An ill-timed communication from the McLaren driver’s race engineer at a critical part of the race.
The race engineers will often talk to the drivers each lap and are adept at timing their speech during parts of the lap that won’t negatively affect the driver, unfortunately for Norris, his engineer mistimed his talk just when the McLaren was overtaking at around 180mph.
To race fans, the outburst from the affable youngster is rather unexpected, but it goes to show just how distracting a badly timed communication can be mid-race. Indeed, during a race at the Chinese Grand Prix a few years ago, Kimi Raikkonen made an uncharacteristic mistake out of a high-speed curve which turned out to be caused by his race engineer mistiming a communication, thereby distracting the Finnish driver.
Actually, Kimi has a reputation for swearing over the team radio, confirmed by ex McLaren engineer Marc Priestly who described it as “absolute glorious midrace filth” from Raikkonen, so perhaps we could now describe the likable Norris as Kimi the 2nd?
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The embedded clip comes from F1 TV, and all the radio messages are available live and fully synchronised without any censorship, and as this clip proves, gives an F1 fan another window into the world of the pinnacle of motorsport. It’s quick and easy to sign up, just follow this link.
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Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel took his chances to win in his team’s home race. “A little carelessness, and then I had lost the car,” he said angrily afterwards.
After Monza’s qualifying frustration Sebastian Vettel started the race desperate to challenge for a win, but also fearing that Leclerc’s pole position and both Mercedes ahead would deny any chance. Shortly after the start, however, the German lost……… READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
