“I guess they prefer us to crash”: Unheard team radio from the US GP

Liam Lawson was unimpressed at being pulled up for a track limits infringement early in his first grand prix for a year. However his team declared themselves extremely pleased with his performance as he rose from the back of the grid to finish ninth.

He got a lot further than Lewis Hamilton, who spent more time in his car on Sunday discussing his front wing settings for the race than he did driving.

At the front of the field, Charles Leclerc cruised to what looked like one of his more straightforward wins. However his team urged him to take it easy with his car, and was keen not to disclose why.

But the biggest drama of the race unquestionably involved Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in the scrap over third place. Here’s how those stories and more played out on the drivers’ radios.

2024 United States Grand Prix team radio highlights

Jump to:

Verstappen vs Norris: “We’ve done what we needed to do”
Leclerc: “Difficult to drive with these lift-and-coasts”
Lawson: “I guess they prefer us to crash”
Alonso: “When we arrive, he’s got the DRS”
Gasly: “We should have not covered Magnussen”
Hamilton: “Just remember not crossing the track”

Verstappen vs Norris: “We’ve done what we needed to do”

Norris was given his customarily cheeky run-down of his rivals’ tyre choices before the race began. After Verstappen passed him at the start, Norris ran long to have a chance to attack his rival at the end of the race.

