Ocon Explains The Motive Behind Bizarre Mexico GP Radio Message To Haas

Posted on October 30, 2023 | by Charley Williams This has to be in contention for one of the best radio messages of the 2023 season, right? In the middle of a tense battle between Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg for the last available point-scoring slot, Ocon took to the radio to warn Haas of his upcoming “muscular pass”. Oh yeah.  The two drivers enjoyed a close battle on track throughout the middle stage of the race after the red flag caused by Kevin Magnussen bunched the field right back up again. Ocon found himself staring at the back of Hulkenberg’s Haas for quite a while, but with Mexico not being the easiest of circuits to pass on, he started to get a little frustrated. And what is the answer to solving that frustration? Hyping yourself up! ???? Esteban offered Haas and Hulkenberg an advance warning, taking to his radio to say: “You can say to Haas that I’m gonna go for it, so they better be ready!” Talking to the media, including The Race, he said: “The goal of that message is that they should warn Nico that he has to leave the space because I was going to go. “The only chance I had was basically to go on braking, so it was going to be a muscle move, that was to warn them, there was no intention of saying ‘yeah, I’m going to fight and go past you’, it was more to warn them that it was going to be a muscular pass.” Things didn’t go quite to plan, admittedly. Heading down the long straight into Turn 1, the slipstream and DRS were just not enough to help Ocon get by, and he was forced to wait a few laps later when Hulkenberg’s tyres were really starting to fall away. Hulkenberg responded to the radio message on his Instagram story (by screenshotting the graphic we made and posting it, thanks Hulk!) and wrote: “You must really like my rear end… what took you so long! ????” Ahh, F1 trash talk is just like no other! ????