2013 Singapore Grand Prix team radio transcript

2013 Singapore Grand Prix

26th September 2013, 9:3010th October 2013, 15:35 | Written by Keith Collantine

While Sebastian Vettel scorched to victory in Singapore by over half-a-minute his rivals were preoccupied with getting their strategies right after an awkward mid-race Safety Car interruption.

In some cases they made false assumptions about what their opponents were doing – particularly in the case of Mercedes. Even with ten laps to go they still believed Fernando Alonso was about to make another pit stop, when he was in fact able to stay out until the end.

Vettel’s getaway was inadvertently aided by Nico Rosberg having tyre debris stuck in his front wing. That left him lapping so slowly Force India thought it was a deliberate tactic to look after his tyres.

At the back of the field Marussia found themselves with a team orders row on their hands. Jules Bianchi lost time early in the race when he had to have his steering wheel replaced. The Safety Car brought him back onto the tail of team mate Max Chilton.

It seems Bianchi then complained Chilton was holding him up and Marussia told Chilton to let Bianchi through. Chilton does not appear to have complied.

Bianchi’s tyres began to go off while he was stuck behind Chilton and he dropped back, then pitted, and Chilton also made a pit stop which kept him in front of Bianchi until the end.

After the grand prix had finished Lewis Hamilton complained he hadn’t been aware what position he was running in – which might have had something to do with his pre-race advice to his team on how to hold the pit board so he could see it.

Here are all the radio messages from Sunday’s race.

