To Sebastian Vettel Cool the brake and how about extreme, you think extremes? 21 From Sebastian Vettel Yeah we need extremes, first of all, second we need to stop the race. It doesn’t work. How many people do you want to crash? I nearly crashed into Kimi in the middle of the straight. Couldn’t see anything. 21 To Sebastian Vettel Red flag, stay out. 21 From Sebastian Vettel Yeah, finally. 21 From Nico Hulkenberg Woah big shunt on the straight. I have something hit in front of my chin, my front wing maybe. Some part hit my front wing, check that. The aquaplaning is not fun. These tyres are just not capable. 21 From Esteban Ocon [Censored by FOM] hell. That was one millimetre close. Guys it is blind in the straight line now. Nicholas tell Michael that I have water coming in the helmet and I need the rain joint on the visor. 21 To Esteban Ocon OK, copy that. 26 To Daniil Kvyat Double yellow Danny, Raikkonen crashed in turn nine, Safety Car. 26 From Daniil Kvyat Oh no, he crashed me. Check my sidepod, left. Car seems OK. [Censored by FOM] sake it was a big one guys. Keep checking rear-left. Palmer crashed. 26 To Daniil Kvyat OK at the moment everything’s OK we are checking. 26 From Daniil Kvyat Yeah confirmed, puncture. 27 To Daniil Kvyat Yep. Take it easy. 27 To Jolyon Palmer Double yellow end of the straight. Double yellow. Be careful. Safety Car. 27 From Jolyon Palmer Yeah that’s me. I’ve had quite a lot of contact.



As if the conditions weren’t bad enough Gutierrez, who now knew he had lost his Haas seat, had car problems to contend with:

After much deliberation Verstappen decided to fit full wet weather tyres and drop to the rear of the field. It proved the prelude to an epic drive:

Lap* Driver Message 54 To Max Verstappen Max, what tyre would you prefer to be on at this stage, mate? 54 From Max Verstappen One hundred percent the [full wet]. 54 To Max Verstappen Copy. 54 From Max Verstappen But then we are dropped back in traffic and then you are [censored by FOM] slow. 54 To Max Verstappen Yeah but how much of an impression do you think you can make on an inter now? 54 From Max Verstappen It’s all in the last sector. It was the same before. Just no grip there. You lose all the time you gain before that. 54 To Max Verstappen So basically do you think you can get through a train of traffic on a full wet? 54 From Max Verstappen Pace is there. I can drive at least different lines. Here I’m just fighting the car. 54 From Max Verstappen Ah mate it’s like a boat in the last sector, I can’t do anything. 54 To Max Verstappen Do you want to pit for full wet Max? 54 From Max Verstappen We are waiting for a crash to happen like this. 54 To Max Verstappen OK understood.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Jenson Button’s F1 career came to a less than fitting end:

Lap* Driver Message 14 From Jenson Button Something feels a bit wrong with the steering. Yeah, we got a failure guys. 14 To Jenson Button Copy, Jenson, copy. We’re looking at the data. Yeah Jenson we can see a mechanical problem. Front-right wheel problem. Pull over where it’s safe. Jenson if you’re able to return to the garage that’s OK, just take care, take great care. You’ve got Palmer, Gutierrez close behind. OK Jenson Wehrlein’s the last car, once Wehrlein’s by track is clear, you can box. 14 From Jenson Button I don’t think we’ve ever had a failure like this. Anyway it’s done now. 14 To Jenson Button Yeah Jenson that was going well I think. But just stop, we’ll put you on trolleys and wheel you back into thre garage.

The fight for the championship came down to a question of whether Hamilton could force Rosberg into slipping up and finishing outside of the top three. As he slowed down more and more, Mercedes grew increasingly fearful they would lose their shot at victory.

In a final escalation, executive director Paddy Lowe came on the radio and ordered Hamilton to speed up. He continued to ignore them, and Lowe later admitted he refused to repeat the futile instruction.

Hamilton won the race but Rosberg won the world championship:

Lap* Driver Message VL To Nico Rosberg Yes! World champion! [Censored by FOM] brilliant! VL To Nico Rosberg Nico you are world champion! VL From Nico Rosberg Thank you so much guys. That’s a childhood dream come true. Thank you so much, VL To Nico Rosberg Amazing job I’m so proud of you, you’ve done amazing! Woohoo! VL From Nico Rosberg We did it, we did it!

*Lap: Refers to lap message was broadcast on. There may be a delay between messages being said and being broadcast. PR = pre-race; FL = formation lap; VL = victory lap.



All the 2016 F1 race transcripts

2016 F1 season review