‘I need some pace, please help’: Full transcript of Norris and Piastri’s Austrian GP battle

The McLaren drivers fought each other on-track over the first stint of the Austrian Grand Prix and through their strategies during the rest of the race.

Lando Norris grappled with low battery levels as he faced a sustained attack from Oscar Piastri over the opening laps.

As the McLaren drivers neared their first pit stops, Piastri made one last-gasp lunge at passing his team mate, which was to no avail. He locked up a tyre as he tried to pass his team mate and McLaren told him not to do the same again.

Piastri apologised for the move on his radio after the race. “Thanks for acknowledging corner four,” replied race engineer Tom Stallard. “And that’s from the pit wall as well.”

Norris out-ran his team mate for victory after swapping messages with his race engineer Will Joseph on how he could wring every last tenth of a second out of his McLaren. On a day when McLaren’s rivals were nowhere, Norris and Piastri’s fight left them almost 20 seconds ahead of their nearest rival.

Norris and Piastri’s Austrian GP radio

Jump to:

“Gearbox temperature is getting hot”
“We’re pushing quite a lot”
“This is lap 20”
“We can’t do that again”
“Is he just quicker everywhere now”
“The dirty air is hurting me a lot”
“Gasly still manages to find a way to f*** me up”
“Thanks for acknowledging corner four”

“Gearbox temperature is getting hot”

Piastri immediately passed Charles Leclerc to run second behind his team mate. The race was briefly interrupted by a Safety Car period following the collision between Max Verstappen and Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

After the restart Piastri began his efforts to take the lead from Norris. Piastri’s race engineer Tom Stallard indicated they planned to extend his stint beyond the original target pit stop lap – assuming he stayed where he was.

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Lap: 1/70 NOR: 1’28.861, PIA: 1’30.706
Joseph	Accelerating out of turn one Minor, purple C7 position one, purple C7 position one.	Stallard	Accelerating out of turn one Blue mode one.
Joseph	And Safety Car deployed, Safety Car deployed. Lando that’s for a car stopped at turn three. You can put your purple C7 switch back to resting position. And there’s a recovery vehicle on track.	Stallard	Safety Car, Safety Car. Stay out. Recharge on. Delta positive. So there are two cars on the exit of turn three. That is Verstappen and Antonelli. Verstappen and Antonelli on the outside of turn three. There’s a recovery vehicle there moving those cars. There could be debris, so stay far right, tight to the inside from apex to exit at turn three, and there are recovery vehicles there.
Lap: 2/70 NOR: 1’53.022, PIA: 1’52.637
Joseph	So in turn three, there’s double yellow flags and recovery vehicles on track. Verstappen and Antonelli collided, they’re out. They are to the left, to the outside.	Stallard	ACS button, ACS.
Lap: 3/70 NOR: 1’10.254, PIA: 1’10.527
Joseph	And Safety Car is in this lap, Safety Car’s in this lap. We’re happy with current switches.	Stallard	So it’s still double yellows at 3, but we think those cars will be moved soon if they’re not already.
Joseph	Safety Car’s in turn eight. Think about brake balance for the restart. Safety Car in turn nine, Safety Car in pit lane. The race restarts behind Norris	Stallard	Approaching turn four Safety Car will be in this lap, Safety Car in this lap. So switches are good. Strat six is good for the restart. Reminder to use early overtake press. Bal minus one, bal minus one. The race restarts
Lap: 4/70 NOR: 1’09.858, PIA: 1’09.937
		Stallard	DRS enabled.
Lap: 5/70 NOR: 1’09.460, PIA: 1’09.340
Joseph	DRS re-enabled. Gap behind at 0.8. Minor, ACS button press. Oscar does have DRS.
Lap: 6/70 NOR: 1’09.313, PIA: 1’09.445
Joseph	Gap behind 0.9. And minor purple C6 position 11 purple C6 position 11.	Stallard	Leclerc 1.1
Joseph	Oscar will still have DRS. Minor, strat nine, strat nine.	Stallard	White H14 position 11, H14 11.
Lap: 7/70 NOR: 1’09.313, PIA: 1’09.445
		Stallard	First part of message missing …tyres, go forward to brake balance. Your call on the racing situation.
Lap: 8/70 NOR: 1’09.394, PIA: 1’09.454
		Stallard	For turn three suggest top-right toggle. And for turn four suggest top left toggle.
Lap: 9/70 NOR: 1’09.488, PIA: 1’09.271
Joseph	And still with DRS. Lando suggest red A6, red A6. You’ve almost broken DRS, it’s 1.0, he does have it almost.	Stallard	Forwards brake balance for rear tyre.
Lap: 10/70 NOR: 1’09.952, PIA: 1’09.849
		Stallard	If we can we’d do Plan A target, plus five.
		Stallard	Check top-right toggle.
Lap: 13/70 NOR: 1’10.046, PIA: 1’09.995
		Stallard	Oscar, gearbox temperature is getting hot with this following. You can pull out at any point, but maintain DRS, that would help.
		Stallard	Radiator for that is in the roll hoop, so it’s clear air to the roll hoop if to can. You can do strat seven for faster recharge.
Lap: 14/70 NOR: 1’11.318, PIA: 1’10.680
Joseph	He does have DRS, still. Reminder to take a drink.	Stallard	Oscar, how’s the tyre?
Joseph	Minor, strat five please, strat five.	Piastri	It’s okay, rears struggling a little bit.
		Stallard	You happy with the flap?
		Piastri	Er, yes.