2013 Singapore Grand Prix team radio transcript

Lap*	From	To	Message
PR	Brad Joyce	Adrian Sutil	We will need to heat the brakes, try and get some temperature in those front tyres and also the rears.
PR	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Can you please ask whoever’s on the pit board to hold it out at 45 degrees so it’s, you know, not 90 degrees from the wall. Just a little bit angled out.
PR	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Affirm. We’ve not quite got the engine temperatures down to where we’d really like them so just thinking about as much engine cooling as you can straight away. When we go just a reminder your KERS schedule for the race is on the left in your cockpit. But obviously you’re flexible to use it as you need.
PR	Simon Rennie	Mark Webber	Just a reminder on that start you were a bit hard on the throttle before so a little bit less on the throttle and keep it constant until you drop the second paddle, please. Normal procedures.
PR	Simon Rennie	Mark Webber	Apparently Sutil is the only car on [mediums]
FL	Simon Rennie	Mark Webber	Remember hold the clutch for four seconds before first gear and sync all gears early.
FL	Juan Pablo Ramirez	Giedo van der Garde	Use all gears.
FL	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	All the brakes are cold at the moment so use them where you can.
FL	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Engine is on target, KERS is good, no more KERS. We need sync in gear seven.
FL	Simon Rennie	Mark Webber	At the start do not go on throttle early.
FL	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	A little bit more working the front-left. [110.5C] front left, [110C] the other tyres.
1	Gary Gannon	Max Chilton	Torque three for running
1	Dave Robson	Jenson Button	HPB to mid, Jenson.
2	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Hamilton went off at turn seven while trying to stay ahead of Massa on the first lap. We’ve been instructed to give the place back to Massa.
2	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	OK
2	Kimi Raikkonen	Mark Slade	[Distorted] …corner I overtook.
2	Mark Slade	Kimi Raikkonen	Understood, Kimi.
2	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Fuel is very good so go back to mix two. Just think about looking after that traction and light braking.
3	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Gap to Vettel ahead four seconds, gap to Alonso behind 1.4, out of your DRS.
3	Rob Smedley	Felipe Massa	DRS is enabled, you have the DRS, Hamilton has the DRS behind you.
4	Simon Rennie	Mark Webber	When it settles down, monitor the gap to Alonso, Look after the tyres, monitor the gap to Alonso.
4	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Tyre temperature stabilised, all fine.
5	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Remember there are Safety Cars out there.Save your tyres.
5	Nico Hulkenberg	Marco Schupbach	This is full pace, this is no saving.
5	Marco Schupbach	Nico Hulkenberg	OK like that Nico, understood. You have shift three, you have special two if you need.
5	Jules Bianchi	Paul Davison	From early in the race several drivers were advised to look after their tyres. I’m struggling now with the rears, I’m struggling a lot.
5	Paul Davison	Jules Bianchi	You can try torque three for less engine braking.
6	Rob Smedley	Felipe Massa	OK mate go grip P9 please when you can and just start really thinking about the tyres, come on.
6	Simon Rennie	Mark Webber	We suggest a two-second gap to Alonso to look after the tyres.
6	Mark Temple	Sergio Perez	OK Checo great opening laps, let’s use the the diff switches and brake balance to protect the rear tyres.
7	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Try taking an earlier apex in turn 20 for a better exit.
7	Phil Charles	Jean-Eric Vergne	You’re doing a good job looking after the tyres, keep doing the same, keep them cool.
7	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Instead of describing the status of their tyres over the radio where they might be heard, some teams have steering wheel switches allowing drivers to communicate the information. Let us know how the tyres are on the deg switch, 3.4 second gap to Alonso.
8	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Alonso P3 is holding the pack up. Nico P2 is doing mid-53s in free air.
8	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	If you can update your wear switch, traction metrics at 1,500.
8	Rob Smedley	Felipe Massa	Massa given advice on how to look after his tyres. Corner 13 easier throttle management.
9	Valtteri Bottas	Jonathan Eddollls	Bottas was stuck behind 18th-placed Van der Garde. There’s no way past, we need to change the strategy.
9	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	Confirm, we’re not going to make our planned strategy work, you want to switch strategy.
9	Marco Schupbach	Nico Hulkenberg	Release 12, degradation at the moment looks good for strategy two.
9	Nico Hulkenberg	Marco Schupbach	Yeah copy that, feels a bit better now.
9	Marco Schupbach	Nico Hulkenberg	OK, OK.
10	Francesco Nenci	Esteban Gutierrez	Esteban we are missing on traction. And now Di Reta is closing gap, watch Di Resta.
10	Jean-Eric Vergne	Phil Charles	I’m really struggling with the tyres.
10	Phil Charles	Jean-Eric Vergne	Understood, push as much as you can, we are changing strategy to plan B.
11	Mark Slade	Kimi Raikkonen	Box this lap Kimi, clutch ten, please confirm.
11	Mark Temple	Sergio Perez	Last lap three-tenths sower than Jenson, all in sector one.