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Formation lap
		Engineer	Okay Lando, tyre info. We’ve got a few ‘hard ons’ today. Stroll, Colapinto, Hamilton, Lawson and Russell in the pit lane start with a hard on. Everybody else is on a medium.
Lap: 2/56 VER: 1’39.991, NOR: 1’40.864
Lambiase	So gap behind 0.6. has DRS. Sainz attacks Verstappen on outside of turn 12.
Lap: 3/56 VER: 2’02.849, NOR: 2’04.410
Verstappen	Verstappen defends from Sainz at the inside of turn one Tell me gaps, mate.	Joseph	Hamilton is stuck in the gravel exit of turn 19. And Safety Car deployed, Safety Car deployed. Staying out. ACS button press please.
Lambiase	Yeah, will do, Max.	Joseph	Double yellow flags turn 19.
Lambiase	Exit of turn 11 And that’s 0.6.
Lap: 4/56 VER: 2’31.496, NOR: 2’30.670
		Joseph	And Lando we’ve reported the incident in turn one. Any thoughts from your side?
		Norris	Yeah I mean, he’s clearly pushed me out. He had no intent to make the corner. Even he went off the track so I just had to avoid crashing into him or him crashing into me but, yeah…
		Joseph	Yeah, I think it’s pretty much what we expected prior to the race. There’s a recovery vehicle on track.
		Norris	Yeah. Thing is he overtook me by going in so hard that he ran off the track, same Budapest. Identical.
		Joseph	Understood.
Lap: 7/56 VER: 1’39.731, NOR: 1’40.469
Lambiase	Carlos 0.8. So Leclerc zero high-speed management sector one and less management in 17. It was a big first lap from him.
Lap: 9/56 VER: 1’40.032, NOR: 1’40.196
Lambiase	Main losses last lap, Max, were turns 12 to 18.	Joseph	Lando, Sainz complaining of a PU issue. We see it in GPS as well.
		Joseph	Lando they potentially fixed it, but keep trying.
Lap: 12/56 VER: 1’40.182, NOR: 1’40.652
		Norris	Yeah pace doesn’t feel great.
		Norris	Yeah I’m just slow everywhere then.
Lap: 14/56 VER: 1’39.846, NOR: 1’40.322
Lambiase	Max, heads up, found a bit of an issue car this stint but we will it sort out at the stop. So just hang on in there best you can this stint.	Joseph	Lando, Zhou is the first car to pit, doesn’t affect our race.
Lap: 16/56 VER: 1’40.033, NOR: 1’40.355
Lambiase	For reference Max both Ferraris less management turn 17.
Verstappen	So what do you need to do?
Lambiase	Reduce it by about 10 for now.
Lap: 19/56 VER: 1’39.981, NOR: 1’39.612
Verstappen	Yeah front tyres are too hot.
Lap: 21/56 VER: 1’39.803, NOR: 1’39.474
Lambiase	Carlos has been told to push, Max, could be boxing.
Lap: 22/56 VER: 1’40.099, NOR: 1’39.542
Lambiase	Okay so car behind now Lando. His last lap was a 39.5.	Norris	Yeah. Pace, I’m pace zero now, have been for a while.
		Norris	What times did Max do?
		Joseph	He did a 39.8 last time round. But we want to just try and go longer.
Lap: 24/56 VER: 1’40.318, NOR: 1’39.789
		Joseph	Lando Max did a 40.4 last time. If we close up to two seconds, might be a chance here. Currently 3.6.
Lap: 25/56 VER: 1’40.718, NOR: 1’39.607
Verstappen	So tyres are really bad now.	Joseph	He did a 40.3, gap is 3.1.
Lambiase	Copy that Max.	Joseph	Another. How’s the balance?
		Norris	Yeah it’s okay. I’m just… doesn’t feel very good job.
		Joseph	Do you want to come down more than planned?
		Norris	No.
Lap: 26/56 VER: 1’59.619, NOR: 1’39.527
Verstappen	How did this tyre look with orders.	Joseph	Lando we’ll just try and extend now, try and extend.
Lambiase	No concerns, Max, no concerns.
Lap: 28/56 VER: 1’38.784, NOR: 1’39.156
		Joseph	I’d like to just be careful. Peak break pressure to 12.
		Joseph	We’ve had our first strike, track limits, turn 12.
Lap: 29/56 VER: 1’39.067, NOR: 1’39.548
		Joseph	Lando suggest yellow G1, yellow G1. Last time Sainz did a 38.9, Max did a 39.0, but going quicker. We’re going have a tyre delta and potentially when we pit we’ll be close behind them, maybe two-and-a-half seconds.
Lap: 31/56 VER: 1’39.058, NOR: 1’41.469
		Norris	Starting to struggle now.
		Joseph	Understood Lando. ACS button press and suggest we box this lap.
		Joseph	Box this lap, box this lap.
Lap: 32/56 VER: 1’39.106, NOR: 1’59.605
Lambiase	So info: Lando pitted last lap. Tyre delta, six laps.	Joseph	We’ve had our second strike, track limits turn 12. Gap to Verstappen, 6.3.
Lap: 35/56 VER: 1’39.004, NOR: 1’37.918
Lambiase	Lando last lap was a 38.0, gap is 5.4, Carlos 38.8.
Lambiase	Main deficits on the last lap, Max, were turns one, eight, 15 and 20.
Lap: 36/56 VER: 1’38.715, NOR: 1’38.317
Verstappen	Yeah these tyres are no good. I can’t brake, I can’t attack anything.	Joseph	Lando Max just did a 39.0.
Lap: 37/56 VER: 1’38.963, NOR: 1’38.310
Lambiase	Strat nine, strat nine.
Verstappen	I saw a bit of debris flying, I don’t know from who that was.
Lambiase	Copy that, thanks Max.

Norris closed on Verstappen and spent several laps trying to pass him. He eventually did, both drivers leaving the track as Verstappen ran wide with Norris on his outside. But the stewards ruled Norris transgressed and handed him a penalty. Although Verstappen finished one place lower than he started, team principal Christian Horner noted they had achieved their objective as far as the championship was concerned by beating Norris.

