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Team radio 📻🏁

The second half of the F1 season looks like it won't be a walk over for Verstappen, so it might be entertaining. But never mind the big picture. Let's look at the minutiae.

Drivers talk to their team during the race. The radio messages are open, so anyone can listen in, and some of it is played into the TV coverage.

Sometimes it helps to understand what's going on. This weekend Verstappen was complaining that the car wasn't "responding to his inputs" which explained why he wasn't his customary winning machine.
Sometimes it just gives you an insight into psychology. Räikkönen was famously terse: "Leave me alone, I know what I'm doing!"
Sometimes it's the team trying to adjust the drivers head space. My favourite of these recently was Toto Wolff trying get George Russell to stop complaining and drive. "Focus George, focus." He has an Austrian accent, so it may help if you imagine a well known Austrian actor saying that.
Sometimes there's just a phrase someone likes to use. Verstappen after race wins has often said "Very lovely, dat" and you can hear the smile in his voice.

This week's winner, Lando Norris, isn't one for a big statement. When he'd just won by a huge margin, beating Verstappen in his home country, he didn't whoop or yell. He just quietly stole the phrase. "Very lovely, huh?" he said, getting it just a little wrong.

A lot of the best drivers have had huge self belief. Some were happy to recognise someone else's achievements because they beaten a few times a year. Some drivers don't get to be arrogant because they don't have the success. But Norris and Leclerc have been successful and still seem all too aware of their fallibility. They can be brilliant, but when things don't work out, they see their own weaknesses. Norris in particular is self deprecating. When he wins, his attitude seems to be that he won't get excited because it'll soon go back to normal. It's like Eeyore being a racing driver. Some drivers win, get out of the car, and throw themselves on their mechanics and crowd surf. Norris walked up to them for a pat on the back. Someone had to point out to him that his father was there for a hug.

One piece of enthusiasm that Norris does display is bashing down the champagne bottle to get a good spray going. It makes an impressive fountain of champagne. He famously broke one of Verstappen's trophies doing it. I won a kart race recently and tried this technique. It didn't work with cheap fizzy pear cider, which is what you spray if you win against friends and family.