What’s on the Radio? In Formula 1 Racing, It’s the Engineer.

Schumacher started working with Gannon when he made his Formula 1 debut last year. “Gary’s always been somebody I could rely on,” Schumacher said. “As a rookie coming in, he showed me the way, what was important and what was not.

“We really managed to build up a really good understanding when it comes to driving our car.”

The amount of communication between a driver and the engineer varies, Gannon said in an interview. Some drivers prefer to be left alone. In 2012, Kimi Raikkonen, who was with Lotus at the time, replied, “Just leave me alone, I know what I’m doing,” after being nudged by his race engineer during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The plea became so famous that it was printed on T-shirts.

But Schumacher is keen for updates on every lap, receiving information such as the time gaps to other cars and tire condition.

“Mick really thrives off having information,” Gannon said. “He likes to know lots of things, so we can give him a lot, and also he’s not distracted by it.”

Radio communications with drivers are broadcast, and the public can listen in on the Formula 1 TV coverage, as can viewers of “Drive to Survive” on Netflix. Teams also listen to each other to gain information on their rivals.

Engineers will often talk to their drivers in code, such as “Plan A” or “Plan B” to communicate strategy. Gannon said it was about “finding the right balance of getting the right information without giving everything away.”

But internal radio communications remain private, meaning teams can discuss plans openly before taking it to the driver. Monaghan of Red Bull helps oversee its operations during a race and can “talk to anybody within the garage during the race, on the pit wall or whatever members of the team, whether it’s here at the circuit or in our operations room.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/10/sports/autoracing/formula1-engineer-radio.html