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Lap: 38/56 VER: 1’38.641, NOR: 1’38.081
		Joseph	Lando, Max is complaining a lot about the tyre. When we catch him, which we will, we just want to make sure we’ve got tyre to be able to attack him. Just be careful on the exit to look after the rears.
Lap: 40/56 VER: 1’38.624, NOR: 1’38.321
Lambiase	Tyres still coming back to Russell as well, Max, so anything can happen with these tyres, lap-by-lap.
Lambiase	As an example, Russell green on his last lap, lap 39 was a 39.0.
Lap: 43/56 VER: 1’38.526, NOR: 1’38.033
Lambiase	Gap behind 1.4, Lando 37.9.
Lap: 44/56 VER: 1’38.453, NOR: 1’38.229
Lambiase	Gap 0.9, does not have DRS. Lambiase continues to advise Verstappen when Norris is in DRS range
Lap: 46/56 VER: 1’38.255, NOR: 1’38.119
		Joseph	Suggest early push-and-hold.
Lap: 50/56 VER: 1’38.692, NOR: 1’38.813
		Joseph	Push and hold still available.
Lap: 52/56 VER: 1’40.819, NOR: 1’39.843
Lambiase	0.4. Norris tries to overtake Verstappen on the outside of turn 12. Verstappen defends on the inside and runs off the track at the outside, taking Norris with him. Norris rejoins ahead of Verstappen.	Joseph	Overtake still available.
Verstappen	Overtook me outside the track.	Norris	I think I was ahead at the apex. Let me know if you think otherwise.
Lambiase	And strat 10.
Lap: 53/56 VER: 1’39.384, NOR: 1’38.347
Verstappen	He needs to give it back.	Joseph	We think you were ahead at apex.
Lambiase	We are on it, Max. We know. And we’ve also seen the moving under braking at [turn] one.
Lap: 54/56 VER: 1’38.661, NOR: 1’37.889
Lambiase	The stewards are looking at it, Max.	Joseph	Lando just critical, keep brake pressure over the bumps turn one. Mainly phase one.
Verstappen	How close is Piastri behind?	Joseph	And Lando we suggest strat nine. Just strat nine. So our opinion is you were ahead at apex, both cars went off-track…
Lambiase	So Piastri at three seconds. So three qualifying laps please, Max, from here. Three qualifying laps.	Norris	Interrupts Yeah, he also went off so it was clear.
Lambiase	Also, Max, Lando has exceeded his track limits. Expected a penalty for that alone. So flat-out.
Lap: 55/56 VER: 1’38.252, NOR: 1’37.679
Lambiase	And mode five, two more laps, mate, two more laps.	Joseph	And Lando so we’ve had our third strike, track limits, which I know you’ll know. So no more track limits.
Verstappen	I need more open diff high-speed.
Lambiase	Okay that’s fully open, Max.
Lap: 56/56 VER: 1’39.018, NOR: 1’37.758
Lambiase	Okay this will be the final lap, Max. Mode four, more four, please.	Joseph	This is the last lap. ACS button press.
Lambiase	Keep pushing, Max. So to Norris 3.8, he has been given a five-second penalty. Keep pushing. It’s four seconds.
Chequered flag
Lambiase	Great job. You drove like a lion. You a podium. Well done mate.	Joseph	Lando keep recharge off, please, keep recharge off. White H11 position 12.
Verstappen	Fuck me, man! I have no fronts. No grip. Ugh!	Norris	At turn four I guess I got a five second penalty?
Horner	Well done, mate. You drove hard for that. We weren’t as competitive as we should have been in the second stint. But you deserve that podium today.	Joseph	Yeah they gave you five seconds just at the end there for leaving the track, gaining an advantage. Not sure why.
Verstappen	Ugh! My god, that was a hard race…	Norris	Yeah, well, then I should have just gone back behind him, shouldn’t I?
Lambiase	Add a bit of pick-up on the way in please Max. Yeah. We’ll have a look at that. We’ll review it, relative to yesterday. But like I said you drove like a lion.
Verstappen	Verstappen appears to believe Norris was given his penalty for reaching four track limits strikes rather than for overtaking outside track limits Yeah, I tried everything with the defending. At least that was fun. It’s just a bit weird that you could overtake outside the track.
Lambiase	Well, you can’t, and the FIA have put that right, so there you go.
Verstappen	Okay.
Horner	That’s alight points-wise this weekend, Max. We’ve done what we needed to do.
Verstappen	Yeah, I mean, it’s a bit better now. Few things we should look at but I think overall the weekend was a lot more positive.

Leclerc: “Difficult to drive with these lift-and-coasts”

Ferrari corrected an unexplained, seemingly engine-related problem on Carlos Sainz Jnr’s car early in the race. They gave Leclerc several instructions to look into his car without explaining why, suggesting there was a problem they were managing.