11	Kimi Raikkonen	Mark Slade	Raikkonen had difficulty seeing the lights during his pit stop. Can you move the traffic lights more forward? I have to move up because I can’t see them.
12	Francesco Nenci	Esteban Gutierrez	No response played. Box, Esteban. Front wing, question?
13	Paul Davison	Jules Bianchi	OK Jules we’re not changing tyres, just the steering wheel. Stop in the box.
13	Mark Webber	Simon Rennie	Trouble with the rears, mate.
13	Simon Rennie	Mark Webber	Box Mark, box this lap.
14	Ayao Komatsu	Romain Grosjean	Push Romain, push as much as possible, please.
14	Mark Temple	Sergio Perez	Perez came in on the lap after Hulkenberg and stayed behind him. Hulkenberg is pitting, let’s really push now, give it everything we’ve got. Let’s have toggle down.
14	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	How’s my pace?
14	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	At this stage, Lewis, pace is good, just keep doing what you’re doing.
15	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	Water recharge, so water [distorted] two.
15	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Nico are you OK for one more lap? Let us know.
15	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	Affirm, OK.
15	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	This message was not played immediaely after the preceding one. Box, box.
16	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Box, pit confirm.
16	Mark Slade	Kimi Raikkonen	Battery charge is dropping, we need to reduce the use of the paddle or go to KERS recovery six and two clicks forwards on balance.
16	Andrew Murdoch	Pastor Maldonado	Push now, Pastor.
17	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Target 20 at the end of this lap so you need to drive to that. Target 20 on [medium] tyres.
17	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	We’re monitoring the gaps, Sebastian. Traffic ahead: Chilton.
17	Paul Davison	Jules Bianchi	Good job Jules, two more laps, clear air like this.
17	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Box, torque map one and box.
18	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK Lewis you’re going to be going four laps longer on this tyre, it is the [medium]. Grosjean ahead is on the [super-soft] tyre, we’re going to start applying the pressure in ten laps’ time. So just need to close up to him.
19	Phil Charles	Jean-Eric Vergne	You’ve got the two Saubers ahead of you, fighting with Perez. So if you get good laps in you can actually catch them. Behind you, you’ve got Sutil, who’s on the other tyre, he is closing on you a little bit. Get these good laps and you’ll ease away from him.
19	Marco Schupbach	Nico Hulkenberg	Hulkenberg went off at turn seven while trying to stay ahead of Perez. Nico you have to give the place back to Perez, race control.
19	Nico Hulkenberg	Marco Schupbach	What? For what?
19	Marco Schupbach	Nico Hulkenberg	For leaving the track, Nico.
19	Nico Hulkenberg	Marco Schupbach	I’m going to do that now. Which corner do you suggest?
19	Marco Schupbach	Nico Hulkenberg	This message was not played immediaely after the preceding one. I know Nico keep pushing, can still be a good race, come on, keep pushing.
20	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Tyres more important than gap. Gap is plenty.
20	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	These tyres are terrible.
20	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Message understood Lewis. Pace looks good, though.
21	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Di Resta is bunching the cars ahead up. So he’s going to stop soon, he’s still running out there on used [super-soft] tyres. You’ve got Grosjean, Webber and Alonso in front.
21	Rob Smedley	Felipe Massa	OK with the degradation that we have we’re still looking good for Plan A. Plan A still looks very good.
22	Francesco Nenci	Esteban Gutierrez	How is the tyres? This pace is OK for the tyres. How does it look?
22	Esteban Gutierrez	Francesco Nenci	Yes this pace is OK.
22	Mark Temple	Sergio Perez	Last lap you closed up on the cars in front by nine-tenths. This is really good, let’s keep going.
23	Mark Slade	Kimi Raikkonen	OK Kimi we understand that you’re feeling a problem but unfortuantely we cannot see anything in the data so we can’t give you any info at the moment.
23	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	You’re doing a great job so just look after these tyres and we can do work at the end of the stint.
23	GianPiero Lambiase	Paul di Resta	Di Resta made a late first pit stop and came out in a position to stay ahead of Alonso when the Ferrari pitted again. But the eventual Safety Car put paid to that. We are in Alonso’s pit window. He is in P3 and potentially on a three stop.
24	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Just remember to drink.
24	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Sebastian you need to use more KERS early. 75% before last corner.
24	Sergio Perez	Mark Temple	How is the pace?
24	Mark Temple	Sergio Perez	Pace is good, you gained four-tenths on Jenson last lap. We’re still on Plan A looking to go to target minus one.
25	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Remember to drink.
25	Simon Rennie	Mark Webber	The Safety Car was deployed after Ricciardo crashed at turn 18. We are staying out. Watch the delta. You need to be just positive at Safety Car line one. Remember it will get back to racing speed 200 metres before the Safety Car line and we are racing between the lines.