“We’re pushing quite a lot”

As Norris came under pressure from Leclerc, he warned his team that he was having to take a lot out of his tyres to defend his lead:

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Lap: 16/70 NOR: 1’10.937, PIA: 1’10.889
Joseph	And suggest strat five, strat five, how are the tyres?	Stallard	Suggest forwards brake balance if you can, one more click. We’re in the window both kinds of Safety Car.
Joseph	Yeah, well, I mean, we’re pushing quite a lot, eh? I just have no battery, I need my battery.
Joseph	Lando you can use strat six, but you might have to press the overtake if he gets close.
Lap: 17/70 NOR: 1’10.841, PIA: 1’11.064
Joseph	Lando both Safety Car windows are open, please confirm.	Stallard	Suggest strats seven, strat seven, anti-overtake is often too late.
Joseph	Lando opportunity, make turn six apex, it makes it harder for the other car.
Lap: 18/70 NOR: 1’10.789, PIA: 1’10.709
Joseph	Lando the gap’s 1.0. I want to use some of the battery to try and get this DRS gap.	Stallard	Oscar, how’s the tyre?
Norris	I’ve got no, I’ve got no battery, mate.	Piastri	Rears are struggling, fronts okay.
Joseph	That’s why I suggest strat six when you can.	Stallard	Copy.
		Stallard	Leclerc last lap was 11.7, pace is still good.
Lap: 19/70 NOR: 1’11.043, PIA: 1’10.863
Joseph	Lando the gap to Bortoleto is 20.3 so we’re happy to pit. If we’re going to get passed by Oscar we would pit before him, if not we just keep going.	Stallard	Russell has just pitted. Suggest green shape two, green shape two.

“This is lap 20”

Stallard told Piastri when lap 20 was beginning, while Norris’s race engineer also indicated he would pit at the end of the lap, as was no doubt planned before the race. Piastri made a last-ditch effort to pass Norris at turn four and locked up a tyre, coming perilously close to hitting his team mate.

Had he got ahead, he would have been able to claim the advantage of pitting first, and the victory would likely have been his. Instead Norris made the first pit stop and McLaren gave Piastri the option of running longer on his first set of medium tyres in order to have fresher rubber later, which he accepted.

