A round-up of the best radio soundbites from the Japanese Grand Prix, where Ferrari blundered again and Sebastian Vettel saw his already slim championship chances suffer another significant blow.
“This track is awesome!”
“Glad you’re enjoying it.”
“I’m having the best day.”
Lewis Hamilton can’t help but let Mercedes know how much he is enjoying the Suzuka track during Friday practice. He would later call the Japanese circuit the best in the world.
“What the f—, honestly? I tried to do the best I could. He drives around the outside he could have easily waited for me to come back.”
In case you hadn’t noticed, Max Verstappen doesn’t like being given penalties. This was his reaction to being told his bump with Kimi Raikkonen had resulted in one…
“Magnussen is and will always be stupid. It’s a fact. A shame.”
Charles Leclerc delivers a memorable one-liner after colliding with Kevin Magnussen early in the race. The stewards were more forgiving of the Haas driver and F1 race director later explained why his move was not as bad as it appeared on the TV feed.
“Is it believable what this guy is doing!? I don’t think so… Where is he thinking he can go?”
After colliding with Verstappen after an opportunistic move at Spoon, Vettel opens his radio channel to make it clear he blamed the Dutchman for the contact which followed. He would repeat that opinion to the media after the race.
“What the f— is he thinking to overtake there? So f—- stupid!”
Verstappen had the opposite opinion, questioning the logic of Vettel’s move at that part of the circuit.
“Woo hoo! Guys, man, I love you guys. I love driving the car and I love this track. I hope you guys are not getting bored of this, because I’m definitely not!”
Lewis Hamilton celebrates his Japanese Grand Prix victory by saying he hopes the good times keep rolling — his rivals will hope they do not.
“Well done Max… I doubt you’re too popular with Ferrari and the Italians today.”
“Haha yeah, that’s not my problem. They went too aggressive.”
Christian Horner and Verstappen joke about his early collisions with both Ferrari driver, with the Dutchman making it clear who he felt was to blame for either of them.
“Ok, not much to say. I think enough has been said. I don’t know…. If I don’t go for that gap and the gap was there, I might as well stay at home…”
After crossing the line in sixth, all but ending his slim championship hopes, Vettel takes a more apologetic tone on the radio — referencing Ayrton Senna’s most famous quote to explain why he chose to make an overtake at that point in the circuit.