26	Daniel Ricciardo	Marco Matassa	Went into the barrier
26	Marco Matassa	Daniel Ricciardo	Daniel, are you OK?
26	Daniel Ricciardo	Marco Matassa	Yep
26	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Now when you’re warming your tyres, be careful. There’s loads of marbles off-line. Off-line is very dirty. At that speed you’re going to struggle to clean up your tyres so stay on-line and use brakes.
27	Nico Hulkenberg	Marco Schupbach	I still don’t understand why I had to let Perez past. He was inside, I had to go on the kerb, then the car bottomed, and it pulled me to the right. But I was in front before the corner and I was in front after, so what’s the problem?
27	Marco Schupbach	Nico Hulkenberg	OK Nico, that’s understood. We focus now on the race. We discuss after, can be still OK.
27	Andrea Stella	Fernando Alonso	Alonso is reminded to ensure his Safety Car delta time is positive – i.e., he’s not lapping too quickly. Fernando I see still negative so go positive please. I see now you are recovering. I don’t know how slow you’re going, if your sector times are correct, but make sure you read positive. OK.
27	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	At some stage two cars will unlap themselves. Two cars, backmarkers, will come through.
27	Sebastian Vettel	Guillaume Rocquelin	Understood
27	Nico Hulkenberg	Marco Schupbach	What position am I now, and where was Ricciardo when he crashed?
27	Marco Schupbach	Nico Hulkenberg	We are now P12, Nico, and in front of you there’s still four cars who haven’t stopped, which is the top three plus Di Resta. Ricciardo I’ll have to check.
28	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	You can use the fuel. We have more fuel than we need.
28	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	You can start working those brakes now, especially the fronts.
28	Mark Slade	Kimi Raikkonen	Raikkonen made his second and final pit stop during the Safety Car period. This is looking reasonable for us at the moment. Five of the cars in front are probably going to have to make another stop. So that may help us out.
28	Rob Smedley	Felipe Massa	OK so just while we’re sat behind the Safety Car and the lapped cars are coming through – I think they’ve all actually come through now, they’re going to catch up at the back – then the worst corners for tyre energy are corners five and seven. Exit five, the usual one, and exit seven. Easy on the throttle. No message yet so keep working on the tyres.
29	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	The Safety Car period was extended while the Marussia drivers were allowed to unlap themselves and then catch the tail of the field. Charlie [Whiting’s] waiting for the backmarkers to rejoin. The last one which is Bianchi is only in turn nine ahead of you and the train is on the start/finish line.
29	Simon Rennie	Mark Webber	Try and use the brakes to get temperature into the front tyres.
29	Mark Slade	Kimi Raikkonen	Romain has slightly less wear than you.
30	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Repeat your radio message if important.
30	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	I’m not going to talk any more because the radio fails when I talk. You go ahead.
30	Mark Slade	Kimi Raikkonen	You might need to warm your tyres up, remember these are [mediums] not [super-softs] and the rears in particular are quite low now.
30	Simon Rennie	Mark Webber	We need to be quick but watch your slip.
30	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Only thing at the moment is the left-rear disc temperature is working but slightly cold at the moment.
31	Dave Robson	Jenson Button	All temperatures are good so for the restart it’s yellow G1, we can go there now, and then green F4.
31	Andrew Murdoch	Pastor Maldonado	You can overtake from Safety Car one.
31	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Front tyres are still cold, you are in your Safety Car window.
31	Rob Smedley	Felipe Massa	40% KERS remaining, come on.
32	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Use your tyres, open up the gap.
32	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Keep an eye on my tyres pressures, feel like I’ve gone over debris.
32	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK, copy that message.
32	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Front-right.
32	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK, front-right looks good.
33	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Tyre temperatures are all good now. Webber has DRS this lap.
34	Ayao Komatsu	Romain Grosjean	After having the air topped up in the pits Grosjean had to retire his car, which also had several faults during practice. We have a problem with air consumption on the engine so we need to box this lap, please.
34	Romain Grosjean	Ayao Komatsu	No!
34	Ayao Komatsu	Romain Grosjean	We need to top up the air bottle in the pit stop so it’s going to be about 40 seconds pit stop.
34	Romain Grosjean	Ayao Komatsu	What is wrong with this car…
35	GianPiero Lambiase	Paul di Resta	Force India believed Rosberg had slowed the pace down on purpose. This looks like pace management from Rosberg to get to the end, Paul. We need to attack if you can.
35	Rob Smedley	Felipe Massa	Not really sure why Grosjean stopped, for brakes or something like that. Anyway, there you go, so we are now in seventh position.
35	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Rosberg 52.6, he’s bunching up the pack behind you, that’s good.
35	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Focus on braking, clean exits.
