‘Are you guys listening?’ – Untelevised Lewis Hamilton team radio after Brazilian GP

Untelevised team radio from the Brazilian Grand Prix has shed more light on Lewis Hamilton’s exchanges with Ferrari race engineer Carlo Santi in a chaotic race at Interlagos.

Hamilton finished a lapped ninth in Brazil as McLaren driver Lando Norris took victory.

Lewis Hamilton team radio emerges after Brazilian Grand Prix

The seven-time world champion entered the race facing a 10-place grid penalty for an engine change, but saw his grid drop increased to 65 places following a further change ahead of qualifying.

Having started 20th, Hamilton could only recover to ninth, with the British driver dropping to fourth in the drivers’ standings with three races remaining.

Untelevised footage from the Brazilian Grand Prix, which cannot be reproduced here due to broadcast rights restrictions, has revealed how Hamilton’s race was defined by a series of confusing exchanges with Santi.

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Hamilton’s first complaints came on Lap 9, when he was heard giving the pit wall an update on the track conditions after starting on intermediate tyres.

Without receiving a reply from Santi, Hamilton checked that the pit wall was listening to his comments. The full exchange went as follows:

Hamilton: “It’s not far from being slicks, mate.”

Hamilton: “Still greasy but it’s drying up.”

Hamilton: “I’m just falling behind at this rate.”

Hamilton: “Are you guys listening? I’m falling behind. What position am I fricking falling back to?”

Santi: “You are P13. P13. We copy you.”

Hamilton became the first driver of the front-running teams to pit on Lap 14, trading his intermediates for a set of softs.

He replied abruptly to Santi when reminded that he had boost available, with an agitated Hamilton also forced to ask his race engineer to repeat a switch change.

The relevant messages, which were exchanged between Lap 20 and 23, went as follows:

Hamilton: “Very hard to overtake. It’s hard to keep the car in [inaudible].”

Santi: “Boost available until the braking point. Full boost.”

Santi: “Boost available.”

Hamilton: “I know! Leave me to it! Nowhere I can go at the moment.”

Hamilton: “How is my pace? Because I’m struggling.”

Santi: “White nine, position six. You have overtake. You are faster than Charles.”

Hamilton: “Repeat the switch change.”

Santi: “White. Nine. Position. Six. White. Nine. Position. Six.”

Hamilton once again had to ask Santi to repeat an instruction across Laps 28 and 29.

Santi: “And green three, position six for more power.”

Santi: “P9. Russell ahead. One second faster than him.”

Hamilton: “Repeat the change again.”

Hamilton: “Repeat it now!”

Santi: “Green three, position six. Green three, position six.”

Hamilton was told to do the opposite of Nico Hulkenberg in an attempt to undercut the Audi driver on Lap 38, with Santi forced to ask twice about a front wing adjustment.

Santi instructed Hamilton that he would be racing Norris at the pit exit, leading his driver to believe that he was fighting the race leader for position.

Santi: “Opposite Hulkenberg. Box opposite Hulkenberg.”

Santi: “And flap. Flap.”

Santi: “Let me know the flap.”

Hamilton: “Yeah, plus… plus two!”

Santi: “Mode box, mode box.”

Santi: “Outlap critical. Outlap critical.”

Santi: “Mode race. We are racing Norris.”

Hamilton: “Ah, damn. Thank you, guys. Lost position to him.”

Santi: “Mode race.”

Hamilton: “Let me… what’s happening, man? I don’t know. Where am I?”

Santi: “I’ll let you know.”

Hamilton: “What do you mean, you don’t know? Why is Norris ahead of me? Have I been lapped?”

Santi: “We are lapped. Yes, you are lapped.”

Santi: “So we are trying to undercut Hulkenberg and closing on Russell. We are fighting P7. Norris didn’t stop yet. He is the race leader.”

From Lap 42, Hamilton was confused by the procedure for unlapping himself, with blue flags suggesting that he would need to let Norris back past.

Hamilton: “I’m stuck behind Norris.”

Hamilton: “Has anyone else stopped? Why would you stop me?”

Santi: “Other cars stopped and we have undercutted Hulkenberg.”

Hamilton: “I’m getting blue flags now and I’ve just unlapped myself. What do I have to do?”

Santi: “Keep pushing, keep pushing!”

Hamilton: “What do I have to do?”

Santi: “Keep pushing. As soon as you open the gap by one second, will be fine. You are the fastest car on track. Keep pushing.”

Hamilton: “OK.”

The conversation continued on Lap 44.

Hamilton: “I still have blue lights. What do I do?”

Santi: “Keep pushing!”

Hamilton: “I’m at two seconds now. I still have blue lights?”

Santi: “Yeah, but you are not solid anymore. Keep pushing. You are opening. Check left toggle.”

Two laps later, Hamilton requested a race update from his race engineer.

Hamilton: “What position am I in?”

Hamilton: “How am I so far behind?”

Hamilton: “Who’s up ahead?”

Santi: “Lawson is the next car in front.”

Hamilton: “OK. How far?”

Santi: “And we are one second faster than him.”

Hamilton: “How far is the gap?”

Hamilton: “Gap?”

Santi: “Thirty seconds.”

Hamilton: “Guys, how are we 30 seconds behind?”

Santi: “Because we stopped.”

Hamilton: “OK, but what does this mean? Because I’m so far behind now…”

Santi: “And now we are P8. We are so behind because we stopped, the others not yet. We go to the end, we don’t know the others. We are P8.”

Hamilton was caught by surprise on Lap 54 when Santi revealed that rain was on the way.

Santi: “B-MIG two. Engine braking can help. They are reporting some drops in [Turn] 1.”

Hamilton: “Is it gonna… is it gonna rain?”

Santi: “We expect rain in six laps.”

Hamilton was told to pit for intermediates at the end of Lap 61. Despite initially appearing to follow the car ahead towards the pit lane, he opted to stay out at the last moment.

Santi: “Box, box. Box, box, box. Box for inter. Green four, position seven. Green four, position seven.”

Hamilton: “S**t, I’ve missed it. Pit entry. S**t! S**t!”

Santi: “We are boxing, we are boxing.”

Santi: “Box, box. Green four, position seven. Green four, position seven.”

Hamilton: “Ah, man. You didn’t say it was raining. I just… I thought I could keep going, I was fine on track.”

Santi: “It was a shame. Was a shame.”

Hamilton: “Where am I now?”

Santi: “I don’t know. Norris.”

Santi: “We need to let by Norris.”

Santi: “We need to let Norris by, we are P9. We are racing the car behind.”

The extra lap proved costly, with Hamilton suffering a dramatic spin at the left-hand kink of Turn 14 on his in lap and making minor contact with the wall.

The lost time saw him re-emerge some way behind teammate Charles Leclerc, with Hamilton bemused to be alone on track.

Hamilton: “Where… where is everyone?”

Santi: “You are P9. Diff mid four.”

Hamilton: “I know I’m P9! Where is everyone?”

Hamilton: “Are we slow?”

Santi: “Charles is P8. He is 20 seconds… 25 seconds ahead.”

Having been lapped, Hamilton did not appear to realise that his race had ended as Norris crossed the line to win, with the 41-year-old offering no comment on the cooldown lap.

Santi: “Last lap. Last lap.”

Hamilton: “Do I still keep going or not?”

Santi: “No, it’s the chequered flag. You are lapped.”

Santi: “And mode charge.”

Santi: “P-zero, please.”

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