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Lap: 20/70 NOR: 1’13.982, PIA: 1’10.951
Joseph	Lando, use the tyre, please use the tyre. Lando, we’re going to box this lap.	Stallard	This is lap 20. Piastri locks up at turn four as he has a look at the inside of Norris
Norris	Confirm. Piastri tries to pass him at turn four but locks up	Stallard	Exit turn eight Okay Lando is pitting this lap, let’s see your pace in free air now, see what we can do.
Joseph	Box this lap, box this lap.
Lap: 21/70 NOR: 1’27.815, PIA: 1’10.624
Joseph	Launch map, launch map, launch map. Could be out lap two. Could be close to Bortoleto, careful of white line at exit. Bortoleto start-finish line.	Stallard	Oscar we’re looking at best pace to target lap.
Joseph	Minor, purple C2 position 10, purple C2 position 10, gap to Oscar 20.2. Lando strat seven, please, strat seven, Oscar’s going to extend by a few laps, gap is 19.6, let’s get in the groove, free air.	Piastri	Yeah, okay, I have a flat spot.
		Stallard	Understood, let’s see how the pace is.
		Stallard	Flat spot in data looks okay to continue, let me know.
		Piastri	Exit turn eight It’s not pleasant, but it’s okay.
Lap: 22/70 NOR: 1’09.921, PIA: 1’10.938
		Stallard	Oscar, question, better to be four seconds behind Lando with more delta or one and a half behind?
Lap: 23/70 NOR: 1’10.012, PIA: 1’11.249
Joseph	And Lando doing a good job. Oscar’s pace hasn’t really picked up, he just did a 10.9.	Piastri	Four with delta.
		Stallard	Oscar suggest once past, once past from here.
		Piastri	Copy.
Lap: 24/70 NOR: 1’09.829, PIA: 1’14.728
Joseph	And Lando from early signs the hard deg possibly slightly higher than we had anticipated.	Stallard	Oscar strap seven, strap seven. Are you still happy with flap?
		Piastri	Er, down half for the tyre.
		Stallard	Copy Oscar, so we’ll box this lap, we’ll come down half for the hard tyre.
		Piastri	Go one and a half for the tyre. Sorry, it was half on top of the one.
		Stallard	Understood, we’ll come down one and a half.
		Piastri	Copy, box.
		Stallard	Box now, box. Reminder the box entry is bumpy, you can use the blue paint.
Lap: 25/70 NOR: 1’09.645, PIA: 1’28.329
Joseph	Oscar has just pitted too, you’ll come out ahead, we can start aggressively pushing on the tyre. Do not push any more on the brakes. Stay where you are on the brake.	Piastri	Oscar pit lane.
Joseph	So Oscar’s 5.8 behind us, Hamilton and Leclerc ahead by 5.1.	Stallard	Launch map off, launch map off. Reset brake balance. You can bring the tyre in as planned. Gap to Lando five and a half.
		Stallard	White default 35X.
		Stallard	Lando last lap 1’09.8. And we’re looking for Plan A target lap.

“We can’t do that again”

Stallard passed on a warning to Piastri not to take the same risk with his team mate again. The pair had collided at the previous race due to an error by Norris.

Joseph kept Norris informed on how to extract more pace from his car on the hard tyres, which were not performing as well as the team expected.