36	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	We won’t stay on this tyre for that long so just push if you can.
36	Andrew Murdoch	Pastor Maldonado	Look after the tyres exit turn 12, exit 14.
36	Phil Charles	Jean-Eric Vergne	Release five Jev, come on, good laps.
37	Paul Davison	Jules Bianchi	Having caught back up with his team mate during the Safety Car period, Bianchi was keen to get past. Stand by Jules, we’re discussing. You are quicker than Max, overtake him. We are telling Max.
37	Gary Gannon	Max Chilton	From the lap charts there is no indication Chilton let Bianchi through. Max, Jules is eight-tenths quicker, please do not hold him up.
38	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Rosberg was actually lapping slowly as rubber debris had caught in his front wing, causing a handling imbalance. It was removed during his final pit stop on lap We believe you have rubber in the front wing which is losing you front downforce at the moment.
38	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Nico you could use engine braking and diff to help the understeer from lack of front if you wanted to, may affect rear.
39	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Mate, you’re doing exactly what we need. Good job.
39	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Target plus nine. Current lap 38. Do you think that’s possible? It depends on our tyre choice.
39	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	I don’t know. How many more laps is that?
39	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	We think at least seven laps.
39	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	I don’t know if my rears willl last.
40	Paul Davison	Jules Bianchi	There is no advantage to coming in now we need at least five more laps.
40	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	You’re doing a good job, that’s a great middle sector.
40	Brad Joyce	Adrian Sutil	Pits this lap, pit confirm.
41	Rob Smedley	Felipe Massa	We’ve already done 12 laps on these tyres, there’s 23 laps to go, 35 laps on the tyres is too much. So we’re just thinking about what to do now, trying to put you in a nice window.
41	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Push, push: it’s all starting to happen now.
42	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Box, boost to zero.
42	Juan Pablo Ramirez	Giedo van der Garde	Vergne came out of the pits behind the Caterhams. Toro Rosso coming from behind, do not lose too much time.
42	Dave Robson	Jenson Button	All the cars in front are starting to pit. If we can make Plan B work then we could be in really good shape.
43	Rob Smedley	Felipe Massa	Box this lap. Push onto the back of Di Resta now.
43	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Push hard now Nico, you have 20 laps remaining.
43	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	Why do I have to push?
43	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Because other cars have not stopped yet.
43	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	This message was not played immediaely after the preceding one. Nico at the moment Alonso doesn’t need to stop again necessarily, he is in front.
43	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	Want to push more than I have to, huh?
43	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Box, pit confirm, boost to zero exit turn 13.
44	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Box, torque map one and box.
44	Tim Wright	Charles Pic	Stay out, you will need to manage the tyres.
44	Francesco Nenci	Esteban Gutierrez	Webber is coming on fresh tyres, and Rosberg, I think we will lose some positions.
45	Mark Slade	Kimi Raikkonen	All the cars that were going to stop behind you are now stopped and behind you. So we’re racing to the end from this position.
45	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes expected Alonso would need to pit again. At the moment we believe Alonso is going long so he can swap to [super-soft] and be quicker at the end so we do need put the buffer to him.
45	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	No I just need to be in front, I need to save my tyres now.
45	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	So torque two, diff entry four, you can drop back one-and-a-half seconds only. Alonso is pushing hard, you can only drop back one second. You are now getting, he is getting very close to your window.
45	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Sebastian it’s all about looking after the car, the tyres, and being ready for a Safety Car. That’s all there is.
46	Mark Temple	Sergio Perez	Other cars have done over 30 laps on their [mediums] so we can definitely do this, you’re doing a really good job, keep the pace up, we can get to the end.
46	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Lewis on [medium] tyre.
46	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Listen for the DRS beeps.
46	Jules Bianchi	Paul Davison	OK, I’m quicker but I’ll back off because I’m killing my tyres.
47	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Sebastian look after the brakes: vibrations.
47	Simon Rennie	Mark Webber	Gutierrez ahead starting to struggle.
47	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	We need to get past Webber, Nico’s had the same message.
48	Dave Robson	Jenson Button	Doing a superb job, 14 more laps to go.
48	Felipe Massa	Rob Smedley	How far we are behind this car?
48	Rob Smedley	Felipe Massa	We are 1.2 seconds behind him.
