Radio Replay: Japanese Grand Prix

The 2023 Japanese Grand Prix won’t be a race that will live long in our memory, but we will use it to push forward into the final six races of the year.

On an afternoon like the one we had on Sunday, communication is key and the relationship between drivers and their Race Engineers is crucial.

Discover how our afternoon panned out across the airwaves as we highlight our key moments via our Radio Replay.

Getting the tyre information across to the drivers is incredibly important. In this case, Alex – starting on mediums – learns that there will be some drivers around him on quicker rubber at the start.

It was a heavy hit for Alex shortly after the race start and it was clear that a pit stop would be needed. The deployment of the Safety Car allowed the team to assess everything before Alex eventually made it back around to the pits.

The Safety Car gave us the opportunity to clear Logan’s 10-second time penalty and get him back out into the pack, a chance we duly took up. All this meant he was already up a place from his pit lane start.

Seeking confirmation that he was in the fight, we confirmed to Logan that he was back in the race.

The team had 30 seconds to prepare for Logan’s return to the pits after his lock up and subsequent collision with Valtteri Bottas. Our crew sprung into action and turned Logan’s car back around with a new wing and tyres in roughly 20 seconds.

With a couple of full-speed racing laps under his belt, the team were now able to fully assess the damage and what needed to be done to rectify the situation. Knowing that this would mean another stop, Alex was fine for the team to do whatever they needed to keep us in the battle.

It’s the message no racing driver wants to receive, but we had to share it with both our drivers. After suffering progressive damage from their respective incidents, the decision was made to bring them both in.