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Lap: 27/70 NOR: 1’09.522, PIA: 1’09.520
Joseph	Okay mate, this is good, free air again. And a reminder to drink, Oscar will be bringing in the tyres, you did a 9.8 lap time.	Stallard	Both Ferraris have now pitted.
Joseph	And Lando just be careful of braking too late in turn six, we want to focus on getting out of the corner.	Stallard	Oscar feedback from the pit wall, the manoeuvre in turn four with the front lock-up was too marginal, we can’t do that again.
		Stallard	Opportunity, throttle pick-up, turn one.
Lap: 28/70 NOR: 1’09.528, PIA: 1’09.519
Joseph	How’s the pace, how’s the tyres?	Stallard	Lando 1’09.5. Turn one was good. For turn four, suggest top-left.
Norris	Yeah, pace three, I just want to have a gap.
Joseph	And Lando, your pace to Oscar in all corners is reasonable, do you want his lap times or not?
Norris	No, I’m good.
Lap: 29/70 NOR: 1’09.494, PIA: 1’09.434
Joseph	And Lando, that lap, turn four, an example, too much entry speed, focus on the exit.	Stallard	Tyre conditions looks good.
Joseph	So Lando this is plan A, target lap. Plan A, target lap.
Norris	Confirm.
Lap: 30/70 NOR: 1’09.641, PIA: 1’09.343
Joseph	Lando, better in 10.4, keep it like that. Opportunity, turn seven as we talked about. Stop it more on entry. Stop it more on entry, focus on throttle pick-up.	Stallard	The car’s pace is still flat, 1’09.5, your tyres are in good condition.
Lap: 31/70 NOR: 1’09.546, PIA: 1’09.348
Joseph	Lando just watch out for debris turn four.	Stallard	Purple middle sector. Colapinto had a little spin turn four exit possible gravel on the exit kerb of four.
Lap: 32/70 NOR: 1’09.546, PIA: 1’09.449
Joseph	Better turn seven, keep it like that.	Stallard	Pace is still good, other cars still flat, doing 1.09.5. Car behind us Tsunoda, he’s a lap down obviously.
Lap: 33/70 NOR: 1’09.602, PIA: 1’09.440
Joseph	Getting to the apex in turn four like that is good. Keep it up.	Stallard	Tyre temperatures still look well controlled.
Lap: 34/70 NOR: 1’09.561, PIA: 1’09.196
Joseph	Lando, opportunity, main loss is turn 10, as you talked about pre-race.	Stallard	Consider green shape two, green shape 2.
		Stallard	Good job, turn one. Tyres have stabilised, so there’s potentially more opportunity now in high speed. We’re in the window for a full Safety Car, full Safety Car only, that’s both McLarens.
Lap: 35/70 NOR: 1’09.377, PIA: 1’09.443
Joseph	And Lando the full Safety Car window is open, please confirm.
Norris	Confirm.
Lap: 36/70 NOR: 1’09.309, PIA: 1’09.460
Joseph	And reminder to drink.
Lap: 37/70 NOR: 1’09.779, PIA: 1’09.482
		Stallard	Suggest bal plus one, bal plus one.

“Is he just quicker everywhere now?”

Norris fought his way through traffic first, which allowed Piastri to close the gap, but it began to open up again as the second McLaren caught the same backmarkers.

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Lap: 38/70 NOR: 1’09.723, PIA: 1’09.273
Joseph	Norris pressed the ‘marker’ button on his steering wheel to alert the team to a point in his telemetry And Lando doing a good job, gap to Oscar stable, about 5.3. Last lap the marker we think was tailwind there. And you turned in a bit sharper as well.	Stallard	Lando’s approaching competitor blue flag cars, there’s a four-second gap to Stroll. Most of those blue flags are doing mid-to-high, 1’10s, so there’s opportunity approaching.
Lap: 39/70 NOR: 1’09.955, PIA: 1’09.437
Joseph	Both safety car windows are open now to you.	Stallard	Lando 1’09.7.
Norris	Confirm.
	We’re going to have some bad traffic coming up and Oscar’s 4.7.
Lap: 40/70 NOR: 1’10.682, PIA: 1’09.637
		Stallard	Oscar turn seven suggests top-left toggle.
Lap: 42/70 NOR: 1’09.808, PIA: 1’09.800
Norris	Is he just quicker everywhere now or?	Stallard	Opportunity to turn three entry speed, maybe edging into the corner a bit. Car ahead of Lando now is Stroll, that’s the blue flag car.
Lap: 43/70 NOR: 1’09.638, PIA: 1’10.103
Joseph	He’s mainly quicker in high speed, we’ll just see with this loss in traffic. If you want help with rotation in turn six you can try the left-hand paddle. That’s left-hand paddle. And our goal here is obvious, we just keep Oscar out of our DRS.
Lap: 44/70 NOR: 1’09.641, PIA: 1’09.714
Joseph	And this lap looked better. Keep going. And Lando, if you do want rear stability into turn three suggest the right-hand toggle, right-hand toggle.	Stallard	Turn three, try to carry more minimum by releasing brake.
		Stallard	Car just come out of the pits is Hulkenberg.
Lap: 45/70 NOR: 1’10.044, PIA: 1’10.151
		Stallard	Strat six to close on Hulkenberg, strat six.
Lap: 46/70 NOR: 1’09.677, PIA: 1’10.048
Joseph	And reminder to drink. How are the tyres?
Norris	Um, yeah, I mean, the last lap I just struggled a lot with the rear for some reason.
Lap: 47/70 NOR: 1’09.970, PIA: 1’09.471
Joseph	And Lando it may feel poor, we see that, but you’re still quick. Doing a great job, mate, keep it up.
Lap: 48/70 NOR: 1’10.073, PIA: 1’10.621
		Stallard	Let’s go strat seven. Need a little bit more protection for the rears in low speed. Now you’ve got clear air.
		Stallard	He runs wide at the exit of turn one Lando last lap, 1’10.0.
Lap: 49/70 NOR: 1’10.072, PIA: 1’10.200
Norris	Struggling a bit more with the tyres now.
Joseph	Okay. So Lando, now that Oscar’s got free air his pace in high-speed has recovered a bit. Obviously if we get close to Hadjar it’s going to get tough again.
Lap: 50/70 NOR: 1’10.221, PIA: 1’10.073
Joseph	Lando you’re continuing to do a good job. As the gap to Oscar stays like this, we just want to extend. Turn four was good, try to avoid the snaps like in six.	Stallard	Lando 1’10.1. Main opportunity is turn three, minimum speed.