49	Francesco Nenci	Esteban Gutierrez	Webber, Rosberg, Hamilton, Massa and Di Resta caught Gutierrez and were all past him within two laps, You’re racing all cars behind.
49	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Cool the car right-hand side where you can.
49	GianPiero Lambiase	Paul di Resta	Gutierrez ahead will be very slow, we will need to clear him very quickly.
50	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Good job Sebastian, very disciplined.
51	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	With ten laps to go, Mercedes were still expecting Alonso to pit again. Alonso is outside your window at the moment but if you lose another second he’ll be past you at the stops.
51	Marco Schupbach	Nico Hulkenberg	Nico do not use recovery button otherwise undercharged.
51	GianPiero Lambiase	Paul di Resta	Looks like we will catch the train with three laps to go, Paul.
52	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Brakes vibrations are increasing, concentrate on looking after that.
52	Simon Rennie	Mark Webber	Cars ahead starting to struggle, cars ahead now doing 53s.
53	Simon Rennie	Mark Webber	Podium now eight seconds ahead. Cars ahead are struggling.
53	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Keep me up-to-date on my traction metrics please, and how many laps I’ve got left.
53	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Ten laps remaining.
53	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Hamilton was catching Hulkenberg, Perez, Raikkonen, Button and Alonso. There’s a group of five cars ahead on 27-lap old [medium] tyres. You’re going to be on top them very soon: three laps, estimated.
53	Marco Schupbach	Nico Hulkenberg	Nine laps to go, nine. Keep pushing, you’re doing good, Nico.
54	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Transfer oil.
54	Rob Smedley	Felipe Massa	Button now in third position going very slow. We are more than three seconds faster than him. Looking very tight at the end of the race.
55	Marco Schupbach	Nico Hulkenberg	Hulkenberg was passed by Webber, then Rosberg and Hamilton, followedby Massa. After the Mercedes there’s a Force India, this one we have to hold them back.
55	Nico Hulkenberg	Marco Schupbach	Maybe it’s better to let them past, get some small points. If I fight now I’m dead in a few laps.
55	Marco Schupbach	Nico Hulkenberg	OK, Nico. Try your best otherwise Di Resta’s going to be all over us.
56	Brad Joyce	Adrian Sutil	Keep pushing Adrian, we need one more place for a point.
57	Simon Rennie	Mark Webber	Webber’s engine had a water leak. We need to try and short-shift. Short-shift if you can.
57	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Still yellow ahead, respect the flags.
58	Simon Rennie	Mark Webber	Short-shift all gears please. Earlier than that, you need to be short-shifting earlier.
58	Simon Rennie	Mark Webber	Try using higher gears in the corners, we need to keep the revs low, try and keep the revs low. Rosberg the next car behind you, six seconds behind.
58	Simon Rennie	Mark Webber	This is about getting the car to the finish now. We need low revs.
59	Andrea Stella	Fernando Alonso	They are reminding [Webber] to use the short-shift so manage the pace, 15 seconds to Raikkonen.
59	Mark Slade	Kimi Raikkonen	Webber is backing off more now, he’s slowing right down.
60	Rob Smedley	Felipe Massa	Webber going very slow now, we’ll catch him by the end of the race. Need to keep pushing, now.
60	Andrea Stella	Fernando Alonso	[Two] laps to go.
60	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Webber having to short-shift, he may be slow on the straights.
61	Mark Webber	Simon Rennie	Webber pulled off on the final lap, the back of his car on fire. In trouble, mate.
61	Simon Rennie	Mark Webber	Understood.
61	Rob Smedley	Felipe Massa	Webber is the car in front, he’s six seconds in front now. He’s going very slowly so we should get him towards the end of the race I think.
VL	Christian Horner	Sebastian Vettel	Well done, Seb. Great drive, well done.
VL	Sebastian Vettel	Guillaume Rocquelin	Yes! Yes, boys. That’s what I call ‘in control’. Thank you. The car was absoilutely fantastic. It’s a team effort. This doesn’t happen just like this, it’s an absolute team effort. Every single one. Yes! I’m loving it.
VL	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	That was a very disciplined drive, Sebastian. Quick where we wanted, patient where you needed to be. Nice.
VL	Jenson Button	Dave Robson	Mikey can you make sure there’s a nice cold, cold drink ready and waiting for me? Cheers mate.
VL	Jenson Button	Dave Robson	A good haul of points for the team, though, which is positive.
VL	Dave Robson	Jenson Button	Yeah absolutely. It’s not too bad, it’s just frustrating. We took a chance, it didn’t pay off, which is always a bit of a shame. Made for a bit of a miserable last ten laps definitely for you and for me here watching. But never mind, a good few points and I think yesterday particularly went very well. Plenty to build on.
VL	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	That’s P5, Nico obviously P4. Vettel P1, Alonso and Raikkonen second and third, they hung it out on the [medium] tyre.
VL	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	This whole time you haven’t given me any information. I thought I was racing with Perez.
VL	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Were Hamilton’s pre-race remarks about his pit board not acted on? OK sorry about that, Lewis. Guess you can’t see your pit board then.

