Martin Brundle unimpressed with ‘risky’ F1 driver’s radio message at Mexico City GP

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Martin Brundle and David Croft were left stunned by a message Alpine driver Esteban Ocon sent on his team radio during the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Brundle and Croft were commentating for Sky Sports F1 (Sky Sports F1 9:43pm) on a fascinating race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Many neutrals would have been hoping for a close race at the front, but Max Verstappen made light work of that in the first lap of the race.

He powered past both Ferraris to take the lead into the first corner as his teammate flew up into their air after contact with Charles Leclerc.

Although there was no race for the lead once again this season, there was plenty of action further back.

Lando Norris was absolutely phenomenal yesterday as he carved his way through the grid.

AlphaTauri star Daniel Ricciardo put in a fantastic performance too to score his first points of the season.

However, one team who would have been frustrated with where they finished yesterday was Alpine.

Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly are both very quick drivers but had to settle for 10^th and 11^th.

Ocon did send one message on the radio to his team that shared his ambitions in Mexico.

However, it might not have been the smartest idea in hindsight.

Ocon sends ‘risky’ radio message in Mexico

After the red flag, the Frenchman was at the front of the queue trying to get past Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg.

He wasn’t subtle about his efforts to get past him and said to the Alpine pit wall, “You can say to Haas that I’m going to go for it, so they can be ready.”

Martin Brundle heard the message on commentary and said: “That’s a risky strategy with the stewards!”

Croft added: “He tried the outside line and then had to back out of it. Not perhaps the best strategy on that occasion because he’s lost a little bit of momentum in that battle with [Nico] Hulkenberg.”

Ocon’s radio message didn’t help his fortunes in Mexico as it took him a very long time to finally get past the German.

He couldn’t catch Alex Albon at this point meaning that even when Pierre Gasly cleared Hulkenberg, there was no way they were both finishing in the points.

Ocon has had a decent season but Alpine have always been the sixth-quickest team.

This has made scoring points difficult as the reliability of the top teams this year has been fantastic.

However, he will at least take solace from the podium he recorded in Monaco even if Gasly has outscored him by 11 points so far this season.