“The dirty air is hurting me a lot”

Norris was again the first to pit, switching from hards back to mediums. As the fresher rubber yielded much quicker lap times, Piastri did not delay his pit stop.

However when Piastri left the pit he encountered Yuki Tsunoda and Franco Colapinto fighting for position ahead of him. Colapinto failed to notice the McLaren and forced Piastri onto the grass at the exit of turn three, for which the Alpine driver was later penalised.

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Lap: 51/70 NOR: 1’10.292, PIA: 1’10.114
Joseph	Suggest red A4, entry will be fine.	Stallard	How’s the tyre?
Joseph	And Lando this is the Germany situation, Germany situation.	Piastri	The rear is struggling a bit now.
Norris	Yeah, just the dirty air is hurting me a lot.	Stallard	Bortoleto just came out.
Lap: 52/70 NOR: 1’13.952, PIA: 1’10.014
Joseph	Yep, we get that. So the gap to Oscar we’re still happy with.	Stallard	Oscar, are you happy with the front wing, just the offset for the compound?
Joseph	Lando, use the tyre please.	Piastri	Yep.
Joseph	Box this lap, box this lap.	Stallard	Copy.
Norris	Confirm.	Stallard	Exit turn three Okay, Lando will pit now, so use the pace.
Joseph	It’ll be launch map on once you’re in the pit lane. Launch map, launch map, Launch map.
Lap: 53/70 NOR: 1’26.125, PIA: 1’13.038
Joseph	Out lap two, stint two, could be close to Tsunoda exit, he’s just round the final corner. Suggest red A5, red A5.	Stallard	You’ll get some clearer air. Let’s use the pace, we should be in at the end of this lap. We’re box this lap, box his lap.
Joseph	Oscar is pitting this lap.	Piastri	Copy box.
		Stallard	Brake balance for the stop, brake balance. Launch map, launch map.
Lap: 54/70 NOR: 1’08.989, PIA: 1’26.307
Joseph	Oscar should be behind at exit.	Piastri	Oscar pit lane.
Joseph	Oscar leaving pit lane now. He’s behind the two backmarkers.	Stallard	Launch map off, launch map off. It will be close with Colapinto and Tsunoda exit. They’ll get blues. Reset bal plus one, 17 laps to go.
		Piastri	Colapinto forces him onto the grass at the exit of turn three as he passes I made it.
		Stallard	Okay, 4.4-second gap to Lando, let’s go. 16 laps after this one.

“Gasly still manages to find a way to f*** me up”

Piastri lost more time behind the other Alpine of Pierre Gasly later in the race. He previously belonged to Alpine’s junior driver programme, before famously quitting them to join McLaren, which Piastri appeared to make an oblique reference to after passing Gasly.

Despite Norris catching another pair of battling drivers at the end of the race – Fernando Alonso and Gabriel Bortoleto – he kept Piastri at sword’s length to claim victory.