Lap: Refers to lap message was broadcast on. There may be a delay between messages being said and being broadcast. PR = pre-race; FL = formation lap; VL = victory lap.
Message: Repetitive or irrelevant messages omitted. Notes in italics. Highlights in bold.

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2013 Singapore Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine

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41 comments on “2013 Singapore Grand Prix team radio transcript”

maanna
26th September 2013, 9:36

how many races already Kimi had Kers issues??

I dont think renault engine gonna be good in 2014 when they had so many kers issues with rbr and Lotus
Jimmy Hearn (@alebelly74)
26th September 2013, 9:51

I imagine Mark drives an automatic off the track.
1. Todfod (@todfod)
  26th September 2013, 12:22
  
  Ha.. Nice one
2. Lewis McMurray (@celicadion23)
  26th September 2013, 14:01
  
  Actually he has a 997 GT2 RS
hawkii (@hawkii)
26th September 2013, 9:54

Peter Bonnington “Target plus nine. Current lap 38. Do you think that’s possible? It depends on our tyre choice.”
Lewis “I don’t know. How many more laps is that?”
PB “We think at least seven laps.”

Makes a bit of a mockery of not actually giving the target number of laps out over the radio really
1. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
  26th September 2013, 15:38
  
  @hawkii Yeah that didn’t work so well!
Tomsk (@tomsk)
26th September 2013, 10:48

Looks like we will catch the train with three laps to go, Paul.

Is that the early train out of Singapore?

And compare the service at Mercedes (“Remember to drink”, to both drivers) with McLaren: “Remember to make me a drink”.
1. Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
  26th September 2013, 14:01
  
  LOL . Jenson wants his juice cold and ready after the frustration.
2. rankx (@rankx22)
  26th September 2013, 17:17
  
  I don’t think it was a fruit juice Jenson wanted cooled so bad.
Timothy Katz (@timothykatz)
26th September 2013, 10:59

I had a smile at this bit

Instead of describing the status of their tyres over the radio where they might be heard, some teams have steering wheel switches allowing drivers to communicate the information.

And I wondered which team would think about putting a full qwerty keyboard on the steering wheel!
1. Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
  26th September 2013, 16:01
  
  That would be entertaining!
  
  It is actually referring to the turn dials though – they select one which beams the information to the team but not over the radio, so other teams can’t intercept it.
2. DC (@dujedcv)
  27th September 2013, 20:43
  
  Or perhaps some Enigma type radio coding device
kcarrey (@kcarrey)
26th September 2013, 11:10

Grosjean should at least imitate Darth Vader’s “NO!” from Revenge of the Sith
1. Miguel Bento (@miguelbento)
  26th September 2013, 14:42
  
  Even better was if he imitated Luke Skywalker in “The Empire Strikes Back” when he is told that Vader is his father. That would be cool: “Nooooooooo !!!!!!”
iAltair (@)
26th September 2013, 11:42

Looks like Vettel wasn’t really pushing before the safety car. Was asked to look after the tyres.
Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
26th September 2013, 12:02

I hope we will hear more of “Use your tyres, open up the gap.” than “We suggest a two-second gap to Alonso to look after the tyres.” in the future.
1. Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
  26th September 2013, 14:03
  
  @mike-dee That must have been heavenly to Vettel’s ears .
  1. Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
    26th September 2013, 22:31
    
    @hamilfan if it weren’t for the hemelt, we’d have seena beaming smile like one of the big kid he is at heart :P
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
26th September 2013, 12:30

Rosberg was surprisingly narky on the radio, i always consider him one of the more laid back drivers. Wonder what he was annoyed about, he was having a decent race and kept in front of his team mate.
1. Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
  26th September 2013, 14:05
  
  @keithedin He did not have a decent race . Alonso, Kimi beat him to it and also the tone of his voice was because of the radio transmission being immediately after Webber jumped him in the pits which he did not like one bit . I know you will ask why didn’t he push harder. Obviously the target lap time given to him must have been higher.
2. DaveW (@dmw)
  26th September 2013, 15:30
  
  Clearly, the team were not keeping him updated on his net race position. Hamilton said the same thing after the race.
3. hawkii (@hawkii)
  26th September 2013, 17:37
  
  From one of his comments it appears that a lot of what he was transmitting wasn’t getting to the team (and I’d assume therefore a lot of the transmissions he attempted to make also aren’t in the transcript). I could imagine that would be pretty frustrating.
  
  Second race one of the Merc drivers has had this issue, maybe they need to take a look into it.
LucaBadoerFan (@lucabadoerfan)
26th September 2013, 13:31

it seems chilton knows he will never finish ahead of bianchi on merit, so he had to resort to ignoring team orders. poor form.
1. Jack (@jmc200)
  26th September 2013, 22:07
  
  He’s one of the most the most flaccid and uninspiring drivers ever. All the of the drivers on the grid have shown speed and beaten their team mate on merit at least once this year, apart from the Daddy’s boy Chilton.
  1. Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
    26th September 2013, 23:21
    
    … and Webber.
Chad (@chaddy)
26th September 2013, 13:56

“which might have had something to do with his pre-race advice to his team on how to hold the pit board so he could see it”

To what incident does this refer? Sounds funny.
1. Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
  26th September 2013, 14:07
  
  @chaddy Please look at radio message #2 in the PR transmissions
  1. Chad (@chaddy)
    26th September 2013, 14:14
    
    Thanks. Funny how non-sophisticated the signs are compared to everything else about the cars.
    
