F1 radio silence confusion: Did Verstappen really demand Leclerc let him pass?

A radio message from Max Verstappen displayed during yesterday’s Spanish Grand Prix has prompted confusion among fans.

A graphic displayed on lap 63 of the race quoted Verstappen saying “he needs to give the position back.” Verstappen was running behind Charles Leclerc at the time and had complained the Ferrari driver had made contact when overtaking him two laps earlier.

No audio of Verstappen speaking these words was broadcast on the world television feed, which is not unusual. However fans who watched Verstappen’s onboard feed were surprised to discover no sign of the message either and queried the discrepancy on social media.

Formula One Management may misinterpret messages at times, but creating one would obviously be a different matter entirely, and there’s no reason to believe that was the case here.

There have been previous cases of drivers’ messages being heard on the world feed but not on their onboard feed. This is because messages are played and censored differently on the two broadcasts.

On the world feed, messages are chosen and edited to go into the broadcast. If any parts are considered unsuitable for broadcast, typically because it includes profanity, the offending portion is replaced with a ‘bleep’.

But on the onboard drivers’ messages are played in close to real-time. Instead of editing them, if FOM are concerned a driver may be about to say something they do not wish to broadcast, the communications are simply silenced.

FOM began doing this in order to avoid broadcasting potentially distressing audio if a driver suffers a heavy crash. However it also silences their radio if a driver becomes so agitated there is a concern they may say something particularly inflammatory.

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This concern pre-dates FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s notorious clampdown on drivers swearing. One of the first such cases occured at the 2023 Australian Grand Prix when an unhappy Carlos Sainz Jnr complained bitterly to Ferrari’s Ricardo Adami and Laurent Mekies about a penalty. Much of his commentary was played on the world feed, but not on his onboard channel:

In yesterday’s case, no audio of Verstappen’s quote was played on the world feed. This could have been in order to avoid interrupting commentators with too many messages or due to concerns over audio quality.

However, as noted previously, FOM’s power to essentially hide drivers’ radio messages has potential implications for the competition. The FIA stewards often rely on radio communications for decision-making, as in the case of Russell’s penalty in Monaco last week.

Assuming Verstappen made this comment, it likely occured during a two-minute spell during which no comments from him or race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase were heard on his onboard channel. Red Bull’s rivals may like to know whether Verstappen said anything else during that time which FOM kept off his onboard feed.

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• F1 radio silence confusion: Did Verstappen really demand Leclerc let him pass?
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