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Lap: 1/56 LEC: 1’39.987
Bozzi	Nice start. Gap to Norris 0.9 behind. Brake balance plus one.
Lap: 2/56 LEC: 1’40.341
Bozzi	Gap to Vertappen 1.7, fighting with Carlos.
Lap: 12/56 LEC: 1’39.448
Bozzi	If you keep this gap to Verstappen we are happy with plan A, our baseline is still plan B.
Leclerc	Yeah I want probably plan B or C.
Lap: 16/56 LEC: 1’39.782
Bozzi	So if you can, some mild lift-and-coast into turn one and 12. Their deg is as expected.
Vizard	Let’s get strat seven, strat seven. Last lap was track limits at turn 19. You’re now on two strikes.
Lap: 17/56 LEC: 1’39.621
Bozzi	Everyone was much slower this lap through the esses, losing half a second.
Bozzi	And still please the reminder on the lift-and-coast into 12 and 11. Thank you.
Lap: 18/56 LEC: 1’39.435
Bozzi	And avoid the bump into turn four, thank you, avoid the bump into turn four.
Lap: 19/56 LEC: 1’39.553
Bozzi	So that was better avoiding the bump into turn four. Keep it up. And still some lift-and-coast in one, 11 and 12.
Lap: 23/56 LEC: 1’39.878
Leclerc	Don’t leave me out for too long, I don’t want to be under pressure.
Bozzi	So we have margin and we are controlling it, but we keep it into account.
Lap: 24/56 LEC: 1’39.699
Bozzi	How many more laps can you do at this pace, question?
Leclerc	I’m okay like this but we have to focus on Plan C.
Lap: 25/56 LEC: 1’39.583
Leclerc	Give me lap times, please.
Lap: 26/56 LEC: 1’40.211
Leclerc	I’m okay but let me know about the balance on the other car.
Bozzi	From data slightly more on the nose, but balance overall okay, more on the nose.
Leclerc	Minus two, then, minus two.
Lap: 33/56 LEC: 1’39.032
Bozzi	Charles, we do need the lift-and-coast, thank you. Pace update: Carlos is P2, 7.5 seconds behind, Max with four-lap newer hards behind Sainz, four seconds behind him.
Lap: 34/56 LEC: 1’38.633
Leclerc	What is the lift-and-coast for?
Bozzi	I will tell you later. Just keep doing it. Thank you.
Lap: 35/56 LEC: 1’38.897
Leclerc	How many positions would we lose if we stop?
Lap: 36/56 LEC: 1’38.643
Bozzi	It would be one position to Carlos, close to Max, but you’re lapping faster than them.
Leclerc	Yeah then [unclear] tyres.
Bozzi	Copy. So safety car window is open.
Lap: 38/56 LEC: 1’38.570
Bozzi	And if you can stay to the left of the bump into turn four and easy on the bump, exit turn nine. Thank you.
Lap: 42/56 LEC: 1’38.179
Leclerc	Very difficult to drive with these lift-and-coasts.
Bozzi	Copy. We can reduce the lift-and-coast. There’s also the wake. Carlos did a 37.8. Keep it nice and clean.
Lap: 44/56 LEC: 1’38.697
Leclerc	Come on, the blue flags
Bozzi	Yeah, we need to get closer.
Bozzi	Solid blues for Albon.
Chequered flag
Bozzi	And that’s my boy! Another win.
Leclerc	Let’s go!
Vasseur	Mega job. Mega, mega, mega.
Bozzi	We’re starting to like these P4 starts!
Leclerc	Yeah I think we’ve got to target that now. It worked pretty well.

Lawson: “I guess they prefer us to crash”

Lawson went off twice at the start of the race. First at turn one with several other drivers as they avoided the collision between Esteban Ocon and Alexander Albon. No one was given a track limits ‘strike’ for that.

He also left the track at turn 12 on the second lap. Race engineer Pierre Hamelin reminded him to be wary of collecting too many ‘strikes’.

