Should F1 ‘expose its drivers as human’ on team radio — or keep it under wraps?
Max Verstappen’s heated radio exchanges with his race engineer prompted some PlanetF1.com fans to call for a stop in broadcasting so much team radio.
Team radio. It’s been the topic of ample conversation in the aftermath of the Hungarian Grand Prix, where terse messages between Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, and their respective race engineers heightened tension — and raised some eyebrows.
That’s why we turned to the readers of PlanetF1.com to ask the big question: Do fans need unfettered access to driver radio? Should F1 be broadcasting every little exchange for viewers to devour? Or should those messages be kept under closer wraps. Let’s see what you had to say.
PlanetF1.com readers react: Radios are entertainment — but essential
Readers of PlanetF1.com trended toward one main takeaway about radio messages: They’re great when they help you understand the nuance and complexity of a race, and are an integral part of what F1 has become in the modern era. But the big question readers reckoned with regarded exactly what kind of messages should be aired during a race, and what should be held until afterward.
“I think it’s fundamental to what F1 is selling right now. That’s working, so we have to defer to it more than if it weren’t. I still don’t like it, I’d rather the messages be private personally. But I think this is the correct presentation for the time and place we’re at now.” – @FredSmith914 via X
“It’s been a slippery slope for sports broadcasting ever since figure skating introduced the kiss and cry. You’re right. It’s working as is right now. Personally, I think it should only be publicly available after the fact unless it’s important to understand the car’s status.” – @RyanErikKing via X, in response to @FredSmith19
“Tbh I like it because without it following strategy is pretty hard. Gets a little goofy ofc with some radio messages, but it is a lot of the intrigue in a race (and really a series) where pit strategy is often the determining factor in people moving up and down in the order.” – @atrocidadcasera via X
“I feel that being able to listen back often gives more of a context compared to what is broadcasted. […] I think that today with sm people would probably make up their own stories regardless. At least this way you can go back and fact check . Also I like facts.” – @kvist_sara via X
“I like it. Gives you a view of what is happening in the moment and the decision making that occurs. Frankly I wished more sports did that.” – @_BryceJohnson via X
“I like the radio messages. I am very interested in how they feel the car is doing, how the tires are doing, and what strategies they are considering. I could do without the nonsense like we got this weekend, but I don’t know if there’s a way to get one without the other.” – @HerezAThought via X
“I think it gives context to the race as a whole and so the race would be a lot harder to follow without some of them but i do defo agree that they sometimes show too much for certain drivers” – @lesbian4ferrari via X
“Being a Nascar fan who attended the first two F1 races in Miami I was sorely disappointed in not being able to have a scanner or easily listen to a real time (not delayed) race broadcast or driver channels. F1 is missing the boat to engage fans.” – @71bombi via X
“absolutely. especially if you have F1TV & listen to onboards, it tells you everything that’s going on in a race. a lot of times things are missed in commentary because they don’t have all the info. like bahrain this year when Charles was struggling with massive brake imbalance” – @juliananikac via X
“Yes. But the Director and production team need to use discretion although you can hear everything on the on board channels anyway.” – @unsungheromedia via X
“As much as I appreciate chaos, I think other than messages relevant to the strategy, a car problem, or an incident on track it’s hard to justify just how much we hear from the heat of battle.” – @clutchandcoast via X
“It’s part of understanding what is going on, and it is extremely entertaining. Professional sports exist for entertainment.” – @PribblePrabble via X
“Personally, I like hearing the radio chatter. F1 is the pinnacle of moto sports. We are all human, but to hear what transpired with the latest F1 race was “childish”, hold yourself accountable in your words and actions, be the professional that we know you are” – @StevenC60473722 via X
“Hate the radio chatter. Maybe because I hate most of the personalities in F1. Stick to the racing and the tech, I say. Leave the drama to DTS.” – @ShubertSomer via X
“Quite frankly, if it wasn’t for those radio messages, Hungary would been dull as hell.” – @RedneckGaijin via X
“I think it gives more context during the race (especially with the Mclaren swap drama), but the messages have very little merit afterwards. Hearing Max and GP threaten each other with divorce doesn‘t tell us much about the state of the car at this point of the season.” – @vroomcats via X
“It’s certainly been a deliberate plan from the sport to put more of those messages out there. I think a little bit of that adds some entertainment to the product. Too much and it becomes irritating and distracting to me.” – @DreHarrison101 via X
“It definitely felt like a lot of team radio yesterday, and not a lot of it was very informative, which I feel like is the point of team radio being broadcast” – @FallingWorld17 via X
“To me it adds to the intensity of the experience. For better or worse, it exposes the drivers as human, which can serve to bring spectators closer to the show. Gone are the days of the image of pro athletes / sportspeople as superhuman, and I think we’re better off this way.” – @macfilipe via X
“The older I get the less I get interested in the drama. I just want good, honest racing. Which let’s face it, F1 hasn’t really had in years. It’s team orders and what will best benefit Netflix.” – @ianmunroe via X
More takeaways from the Hungarian Grand Prix:
Petulant, emotional, and brilliant: We need to talk about ‘Mad Max’ Verstappen
The Ross Brawn moment McLaren needed in Hungarian GP team orders tension
Elizabeth Blackstock’s take: Cringing won’t stop me watching
Oof. With every new radio message from Lando Norris or Max Verstappen during the Hungarian GP, I think I cringed a little harder. On one hand, I was begging the drivers to just stop talking… and on the other, I was eating up every moment of the drama.
There’s a certain tendency to criticize certain subsets of fans for enjoying F1 in their own particular way — namely, to tell younger (and especially female) fans that digging into the sport’s drama is inappropriate, or unprofessional.
But when hasn’t F1 been dramatic? Wouldn’t you have liked to hear what Peter Collins told his team when he handed over his Ferrari to help Juan Manuel Fangio in 1956? Didn’t we eat up the Prost/Senna rivalry — and all its accompanying media drama — for years? Wouldn’t you have just simply enjoyed to hear James Hunt’s in-helmet commentary at literally any point in his career?
Team radio has become an essential element of modern F1 broadcasting, and I think we’d be all the worse off without it. After all, could you imagine having seen Norris slow down to cede position to Piastri with no context? How would you have known Max Verstappen was driving so angrily before he finally touched wheels with Lewis Hamilton?
While part of me cringes at a particularly emotional or heated radio message, a bigger part of me also loves it. For too long, F1 attempted to sterilize its image and prevent any egregious displays of personality. I’m not about to ask F1 to stuff those personalities back behind the scenes again, and certainly not because I happened to dislike the particular way a driver voiced his frustration in a high-pressure scenario I will never encounter.
I do agree with a lot of the folks who shared their thoughts, especially the ones who noted that F1 needs to consistently keep an eye on the way it utilizes team radio in broadcasts. Right now, the format is working. In the future, that may not be the case.
Read next: Hungarian GP conclusions: McLaren team orders, Piastri rise, Red Bull’s Perez failure
