2014 Australian Grand Prix team radio transcript

2014 Australian Grand Prix

18th March 2014, 12:0021st March 2014, 21:02 | Written by Will Wood

Nico Rosberg only had two things to worry about during his cruise to victory in the Australian Grand Prix: Fuel consumption and reliability.

With one Mercedes falling by the wayside early in the race, Rosberg’s team radio messages show he was anxious to ensure he was doing everything possible to preserve his car as the race went on.

Rosberg set the fastest lap of the entire race as early as lap 19, shortly after switching to a ‘rich 20’ engine map. Immediately after that came an intruction to “target +0.3”. From that point on he only lapped within three-tenths of a second of his fastest time once, yet was over 24 seconds ahead at the chequered flag, indicating Mercedes had a lot of performance in hand.

Mercedes’ rivals understood how large their performance advantage was and doubted they could compete with them, as Jenson Button’s radio message on lap 11 makes clear.

Team mate Hamilton betrayed little emotion when told to park his car five laps into the race. Sebastian Vettel was notably less sanguine as his faint hopes of a tenth consecutive race victory were wrecked within the opening laps.

And Romain Grosjean, whose radio messages throughout the weekend betrayed his frustration at Lotus’s myriad problems, sounded utterly dejected when his E22 cried enough with a dozen laps to go.

But the drivers’ problems weren’t limited to the new engines. Valtteri Bottas, who had one self-inflicted prolem earlier in the race, also had to cope with a DRS fault, though it didn’t stop him overtaking 14 cars on his way to fifth place.

Here are all the broadcast team radio messages from the Australian Grand Prix up to the chequered flag.

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2014 Australian Grand Prix team radio transcript