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Lap: 4/56 LAW: 2’30.921
Hamelin	Obviously we got one strike for track limits. So we have to be careful, please.
Lawson	Yeah, okay. He fucking pushed me off, but yeah.
Hamelin	Loud and clear. Obviously we know what’s happening if we get to more than three.
Lawson	I guess they prefer us to crash.
Hamelin	Copy that. Sorry for the comment.
Lawson	No, no, it’s alright.
Lap: 12/56 LAW: 1’41.260
Hamelin	Okay good job Liam. We keep focusing on clean laps.
Lap: 32/56 LAW: 1’40.451
Hamelin	Okay Liam you’re doing a very good job. We are just monitoring Perez behind Colapinto on new tyre. We’ll keep you posted.
Lap: 35/56 LAW: 1’40.484
Hamelin	The pace is still very good Liam. You’re doing a very good job. Head down.
Lap: 38/56 LAW: 1’38.905
Hamelin	Make sure you keep it clean with Gasly. There was a good number of penalties given ahead of you.
Lap: 42/56 LAW: 1’38.409
Lawson	How are we on track limits?
Hamelin	You have one strike, two more left.

Lawson heeded Hamelins’ advice to keep it clean. He drove a long first stint, passing the Aston Martin drivers on the way, paving the way for him to finish ninth, to his utter amazement.

Chequered flag
Hamelin	Alright mate. Well, I don’t really have any words, so I will let you enjoy this one. P9. That felt quite long at the end, at least on my side.
Lawson	Yeah, I can say it felt long in here. Holy shit. How did we do that?
Hamelin	You were fast. This is how we did it.
Mekies	Well done, Liam. That was outstanding debut. Very, very proud. Well done. You can be proud of yourself and of all the work you have done in the last months to be showing yourself as ready as you are now. Well done.
Lawson	Thanks mate. Yep. Gave that everything.
Lawson	Thank you, everybody. The step we made yesterday was really nice. In the race as well, easy to manage. Just a really complete car? So thank you very much for the hard work and for preparing me for this. I appreciate it.
Hamelin	Copy, thank you. We’ll keep moving forward from here and we’ve got some potentially good directions also with those bits and pieces we bring to the this race, which helped us a lot.
Hamelin	Alright. Let’s make sure you enjoy this. It’s been a good one.
Lawson	Thanks, mate. Thank you, guys.

Alonso: “When we arrive, he’s got the DRS”

Lawson scrapped vigorously with Fernando Alonso in the sprint race the day before. But Alonso endured a grand prix to forget and finished out of the points. He was able to pick off Valtteri Bottas when the Sauber driver lost DRS from Alexander Albon ahead, but otherwise he was largely quiet on the radio.

Lap: 8/56 ALO: 1’41.508
Cronin	Lawson behind is on the hard tyre.
Lap: 15/56 ALO: 1’41.530
Alonso	I think 0.3 more.
Lap: 16/56 ALO: 1’41.681
Cronin	Fernando we’re probably… you think plan B is possible? Plan B? Russell has got DRS now.
Alonso	I don’t know.
Lap: 33/56 ALO: 1’40.556
Cronin	When you go for the pass, Fernando, do the push and hold on the energy button. You’ve got lots of energy.
Alonso	Yeah man. Just when we arrive, he’s got the DRS.

Gasly: “We should have not covered Magnussen”

Pierre Gasly’s race was even more disappointing. Having achieved Alpine’s highest starting position of the season with sixth, he lost seconds at his pit stop, struggled for pace on the hard tyre and eventually realised he’d pitted far too soon.