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Lap: 55/70 NOR: 1’09.357, PIA: 1’08.558
		Stallard	Lando has a few blue flags to get through as well. Gasly is a couple of seconds ahead of him. Bearman is three seconds ahead of that.
Lap: 57/70 NOR: 1’08.552, PIA: 1’08.739
		Stallard	Good lap Oscar, last lap was purple.
		Piastri	Piastri has to follow Gasly through turn one before lapping him Gasly still manages to find a way to fuck me up all these years later, huh?
		Stallard	Head down mate, you’ve got 3.3 seconds to Lando, 13 laps.
Lap: 58/70 NOR: 1’08.326, PIA: 1’08.157
Joseph	Lando, suggest the right-hand toggle for turn three.
Lap: 60/70 NOR: 1’08.678, PIA: 1’08.085
Joseph	Lando the full Safety Car window is open, please confirm.
Lap: 61/70 NOR: 1’08.272, PIA: 1’08.162
Norris	Confirm.	Stallard	That was a very good turn three.
Norris	I need some pace, please help.	Stallard	Purple C7 position 8, Purple C7 position 8. It’s 10 laps including this one.
Joseph	Okay, 10 laps to go. Lando the main pace difference right now is high-speed, hopefully linked just to traffic.
Lap: 63/70 NOR: 1’08.698, PIA: 1’08.903
Joseph	And Lando, opportunity turn one, be more exit-focused, avoid the kerb.
Lap: 64/70 NOR: 1’08.655, PIA: 1’08.952
Joseph	Lando, just for your awareness, we have a bit of damage on our front wing which is making the balance change a bit. Nothing we can do, just for your awareness. And reminder to drink.	Stallard	Turn six, a bit more peak pressure to rotate the car, focus on throttle.
Joseph	Good lap, last lap, no opportunities to the other car.
Lap: 66/70 NOR: 1’09.043, PIA: 1’09.037
Joseph	Five laps to go. Minor, ACS button press.	Stallard	That’s five laps to go. Four blue cars ahead of Lando, blue flag cars, four seconds ahead of him. They’re all in the points, that one’s Bortoleto [unclear].
		Stallard	Correction to that lap time, Bortoleto 9.2. Turn three slide, both axles are on the limit.
Lap: 67/70 NOR: 1’09.100, PIA: 1’09.087
Joseph	And Lando, you need corner discipline, turn one, turn three, pace in high speed is good.	Stallard	Suggest strat four for a bit more deployment. Two laps to go, two laps.
Joseph	Lando, closing the Safety Car windows.
Lap: 68/70 NOR: 1’09.460, PIA: 1’09.273
Norris	Confirm.
Joseph	And turn one and three are good. That every lap, please.
Lap: 69/70 NOR: 1’09.844, PIA: 1’09.468
Joseph	Lando happy with strat five, strat five, just be careful of references.
Lap: 70/70 NOR: 1’09.431, PIA: 1’10.782
Joseph	This is the last lap. Norris laps Bortoleto	Stallard	Turn three, corner discipline, that’s front and rear locking.
		Stallard	This is the last lap.

“Thanks for acknowledging corner four”

While Norris basked in his victory, Piastri acknowledged his move at turn four had been too risky.

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Chequered flag
Joseph	Well done mate. Well done. Recharge off. Great job.	Stallard	Chequered flag, Oscar. Well done, buddy. P2. One-two for the team. Your switches: White H11 position 13, H11 13. Leave recharge off and ACS button. Well done mate, good racing. Pick up rubber where you can
Joseph	Lando maximum pick-up please. And we come back to the pit lane.	Piastri	Yeah, sorry for the, move in turn four. Pace is good. Good fun, actually. Hope, er… well, not sure you guys enjoyed the show, but I hope the fans did. So good race, good weekend, and look forward to the team’s home one in Silverstone, cheers!
Norris	Yeah, well done everyone. Beautiful one-two. Car was great. Thanks everyone. Amazing work. Let’s keep it up.	Stallard	Yeah, thanks Oscar. Thanks for acknowledging corner four. And that’s from the pit wall as well.
Joseph	I agree, mate. Follow the process. And just confirm and we come back to the pit lane.	Stallard	And confirm we’re pretty happy back here, that’s a great one-two after where we were in Canada.
Norris	Yes, confirm.	Stallard	So you’re coming back into the pit lane. So when you get to the board, it’s kill the engine, wait five seconds and fully off. Well done, buddy.