'Move over Charles' - F1 insider pitches genius idea to take team radio to a whole new level

Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Hungary, 2026 — Photo: © IMAGO

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'Move over Charles' - F1 insider pitches genius idea to take team radio to a whole new level

It'd certainly spice things up!

Chris Deeley Editor

Experienced sports writer covering F1 and other motorsports since 2023

Friday 28 August 2026 19:43

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Is it time for F1 to pick up an idea that NASCAR eliminated more than a decade ago?

That idea, which was brought up by long-time F1 insider Peter Windsor this week after the Dutch Grand Prix, is allowing drivers to talk directly to each other on their in-car radios.

Inspired in part by Lewis Hamilton's radio exchanges with his team at Zandvoort, where he implored them to tell Charles Leclerc to move aside and let him take advantage of his faster, fresher tyres, Windsor suggested on a livestream that radio communication should be driver-to-driver.

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The practice was outlawed in NASCAR due to how effectively it allowed drivers to work together in tandem at superspeedways. Go have a look at pre-2012 dashboards at Daytona and you might see a big dial with a whole bunch of numbers around it, ready to be tuned to whoever the driver wanted to talk to.

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"One of the things that F1 is missing," Windsor began. "We should allow drivers to talk to other drivers during a race. None of this pit stuff, you can't talk to your pits, you can only talk to the other drivers.

"Of course, that'll never happen, will it? All these things I keep suggesting that'll never happen. Maybe one day, one of them might. I banged on long enough about how it's a disgrace that the drivers were sat in their cars or sloped around while the national anthems were being played.

"Somebody obviously listened to that, because now they do exactly what I said should happen, that all the drivers should get out of their cars, go to the front of the grid and stand to attention during the national anthem."

Windsor: Driver-to-driver radio would make great TV

After getting side-tracked bemoaning his little personal causes which were never widely adopted, he continued: "Drivers should be able to talk to one another, including their team-mates.

"Imagine what Lewis would've been saying to Charles! It'd be a lot of 'psshht, static, can't hear! Terrible radio transmission error! Just move over Charles, I'm going to pass you here whether you like it or not and don't you dare come down inside me'.

"It'd be great TV, wouldn't it? And we've obviously got the capacity to do it. Only in the race, but drivers to drivers. Imagine what Lando would've been saying to Kimi after Turn 1 at the restart at Zandvoort. 'Well I just let you go there Kimi, don't try that again'. You wouldn't need commentators, would you? Just have that."

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