“Lawson is blocking Norris”: Unheard radio highlights from the Mexican GP

While Max Verstappen and Lando Norris were duking it out near the front once again, there was plenty of action going on behind them.

The Ferrari drivers were unimpressed with the behaviour of lapped drivers. However Franco Colapinto thought Liam Lawson was doing his best to hold up Lando Norris.

Sergio Perez was still fuming about his clash with Lawson a long time after it concluded, and was not impressed to hear his rival had not been penalised (indeed it was Perez, not Lawson, who was the subject of the stewards’ investigation.)

While all that was going on the Mercedes drivers largely raced each other as they scrapped over fourth place. Here are some of the highlights from last weekend’s race on the drivers’ radios.

2024 Mexican Grand Prix team radio highlights

Perez: “If we can do go-karts, let me know”
Alonso: “Fernando we really need to cool these brakes”
Sainz: “No need for VSC”
Leclerc: “He’s being terrible”
Lawson and Colapinto: “Lawson is blocking Norris.”
Hamilton: “How slow are we?”

More team radio from the Mexican Grand Prix:

• Norris vs Verstappen: “If you can pass Max safely, take it”
• Did Perez dish out payback? Lawson said he “blocked me on purpose” after clash

Perez: “If we can do go-karts, let me know”

Last year Sergio Perez’s home race ended at the first corner. He might have wished it did this year after a series of incidents left him last at the finish. To begin with he was penalised for being out of position at the start.

Lap: 3/71 PER: 2’15.573
Bird	Update: Our start is under investigation.
Bird	Says: ‘False start’ on the race control messages.
Perez	No, it was a great start.
Lap: 5/71 PER: 2’09.209
Bird	So we have a five-second penalty. We were forwards on the grid box. We were too far forwards.
Perez	Have a look. I don’t think we were.
Bird	You had a great start, made some great progress on lap one, we can push on from here.

Then, after picking off the Aston Martin drivers, he closed on Liam Lawson. Race engineer Hugh Bird urged him to attack quickly before Lawson began to benefit from the DRS of Pierre Gasly ahead, but the Red Bull and the RB made contact.

That left Perez with damage which led him to pit early. Meanwhile Bird advised him to let Lance Stroll pass after he forced the Aston Martin driver off the track in another exchange at turns four and five:

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Lap: 9/71 PER: 1’23.091
Perez	I’m a bit understeering in high speed.
Lap: 12/71 PER: 1’22.641
Bird	Battery’s good. Lawson at two seconds.
Lap: 13/71 PER: 1’22.367
Bird	Lawson’s last lap 22.6.
Lap: 15/71 PER: 1’23.001
Bird	One second in front, we just missed DRS.
Lap: 18/71 PER: 1’27.331
Bird	Strat four, gap 0.6. Gasly’s started to drop back to Lawson. We’ve got to get past him before Lawson picks up DRS.
Perez	Perez tries to pass Lawson on the inside of turn four, pushing him off the track. Lawson rejoins and forces Perez wide at turn five What the fuck is this idiot doing?
Bird	I can’t see a puncture. But I don’t [unclear].
Perez	It feels worse. Yeah feels like a puncture.
Lap: 19/71 PER: 1’24.591
Bird	If it’s a puncture we need to box.
Bird	I was just looking. Okay. Looks like I also got three.
Perez	He [unclear] the track while I was ahead and he just came back at me and put me off. Perez dives down the inside of Stroll at turn four, forces him off and takes the position
Bird	Okay so stay out, stay out. Rear pressure looks good to me. Head back down. Lawson…

Perez continued to vent his frustration about Lawson. Meanwhile the damage to his car’s floor appeared to be worsening:

Lap: 20/71 PER: 1’29.685
Perez	Yeah mate but what he did, I mean, this is not go karts. This is not karting.
Bird	They’re looking at it.
Perez	Let me know if we can race like that, please. If we can do go-karts, let me know.
Bird	Torque nine, strat 11. Torque nine, strat 11. Give up the place to Stroll. Let Stroll past and then we box.
Bird	Perez lets Stroll pass him at turn 13 Okay so box, strat 12 in the pit lane.
Lap: 27/71 PER: 1’22.772
Perez	What happened to Max?
Bird	Max had 20 seconds of penalties. I’ll show you them later.
Perez	Anything on Lawson yet.
Bird	No further investigation.
Lap: 32/71 PER: 1’23.202
Perez	Is all okay with the car? I feel a lot of movement on the straight line.
Bird	As I say, we’re down 60 points. We have got a lot of damage.
Bird	Okay. So it’s clear in this last couple of laps?
Perez	Yeah.
Lap: 36/71 PER: 1’23.640
Perez	Is it getting worse, the damage?
Bird	Aero numbers have got worse.

After slowing down noticeably at one point when Lawson appeared in his mirrors, Perez made an unsuccessful bid for the fastest lap with his damaged car, and came in last:

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Lap: 71/71 PER:
Bird	First 18 laps, mega. Just not our day.
Perez	Yeah. I’m just sorry for this idiot. I mean. Yeah. It was looking good.

Alonso: “Fernando we really need to cool these brakes”

Fernando Alonso’s 400th appearance in a grand prix ended too early, as he appeared to pick up debris from the first-lap collision between Yuki Tsunoda and Alexander Albon, which forced him to retire:

Lap: 1/71 ALO: 2’05.776
Cronin	Go to ‘Safety Car’ on the run switch. Try to keep the tyre temperature.
Lap: 2/71 ALO: 2’17.643
Cronin	One click forward on brake balance.
Cronin	Try and build up your brake temps when you can.
Alonso	I cannot be with this brake balance and build the brake temps. Prefer to go to ‘cool’ I guess.
Cronin	You can, we can go to ‘cool’ for now.
Lap: 13/71 ALO: 1’24.166
Cronin	We need more brake cooling, please, more brake cooling.
Lap: 14/71 ALO: 1’24.366
Cronin	So more brake cooling please, you’ve got hot brakes.
Cronin	Fernando we really need to cool these brakes. Is the brake pedal long?
Alonso	Yeah a bit long in the middle sector. And. Do you want to go forwards or rearwards.
Cronin	Rearwards, please, it’s the front brakes, rearwards.
Lap: 15/71 ALO: 1’28.421
Cronin	So just take care. Something is blocked in the cooling on the front. We’ll be boxing this lap: Box, box.
Alonso	Copy.
Lap: 16/71 ALO:
Cronin	Alonso enters the pits Fernando I’m afraid we have to retire the car. Come in slowly.

Sainz: “No need for VSC”

Carlos Sainz Jnr lost his advantage from pole position at the start, but soon got it back as Max Verstappen left the door open for him at turn one on lap nine. When team mate Charles Leclerc appeared in his mirrors, Sainz was eager for his team to control their pace:

Lap: 8/71 SAI: 1’21.284
Adami	Be DRS this lap.
Adami	DRS enabled.
Lap: 9/71 SAI: 1’22.493
Adami	Car is okay. Vamos!
Lap: 10/71 SAI: 1’22.438
Adami	He’s 0.7 behind.
Sainz	[Unclear] cool the brakes.
Adami	Some [lift-and-coast] to cool them down.
Adami	Charles 1.9. Cool the brakes and we are okay now. Just some [lift-and-coast], normal rhythm into the [lift-and-coast].
Lap: 11/71 SAI: 1’21.847
Adami	Charles two seconds behind. For our race copy their lap time.
Adami	We are good on brakes.
Lap: 14/71 SAI: 1’21.475
Adami	Can improve braking turn 12th. One tenth across cars.
Lap: 15/71 SAI: 1’21.516
Adami	Come on guys, Charles is taking the piss, honestly.
Lap: 26/71 SAI: 1’21.596
Adami	Verstappen struggling a lot with tyres, for info. Fighting with Lando.
Lap: 29/71 SAI: 1’21.869
Adami	And Verstappen had two 10-second penalties, for info, at the pit stop.
Lap: 30/71 SAI: 1’21.837
Adami	Lando is now 12 seconds behind you, 13 seconds behind you.
Sainz	Is Lando fast?
Adami	No. He’s struggling with tyres. 22.2 his lap time.

