12 Of The Weirdest Radio Messages From F1 2016 So Far

1. Lewis Hamilton – Bahrain

“That was a sexy lap”

A rather odd way to describe a qualifying lap, but it got him pole position.

2. Fernando Alonso – China

“Arrgggh! Arrgggh! Arrgggh!”

Alonso wasn’t happy to not make Q3 in Shanghai, that’s for sure.

3. Jenson Button – Spain

“Ha, ha. I just got overtaken by Haryanto.”

Button wasn’t pleased to be stuck behind Rio Haryanto’s Manor, who clearly didn’t realise he wasn’t that quick.

4. Sebastian Vettel – Spain

“Honestly, what are we doing? Racing or ping-pong?”

Vettel has been brilliantly vocal over team radio this year!

5. Daniel Ricciardo – Monaco

“Just save it — nothing you could say could make it any better.”

This one is weird, just because it’s rare to hear Dany Ric being so downbeat.

6. Kimi Raikkonen – Europe

“There was some f***ing plastic flying around and I had to avoid it!”

Not something you expect to hear from any driver, let alone the Iceman!

7. Max Verstappen - Hungary

“I’m driving like a grandma.”

So what was Daniel Ricciardo - who he was stuck behind - driving like, then?

8. Daniel Ricciardo – Germany

“Esteban’s my favourite. I love this guy.”

If you read this in a normal voice, you’d think it was just a nice compliment to a fellow driver. But now put yourself in the position of Ricciardo, who is stuck behind a lapped car. Yeah, just a hint of sarcasm.

9. Sebastian Vettel – Germany

“Box Sebastian, box.”
“Negative, negative.”

This was just an all-round odd situation to listen to, with the team telling Vettel to come into the pits and the German driver completely disagreeing with the call.

10. Mercedes engineer Tony Ross – Italy

“Haroo! Excellent job, really good job on that first stint, Nicola!”

This one had me laughing so much, mainly because I thought he’d just mispronounced “Nico”. But he did it on purpose, which is still pretty hilarious.

11. Max Verstappen – Singapore

“Woah! There’s a giant lizard on the track. Yeah, I’m not joking! Out of Turn 3.”

Amazingly, he wasn’t joking and Red Bull followed it up with the equally hilarious and strange “face to face with Godzilla there, mate”.

12. Daniil Kvyat – Japan

“Oh no, the octopus is back. It’s quite a small one – a baby octopus.”

Octopus? What? This one happened in Japanese GP practice. Apparently it actually talks about a piece of rubber that attaches to the car antenna.