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Lap: 4/56 GAS: 2’29.840
Gasly	Yeah just lower grip compared to yesterday, a bit of understeer. Brakes cooling now.
Howard	Okay. Copy that.
Gasly	Saving the tyres for now, so… Check the front-right endplate on the front wing. Had a small touch with Piastri at the start.
Howard	Yeah, from our side we can’t see any performance loss, but we’re still checking.
Lap: 5/56 GAS: 2’40.207
Gasly	The pack is not full
Howard	We think it should be okay. So let’s get ready for the restart. So just remember, recharge off before we get going.
Gasly	Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Lap: 11/56 GAS: 1’41.291
Howard	Okay. Magnussen 1.2 behind, no DRS. And if we could do more management six, eight, 17.
Gasly	If I do more, he’s going to pass me.
Lap: 13/56 GAS: 1’41.046
Howard	Okay. Gap to Magnussen 1.7. And what are your thoughts on plan A?
Gasly	Let’s try for now.
Howard	Okay, so we’d still like more management. Turn six and eight if possible. Magnussen last lap one tenth slower than you.
Lap: 14/56 GAS: 1’41.551
Gasly	Copy, I’m struggling with the front and the rear.
Lap: 15/56 GAS: 1’41.499
Gasly	I’m struggled with the front.
Howard	Okay mate you’re doing the right thing so think about your tools.
Howard	Okay mate so we’ve got high speed four available and any management you can do in those fronts will help.
Lap: 17/56 GAS: 1’42.142
Gasly	Plus two.
Gasly	If we had to do the same again with that run I’ll do plus two.
Howard	Yep. Copy that, mate. We’re happy with that.
Lap: 20/56 GAS: 1’41.596
Howard	Okay Pierre so we are trying to stay ahead of Hulkenberg in our pit window. He’s doing 40.4.
Gasly	Yeah, I got no front.
Lap: 23/56 GAS: 1’41.083
Howard	Okay so you could stabilise the entry of eight with the back left.
Lap: 24/56 GAS: 1’40.915
Howard	Okay mate we’re happy to keep pushing.
Gasly	Yeah I’m trying. Trying. Car just has no grip on that fucking compound.
Lap: 27/56 GAS: 1’42.407
Gasly	Gasly overtakes Albon off-track at the exit of turn 15 I’m sorry, he didn’t give me the space.
Lap: 29/56 GAS: 1’40.435
Howard	Okay mate we need to be careful with track limits. We’ve had three strikes.
Lap: 36/56 GAS: 1’40.630
Gasly	What’s going on with the rear? At low speed it’s like I have a massive handbrake.
Lap: 37/56 GAS: 1’40.698
Gasly	Yeah. Don’t speak in the corner, please.
Lap: 49/56 GAS: 1’39.300
Howard	Okay. So gap to Alonso still 8.1. We do have a five second penalty so we don’t want to let anybody into that.
Gasly	What for?
Lap: 50/56 GAS: 1’39.174
Howard	Okay mate so the incident with Albon, we have a five second penalty. We’re still in discussions over it.
Chequered flag
Gasly	We should have not covered Magnussen.
Howard	Yep so we’ll do our usual homework, see what we would have done differently if we ran it again. But got a few questions to get some answers too on the tyres and just general improvements overall. We’ll keep working as always. But thanks for driving this weekend.
Gasly	Thanks.

Hamilton: “Just remember not crossing the track”

But Hamilton suffered the most unsatisfactory – and briefest – race of any driver. The weeks of work that had gone into his upgraded car was wasted when he spun off on the second lap.

The FIA stewards have dished out stiff fines to drivers who cross the track without permission, including to Sainz at the previous round in Singapore and Hamilton in Qatar last year. Race engineer Peter Bonnington reminded Hamilton to obey the marshals after he climbed out of his car.

Formation lap
Hamilton	Think we should probably put that extra half in, Bono?
Hamilton	That’s still three holes down though, right? Compared to the other car?
Bonnington	Yeah, it’s just difficult to know what we’re going to have, given the complication with the sprint.
Hamilton	Two minutes later Still tempted by the extra half.
Bonnington	Okay, we’ll put it in.
Hamilton	It’s still three down compared to the other, right?
Bonnington	Yeah, copy.
Bonnington	Formation lap begins Clutch was on target.
Bonnington	So Hulkenberg car ahead, currently P12.
Bonnington	Stroll car behind at 0.3.
Lap: 2/56
Bonnington	Maybe debris turn one.
Bonnington	So DRS has been enabled and you are the first hard-running car.
Bonnington	Gap to Hulkenberg 0.5. Stroll 0.8 behind.
Bonnington	Okay Lewis so I guess you are stuck there. Yes, you’re beached. Make sure you get a P0 if you have to hop out.
Hamilton	Yeah, sorry guys.
Bonnington	So circuit is all clear at the moment.
Bonnington	Okay mate sorry about that. If you switch it to P0 and just remember not crossing the track.