    Are there any regs limiting helmet HUDs?
    1. Tomsk (@tomsk)
      26th September 2013, 15:08
      
      Yes, I wonder why F1 teams don’t use electronic pit boards like at Le Mans – particularly in a night race. Plus they could show live information, rather than the lap before.
    2. Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
      26th September 2013, 15:53
      
      @chaddy HUDS would be cool :-) But I doubt there is enough space in the visor . Plus it may be difficult in the rain and turn on and off . I think it is considered as a driver aid , so we don’t have it . Any regulation experts here ?
Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
26th September 2013, 14:14

Oops , Mercedes made some strategic errors there .

1) they did not manage the pitstop for Nico with Webber getting ahead

2) Lesser communication towards the end . Maybe they were scratching their head themselves when they saw Alonso was not pitting . ( Alonso had a radio transmission which said something along the lines ” push . supersofts , di resta behind ” which the merc guys misunderstood as him pushing to get the supersofts when they actually meant Di resta was on supersofts and was faster than him behind; this I read somewhere in F1.com )

3) Obviously the pit board , they reminded him to drink but forgot what he reminded them to do ;-) .

4) Lauda had said they should have brought one car in during SC , but I don’t know how that would have panned out ( any strategists here ? )

But , Mercedes will doubtless learn from this and improve I hope :)
1. TMF (@)
  26th September 2013, 15:13
  
  every team has an italian guy now to translate these messages – what they don’t know is that Ferrari thought they will do this so they started talking in Italian and the translators at other teams are just spies. (disclaimer for some – that’s meant to be a joke)
Deej92 (@deej92)
26th September 2013, 15:46

“OK, Nico. Try your best otherwise di Resta’s going to be all over us”.
*di Resta goes into the barrier moments later*
1. panache (@panache)
  26th September 2013, 20:56
  
  That was the hilarious moment of the race for me. I couldn’t help but burst out laughing as Di Resta slid casually into the tecpro barrier immediately after that radio transmission was broadcast.
2. Jack (@jmc200)
  26th September 2013, 22:10
  
  Even as a fan of Di Resta, I found that very funny in hindsight!
  1. Deej92 (@deej92)
    26th September 2013, 22:36
    
    I agree guys, I had to laugh about it as well. It was just the timing of it. Brilliant!
AldoG
26th September 2013, 23:02

Sorry but I LOLed at this:

20 Guillaume Rocquelin Sebastian Vettel Tyres more important than gap. Gap is plenty.
20 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington These tyres are terrible.
1. Strontium (@strontium)
  26th November 2013, 22:31
  
  What I found funny wasn’t shown here (I got it from FOM’s race edit)
  
  When the safety car came out Rocquelin said to Vettel “Ricciardo’s out. Usual place. Turn 16”, and he sounded very angry!!
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
27th September 2013, 2:01

I think the problem with Mclaren is that there isnt enough drive from the likes of Jenson. I agree that it is card to decipher exact emotions via transcript, but it just seems like they were happy to accept the position they finished, happy to have scored a few points. This doesnt sit right.

They need somebody to push them hard, hence the reason for Whitmarsh suggesting the Alonso link, because thats the kind of driver they need. Somebody who will not accept a car that is slow. Button seems to keel over quite easily…he seems content to do a job with the car thats been given to him.
f1forever (@kimi93)
27th September 2013, 10:55

Andrea Stella to Alo: Fernando just remember to drink
Alo: ok, understood..its so hot today i just need to catch a red bull now…
periwinkle (@shena)
24th December 2013, 14:11

I know it’s way too late but for future reference,
* VL) Hamilton to Bonnington: “This whole time you haven’t given me any information. I thought I was racing for third.”
Due to the confusion over ALO & RAI’s strategy, it appears that Hamilton was thinking Webber was 2nd, Rosberg 3rd and he was fighting for the podium place.