Oscar Piastri’s cheeky Singapore GP radio message goes viral: "Knob is quite stiff"

McLaren's Oscar Piastri created a viral moment after a cheeky radio message between him and his race engineer

A radio message from Oscar Piastri has gone viral after Friday's practice ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix. The cheeky moment about a cockpit control was broadcast live and rapidly picked up on by social channels and Formula 1 fans.

Midway through FP2, the McLaren driver was heard over the radio, alerting his team to an issue with a control on his steering wheel.

"Before I forget, the cooling system knob is quite hard to turn," he started.

“I was gonna say the knob is quite stiff, but didn’t think that would be appropriate for TV," he told his race engineer, Tom Stallard, who responded drily.

"I'm sure they won't have picked that up," he said, unaware of the social media storm that would follow the exchange between the pair.

The message came as McLaren cycled through its evening run plan under the lights of the Marina Bay Street Circuit. Due to the heat, many drivers have opted for a cooling vest, which have questionable levels of reliability, according to the drivers using it. The Singapore race has been declared a 'heat hazard', meaning drivers have been forced to either use the vest or fit 0.5kg of ballast in the cockpit to make up for it.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images via Getty Images

“Any driver may elect not to wear any items of personal equipment that form part of the Driver Cooling System,” Article 26.19 of the FIA F1 Sporting Regulations confirms. “In such circumstance, all other components, including any cooling medium, of the Driver Cooling System must be fitted.

“In addition, the difference in mass between the driver’s personal equipment normally used and any items of a driver’s personal equipment that form part of the system must be compensated by the fitting of 0.5kg of ballast in the cockpit.”

The Australian finished his Friday feeling mildly confident.

"I think I found my feet on the medium at the end there, and then, soft felt good. Obviously, not much representative kind of race running, but the car's been in a good place. I feel like I've learned a lot through today, and that's the aim of practice. So it's been a good day."