Untelevised team radio shows F1 driver FURY at Austrian Grand Prix

Verstappen, Racing Bulls, socials — Photo: © IMAGO

Austrian Grand Prix

Untelevised team radio shows driver FURY in heated exchange at Austrian Grand Prix

The intra-team battle you may have missed at the Austrian GP

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Monday 29 June 2026 11:54 Updated: 18:07

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The eighth round of the F1 2026 championship saw George Russell bounce back to the top spot on the podium after holding off a mighty Max Verstappen at the Austrian Grand Prix.

It was a much more positive race weekend for the Red Bull family all round at their home circuit, with all four of the Red Bull and Racing Bulls F1 stars finishing in the points in front of their Thai and Austrian management.

Verstappen secured P2 whilst Red Bull F1 colleague Isack Hadjar crossed the line in P6, with the sister team representatives of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad finishing P9 and P10 respectively.

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But despite their points haul in Spielberg, it seems one Racing Bulls star in particular has rocked the boat after ignoring orders to not overtake his team-mate on Sunday.

Racing Bulls Austrian GP team orders revealed

Though it was Lawson that eventually finished ahead of team-mate Lindblad at the Red Bull Ring, team radio which wasn't aired during the live Sky Sports broadcast has now revealed how the rookie ignored team orders to not pass the Kiwi driver.

At one point in the second half of the 71-lap affair, Lindblad was explicitly ordered by race engineer Pierre Hamelin to not overtake Lawson.

Hamelin could be heard telling the British-Swedish driver: "We need to hold position. Lift off please."

When the 18-year-old enquired why Hamelin had given this instruction, Lindblad was told: "Lift-off is critical. Lift-off remains critical."

Up ahead on track, Lawson remained clearly cautious over his team-mate's intentions, asking his own engineer Alexandre Iliopoulos: "Am I going to be attacked?"

In response, Iliopoulos reaffirmed: "Negative. Arvid will hold position, we are not fighting."

It seems Lindblad didn't get that memo however and went about hunting down Lawson, braking into Turn 4 and squeezing his team-mate to the outside, leaving the Kiwi understandably annoyed and confused.

"Dude. Alex?" said Lawson referring to Iliopoulos, who replied: "I told you what I was told."

With his engineer confirming Lindblad's choice to disobey Racing Bulls intra-team orders, Lawson lost his cool, saying over the radio later on: "Last f***ing time I'm listening, man... I lift off 50 metres and I get attacked."

Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad are the Racing Bulls F1 driver duo for 2026

Speaking after the race, Lawson was still annoyed by the situation and suggested the incident should be discussed internally, telling media: "We had a strategy, and executed it in the first stint, and then we were trying to manage- or I was told to manage brakes, and that I wouldn't be attacked, and then I was."

Lindblad on the other hand showed no remorse when being informed of Lawson's comments, telling media: "I'm happy with the race, it's double points for the team...I had some fun, I got stuck in, I think I did a good race."

Acknowledging the order to hold position that he appeared to ignore, Lindblad added: "We finished P9 and P10, I mean, it worked out pretty well. There was no threat from behind."