Sainz hoped to eke his first stint out slightly longer, but Ferrari did not want to delay his pit stop longer than necessary:

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Lap: 34/71 SAI: 1’21.037
Sainz	This lap is good.
Adami	Okay.
Adami	And box, Carlos, box. Pit confirm and box.
Sainz	One more lap, mate, come one, one more lap.
Adami	Everyone has stopped box now. Let us box now.
Sainz	Copy.
Adami	Pit confirm and box.
Lap: 38/71 SAI: 1’20.616
Sainz	I feel a bit more front-limited for the moment.
Adami	Understood.
Lap: 39/71 SAI: 1’20.995
Adami	Engine braking minus one, engine mid minus one. and focus on micro locks.
Sainz	Copy. Yeah this engine braking was too much.
Adami	Copy.
Sainz	Had a big misfire out of turn three.
Adami	Copy.
Lap: 40/71 SAI: 1’20.688
Adami	Our target is status three and we see you in status two. Charles is pushing more.
Sainz	Copy.
Adami	Seven and 10 you can push more. Charles lap time 20.8.
Sainz	I can do a lap in status three.
Adami	Copy.
Lap: 43/71 SAI: 1’20.840
Sainz	Any rain coming?
Adami	Negative.

In a message which was played on the world feed, Sainz again urged Ferrari to tell his team mate not to chase him too hard. Leclerc’s pace soon faded, however, and he fell into the clutches of Lando Norris

Lap: 47/71 SAI: 1’20.375
Adami	You can push more in high-speed corners you reduce to status two-and-a-half, should help also tyres. Also, Charles is pushing more through the high-speed, 20.6 this lap time.
Lap: 50/71 SAI: 1’20.733
Sainz	My opinion is that we are pushing too hard.
Adami	Brake balance plus one, suggestions.
Lap: 51/71 SAI: 1’20.825
Adami	From tyres we are happy with the last laps ’til the end of the race, for info, I’ll leave it for you to judge. Charles lap time 20.6.
Lap: 52/71 SAI: 1’20.965
Adami	And approaching cars in front. We do see the front brakes start to suffer, just for info. Think about some [lift-and-coast] in case.

The leading group all had difficulty navigating a cluster of backmarkers which included Franco Colapinto, Lawson and Stroll. Sainz was especially vocal about his delay, however all the lapped cars appeared to obey the requirement to let drivers by once the blue flag warnings changed from ‘flashing’ to ‘solid’.

Lap: 53/71 SAI: 1’20.719
Adami	We have Bottas boxing in front. Two cars in front, Stroll and Lawson.
Sainz	Where are the blue flags?
Adami	Flashing.
Lap: 54/71 SAI: 1’20.650
Sainz	I see no blue flags.
Adami	There’s flashing blue because we are 1.3 behind. Lawson on DRS and 20 laps to go.
Adami	Yeah, I’ve seen, we are reporting.
Lap: 55/71 SAI: 1’20.306
Adami	Next is Stroll. Consider to lower the [state of charge] if you want to get closer, and clear in front of him.
Adami	Solid blue for Stroll. Solid blues now.
Sainz	Again a full two sectors. Sainz passes Stroll who slows on the racing line approaching turn 12.
Lap: 56/71 SAI: 1’20.256
Adami	We reported also this one.

Ferrari warned Sainz when Norris took over second place, though he never looked like catching the leader. When Ferrari warned him about debris on the track, Sainz was quick to point out there was no need for a full Safety Car deployment, which could have brought Norris within range:

Lap: 65/71 SAI: 1’20.523
Sainz	Lando did a 20.0. Lando with DRS.
Sainz	It is now Lando car behind.
Lap: 66/71 SAI: 1’20.301
Sainz	And Lando is 7.8 behind. Lando lap time 19.8.
Lap: 67/71 SAI: 1’20.651
Sainz	How much faster he needs to be to catch me?
Adami	Over a second per lap.
Lap: 68/71 SAI: 1’20.375
Adami	Just info, Charles lost at T17 with a snap, and lost to Lando, for info.
Sainz	Copy.
Adami	Be careful there.
Lap: 69/71 SAI: 1’20.398
Sainz	Debris in turn two and three are completely off the line. So no need for Virtual [Safety Car].
Sainz	Sainz goes through the stadium Again debris are off the line. No danger.
Lap: 70/71 SAI: 1’20.435
Sainz	If they want to do something, it’s maximum a Virtual [Safety Car].
Chequered flag
Adami	Yes. This is master class, Carlos, dominant weekend.
Sainz	Thank you. Ah, this feels good. Thank you, guys. Forza Ferrari. Gracias Mexico.

Leclerc: “He’s being terrible”

Leclerc was also frustrated by Lawson. Afterwards team principal Frederic Vasseur blamed the RB driver for Leclerc losing second place to Norris:

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Lap: 53/71 LEC: 1’20.682
Bozzi	Take care still in high speed, 20 laps to go. You will feel some wake soon.
Lap: 54/71 LEC: 1’20.727
Bozzi	Sainz 20.7 and now in free air. Norris 20.5.
Bozzi	Lawson on fresher medium so be patient. Just do your driving.
Lap: 55/71 LEC: 1’20.860
Bozzi	And Sainz 20.7.
Lap: 56/71 LEC: 1’21.060
Bozzi	And mode AD to help you out. Carlos 20.3. Norris 20.4. Solid blues for Lawson. Turn four
Bozzi	Turn seven Still solid blues for Lawson.
Lap: 57/71 LEC: 1’20.524
Leclerc	Lawson lets Leclerc past into turn 12 What a joke.
Bozzi	I know, he’s being terrible. Now let’s focus on getting into the rhythm.
Leclerc	I am in a rhythm.
Bozzi	Mode race.
Lap: 59/71 LEC: 1’20.422
Bozzi	Okay, Charles, now let’s keep it clean. We need your best driving now, let’s go.
Lap: 60/71 LEC: 1’20.460
Bozzi	Norris no DRS, driver default zero on. Come on.
Lap: 61/71 LEC: 1’20.156
Bozzi	Norris no DRS, keep it up.
Lap: 62/71 LEC: 1’20.966
Bozzi	Norris with DRS. Use your energy.
Lap: 63/71 LEC: 1’22.888
Bozzi	Leclerc has a snap of oversteer at turn 17 and runs wide, allowing Norris past You have energy. Let’s get back into it, don’t worry.

Lawson and Colapinto: “Lawson is blocking Norris.”

Colapinto, who was chasing Lawson, claimed the RB driver was deliberately trying to hold up Norris. However the RB driver appeared no less generous towards the McLaren driver than he was towards the Ferrari pair.

Lawson, who lost a significant amount of time behind Perez, was unable to prevent Colapinto attacking him at turn one, and after forcing the Williams driver wide the pair made contact:

Lap: 52/71 COL: 1’20.887, LAW: 1’21.612
Jego	The first target is Lawson, he’s four seconds ahead of Leclerc.	Hamelin	Okay Liam everyone will get the same blue flags, now we just need to do better than the others.
		Hamelin	Stroll has got blue flags. Press and hold available. Leclerc 3.5 behind.
Lap: 53/71 COL: 1’20.926, LAW: 1’21.847
Jego	Leclerc 2.6.	Hamelin	Okay Liam, same again, we try to get Stroll before Leclerc is catching us. You’re doing a good job, head down.
		Jego	Leclerc 2.6.
Lap: 54/71 COL: 1’20.795, LAW: 1’21.539
Jego	Lawson’s now two seconds ahead of Leclerc so he will take a blue this lap. Norris behind us but if he does get us he will be the only blue we have to take before the end.	Hamelin	Leclerc 1.6 and Colapinto is 2.5 behind Leclerc.
Jego	We’re happy with what you’re doing on the tyres.
Lap: 55/71 COL: 1’21.309, LAW: 1’23.394
Jego	Blue flag, Norris.	Lawson	Mate I fucking cannot get close.
		Hamelin	Multi B7, diff position nine. Multi B7, diff position nine.
		Hamelin	Copy, Liam. Keep working on it. So we have Leclerc and then Colapinto three behind. Head down.
		Hamelin	Blue flag for Leclerc. Stroll will get the same. Keep an eye on Colapinto behind you. And you have to let Leclerc by turn 12, please.
Lap: 56/71 COL: 1’22.398, LAW: 1’21.302
		Hamelin	Okay so Colapinto is taking a blue flag for Norris. It’s the last one.
		Hamelin	Norris 1.3 behind and Colapinto directly behind him.
Lap: 57/71 COL: 1’21.433, LAW: 1’22.777
Colapinto	Lawson is blocking Norris.	Hamelin	Blue flag for Norris. Blue flag for Norris. We have to let him by, by turn four. I’ll let you choose. Lose minimum time. Entry nine. Lawson lets Norris past into turn four.
Jego	Push and hold available out of the final corner.
Lap: 58/71 COL: 1’21.551, LAW: 1’21.726
Jego	Push-and-hold available for one and then early into turn four.	Hamelin	Okay Stroll is about to get the blue flag Norris. Let’s get back into his DRS if you can. Colapinto in your DRS. Consider entry 10.
Lap: 63/71 COL: 1’21.485, LAW: 1’21.773
		Hamelin	Turn 13 and last corner, slow in, fast out, focus on exit.
Lap: 64/71 COL: 1’21.625, LAW: 1’21.904
Jego	Try push-and-hold now to get close in the stadium.
Lap: 65/71 COL: 1’23.314, LAW: 1’31.102
Jego	Colapinto tries to pass Lawson on the outside of turn one, goes off at the exit, rejoins and passes at turn two, where the pair make contact and Lawson damages his front wing. Good job.	Lawson	Yeah I need to box.
Colapinto	He pushed me off the track.	Hamelin	Box. Box. Box. Box.
Jego	Yeah copy we saw it.	Lawson	I honestly had nowhere to go.
		Hamelin	Box. Box.
Chequered flag
		Hamelin	Okay. So clearly what we tried didn’t work out. Too many overtakes to make. Sorry for that.
		Lawson	Nah it’s fucking stuck the whole race. Mate the pace in clear air was not bad at all, but I think I spent the whole fucking race on the gearbox of a car.
		Hamelin	Yeah, copy that. Yeah. It looks like the traffic is still a bit difficult for us.
		Hamelin	Once again Liam I think on your side you did a good job. We have a few things to tidy up, but nothing major and you’re in a very good place. You know where you are.
		Lawson	Copy. Sorry for the result, guys. I know it’s not obviously what we wanted.
		Hamelin	Yeah, but honestly, Safety Car restart, start, lap one, you put it all together. You did a very good race. It just didn’t quite work out with that last stint with the traffic. But you should be pleased with yourself.
		Hamelin	And please remember full car switch-off. We go to P0 every time you jump out of the car. Full car switch-off, P0 please.

Hamilton: “How slow are we?”

The Mercedes drivers provided a good example of clean racing as they swapped positions in the first and second stints. Lewis Hamilton was generally unhappy with his car throughout, however, and Alpine’s one-off use of an orange livery in the previous race led to a confused moment:

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Lap: 1/71 HAM: 1’52.235
Bonnington	So we’ll go with three short burnouts, three short burnouts.
Bonnington	Likely Safety Car soon.
Bonnington	Safety Car, Safety Car. Keep delta positive we are staying out.
Bonnington	So incident into turn one. We think the debris will be on the left-hand side braking zone.
Lap: 3/71 HAM: 2’14.124
Bonnington	And a bit warming manage usage would be helpful. Remember staying right.
Hamilton	Are you saying that because of splits, or?
Bonnington	Just track temps.
Lap: 4/71 HAM: 2’10.636
Hamilton	Prepare for restart?
Bonnington	Standby.
Hamilton	How am I doing tyre temp, relatively?
Bonnington	Plus three. But keep working.
Hamilton	I’m plus three down?
Bonnington	Hotter. Hotter.
Lap: 10/71 HAM: 1’23.444
Hamilton	Tell George we’ve got a good long way to go.
Bonnington	Copy.
Hamilton	Let me know where I’m losing.
Bonnington	Main losses are just the DRS. Make sure we keep the brakes under control.
Lap: 12/71 HAM: 1’22.145
Hamilton	See some graining on the left-rear.
Bonnington	Okay copy.
Hamilton	Definitely pushing too much.
Bonnington	Copy. Traction metrics are high.
Lap: 14/71 HAM: 1’23.557
Hamilton	I just have no rear, mate.
Bonnington	Yep it’s all surface temp.
Lap: 15/71 HAM: 1’24.039
Hamilton	Russell passes Hamilton at turn one I got no rear, mate.
Hamilton	The rear’s an issue.
Bonnington	Okay copy. Magnussen 0.6 behind. Doing much management on traction, sure you’re doing it.
Hamilton	The car is just so oversteer.
Lap: 18/71 HAM: 1’22.838
Bonnington	Copy that Lewis, our pit window is very busy.
Lap: 20/71 HAM: 1’22.911
Bonnington	So wear model says we still have plenty of rubber remaining. So that’s just surface temp.
Lap: 21/71 HAM: 1’22.709
Hamilton	I got graining front and rear. I can tell it’s more giving up, certain corners.
Bonnington	Okay copy. George did a 22.7.
Hamilton	Graining on the front.
Lap: 22/71 HAM: 1’22.782
Bonnington	George 22.5. Thinking of adding front wing at the stop.
Lap: 25/71 HAM: 1’22.886
Hamilton	Graining left-rear.
Bonnington	Copy.
Lap: 26/71 HAM: 1’23.293
Hamilton	How slow are we?
Bonnington	George 22.4. So I think we’re just under-balanced, struggling to turn the car.
Lap: 28/71 HAM: 1’27.112
Hamilton	We stop soon?
Bonnington	It won’t be long.
Hamilton	Plan B? They talk over each other
Bonnington	So I think plus four going to the hard.
Hamilton	Tyres are dead. Got no front left.
Bonnington	Copy. So we’ll box, box.
Lap: 29/71 HAM: 1’41.644
Hamilton	Plus five mate, maybe.
Bonnington	Copy.
Bonnington	So Verstappen five seconds behind. He has had a penalty.
Lap: 31/71 HAM: 1’20.371
Hamilton	Where have I been losing out?
Bonnington	So turn three, turn six, turn 11 mid-speed.
Lap: 32/71 HAM: 1’21.536
Hamilton	Are we going for two?
Bonnington	We’re looking at the default plan, but still looking at the options. And you’re the fastest man on-track with that time.
Lap: 33/71 HAM: 1’22.347
Bonnington	So we’ve three laps offset to George.
Lap: 38/71 HAM: 1’21.308
Bonnington	George 21.6, has a front wing issue, so struggling with front wing load.
Lap: 40/71 HAM: 1’21.169
Hamilton	Are we doing plan B or not?
Bonnington	Still looking at plan A.
Lap: 42/71 HAM: 1’21.285
Bonnington	Gap at 2.8. George a 20.9.
Hamilton	Where am I slow?
Lap: 43/71 HAM: 1’21.125
Hamilton	Left rear’s getting really hot.
Bonnington	Okay copy. So temps and traction metrics lower than George.
Lap: 48/71 HAM: 1’20.897
Bonnington	You’re free to race, just give each other plenty of room.
Lap: 57/71 HAM: 1’20.810
Bonnington	Negative, that’s Zhou. Zhou ahead, traffic.
Hamilton	I can see a McLaren.
Lap: 58/71 HAM: 1’21.281
Bonnington	Ah that’ll be Ocon. It’ll be Ocon. New livery.
Lap: 66/71 HAM: 1’20.546
Bonnington	Hamilton passes Russell at turn one Nice work, Lewis. We have had one strike for track limits.
Lap: 69/71 HAM: 1’20.389
Bonnington	Okay, understood. Slippery track reported out of 12 for those debris.