The radio waves were filled with drivers scheming, strategising and complaining during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Aside from Fernando Alonso and George Russell both engaging in a shadow battle over whether the gap between them at the chequered flag would sit at more or fewer than five seconds, there was an interesting discussion at McLaren as they tried to avoid Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris both holding each other up at different points in the race.
Here are some of the team radio highlights you may not have heard from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Tsunoda ‘passes’ Ocon under the Safety Car
During the Safety Car period, Yuki Tsunoda emerged from the pits as Esteban Ocon was passing by in his Alpine. Ocon went by the AlphaTauri, but Tsunoda re-passed him, leading to some confusion over which driver should be ahead.
| Lap: 13/50 | |||
| Tsunoda | Tyres are quite consistent. | ||
| Lap: 17/50 | |||
| Spini | Box, box, Safety Car, follow the reference, box now. | ||
| Lap: 18/50 | |||
| Ocon | I’ve been overtaken by the AlphaTauri just now. | Spini | We are fighting pit exit, so full throttle until Safety Car line. |
| Peckett | Okay, copy that. We’ll have a look. | Spini | And now you follow the reference, follow the reference. Mode 14, mode 10. |
| Peckett | We’ll advise accordingly | Spini | Okay Yuki, at the restart the struggle with the front tyres with this compound, so we need weaving as much as possible, and offset four, please. |
| Peckett | Okay mate so we’re going to hold position where we are. Think Tsunoda was just ahead so hold position please. | Tsunoda | I was close there, Ocon, so please check, make sure I was [ahead] |
| Spini | We are checking now. | ||
| Tsunoda | I was in the front though, I think. | ||
| Spini | Yuki we were ahead, so keep the position. | ||
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
McLaren manage their battling drivers
It was a frustrating day for McLaren as first Oscar Piastri, then Lando Norris had to pit early in the race for repairs. That left both near the tail of the field.
The team ensured the pair didn’t get in each other’s way, first by telling Piastri (engineer Tom Stallard) not to hold up his team mate when Norris (engineer Will Joseph) was on fresher tyres:
| Lap: 23/50 | |||
| Joseph | DRS enabled, DRS enabled. | Stallard | We want to get de Vries. If we can’t get de Vries, we’ll have to let Lando have a go, so let’s try to get de Vries now. |
| Stallard | And if Lando attacks, do not make it too difficult. | ||
| Lap: 24/50 | |||
| Joseph | Oscar is trying to get de Vries, but he would not make it difficult for you | Stallard | Strat seven. |
| Stallard | Oscar, do you… | ||
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at RaceFans…