Lap*	From	To	Message
PR	Jean-Eric Vergne	Xevi Pujolar	Err, sec seven, is that correct? Or is it sec 14 like we discussed?
PR	Xevi Pujolar	Jean-Eric Vergne	It’s OK. We changed the plan from what we originally discussed. That will be for the outlap, and then we’ll let you know of the change. Also, during this first lap, we want to check the overtake button out of turn nine.
PR	Ayao Komatsu	Romain Grosjean	OK Romain. I’ll let you know that I cannot hear you. I’m assuming by the setup change, or the switch change, that you can hear me, but I cannot hear you. So please come in through the pitlane and start from the end of the pitlane. No procedure, no procedure.
PR	Bernadette Collins	Jenson Button	OK Jenson, please cool the car. So it’s orange E1. Orange E1. And yellow G10. Yellow G10.
PR	Kevin Magnussen	Mark Temple	I had a bad pre-launch.
PR	Mark Temple	Kevin Magnussen	Yep, understood Kevin. We will look into it.
PR	Kevin Magnussen	Mark Temple	OK Kevin. And from now on please cool the car down, so drive at a hight speed but low throttle inputs.
PR	Jenson Button	Bernadette Collins	Heading straight to the grid. Everything’s good with the car.
PR	Bernadette Collins	Jenson Button	OK Jenson, and a bite-point find before the grid please. Bite-point find.
PR	Paul Davison	Jules Bianchi	OK Jules, just remember the rolling bite-point as you come up to the back of the grid, and I’ll see you on the grid, mate. So go P1 and then P0 as normal when we switch the car off, check your driver drinks and I’ll see you on the grid.
PR	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK Lewis, let’s try and get a couple of big stops on the brakes just to get the front brake temps up.
PR	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	The fuel is good, from the last few runs it was on target from the first two laps.
PR	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	I don’t know what a normal lap is.
PR	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Just carry on doing what you’re doing, you’re fine Nico.
PR	Andrea Stella	Fernando Alonso	Any issues for you?
PR	Fernando Alonso	Andrea Stella	No.
PR	Andrea Stella	Fernando Alonso	OK
PR	Kimi Raikkonen	Antonio Spagnolo	At the moment we have an issue with the radio, because I cannot hear you.
PR	Antonio Spagnolo	Kimi Raikkonen	OK, we look into that.
PR	Marco Schupbach	Adrian Sutil	Ten minutes to go, ten minutes.
PR	Romain Grosjean	Ayao Komatsu	Basically, coming out of the pits first lap already I am saving fuel.
PR	Ayao Komatsu	Romain Grosjean	Only fuel saving that is before and after a pit stop, basically.
PR	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	A switch has just come off my steering wheel… I don’t know where it is! My numbers, pit numbers and all those, just came off.
PR	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	Twenty seconds until formation lap OK Daniel. There’s only two cars on mediums. Vettel, and Gutierrez on mediums, everybody else on options. OK? And I know we’ve talked about it before, but there’s quite a strong wind at the moment. It’s in this direction.
FL	Yoshi Iwashita	Kamui Kobayashi	Kobayashi is brief by his performance engineer. OK, just make sure the toggle is up. And just before the formation lap, we need the pit limiter on, until they pull away. After that, you can use all gears, also more than 50 percent. Get drive through each gear. Into second, and warm up tyres and brakes. I will come back to you around turn 11 and 12, and after turn 12 we go torque two. And after turn 13, we need two rolling bite-point finds. Turn 13 to turn 14 exit. Two rolling bite-point and below the 40km/h, please no brakes. And after last corner, I will tell you how many burnout is needed. And last of all should be the clutch call.
FL	Max Chilton	Gary Gannon	Chilton has failed to leave the grid OK, it cut out as soon as it started to engage.
FL	Romain Grosjean	Ayao Komatsu	Can’t understand I’ve got no drive [on paddle two (?)].
FL	Ayao Komatsu	Romain Grosjean	Shouting Ah!
FL	Sebastian Vettel	Guillaume Rocquelin	OK, I’m sure you’re aware, big loss of boost pressure when finding the revs.
FL	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	OK Nico, just put the rotary in position four.
FL	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	It does not work. I am in four.
FL	Bernadette Collins	Jenson Button	OK Jenson, last car is forming up now. Last car forming up now.
FL	Xevi Pujolar	Jean-Eric Vergne	First start attempt aborted due as Bianchi stalls Cool the car. Extra formation lap
FL	Jules Bianchi	Paul Davison	Engine is stopped. Engine stopped. I’m on the grid, stopped.
FL	Paul Davison	Jules Bianchi	OK, wave your arms in the air, mate. Wave your arms in the air.
FL	Daniel Ricciardo	Simon Rennie	Just give me some feedback on the launch, if you can. Seems like it’s bogging down again.
FL	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	OK Sebastian, the race is shorterned by one lap. This is effectively one race lap.
FL	Sebastian Vettel	Guillaume Rocquelin	OK, is it normal that I have no power?
FL	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Yeah Sebastian, torque-2 is no ‘K’. Torque-2 is no ‘K’
1	Kamui Kobayashi	Tim Wright	At the start, Kobayashi crashes into Massa, taking both out of the race. Sorry guys. Sorry guys. Really sorry… sorry guys.
1	Sebastian Vettel	Guillaume Rocquelin	Engine is not running smoothly. I will get passed, so you are aware.
2	Sebastian Vettel	Guillaume Rocquelin	Angrily Do something! I have no power, less IC than normal and no ‘K’! No ‘K’!
2	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Understood
2	Sebastian Vettel	Guillaume Rocquelin	Angrily That’s ridiculous guys!
2	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Hamilton has an engine problem and has been dropping places since the start Guys… [distorted]… car’s still driving.
2	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	No Lewis, we need to retire. We need to save the engine. We need to save the engine.
2	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK Lewis, stay out. Stay out. Just keep rolling.
3	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Hamilton enters the pits Don’t seem to have any power.
3	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Copy that, Lewis. That’s the issue we’re seeing. We are discussing it here.
3	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK Lewis. So confirm – box, box, box. Box, box, box. We are going to retire.
4	Angel Baena	Marcus Ericsson	Multi-function four. Position four. Less front-locking.
5	Gary Gannon	Max Chilton	DRS enabled.
5	Sebastian Vettel	Guillaume Rocquelin	OK, there seems to be a little bit of ‘K’ now. A slight improvement. Just beginning out of the corners.
5	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Understood
5	Sebastian Vettel	Guillaume Rocquelin	But, still, very low on power.
5	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Vettel pulls into the pits to retire Sebastian, in the garage please. Stop in the pit box and engine off. We think there’s an issue with the IC, there’s no point carrying on. Engine off please.
6	Marco Schupbach	Adrian Sutil	Adrian, we see your problem. We are working on it, it takes a while. Stay tuned, keep fighting.
6	Mark Temple	Kevin Magnussen	And Hulkenberg is plus one point one [+1.1] – try and keep him out of DRS if you can.
7	Craig Gardiner	Esteban Gutierrez	So Esteban, fuel consumption so far is OK. And think about using the diff for any understeer. You can use entry six or unlock toggle.
7	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	Should I be doing higher mid-corner revs? Should I be doing higher revs?
7	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Negative. All is good at the moment, Nico. We’re happy.
8	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	So Nico, we’d like minus point five [-0.5] on the delta time, so go slightly quicker. We need to pull a gap to Ricciardo and then we’ll be happy.
8	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	Bottas has passed Raikkonen for sixth This is mega, Valtteri. Good work.
9	Craig Gardiner	Esteban Gutierrez	Pace is looking good. We’re seventh quickest on track and fuel management so far is looking good.
9	Daniil Kvyat	Marco Matassa	I need to pass Jev!
9	Marco Matassa	Daniil Kvyat	OK Daniil, OK. I will let you know.
10	Jenson Button	Dave Robson	Front-left graining.
10	Adrian Sutil	Marco Schupbach	Tyres are holding on quite well. I’m using overtake button for extra power on the straight. Everything’s OK.
10	Brad Joyce	Sergio Perez	You’re doing well. Closing two seconds to Lotus. Per lap.
11	Dave Robson	Jenson Button	Bottas has struck the wall and suffered a right-rear puncture. OK Jenson, so we are in the window,
11	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	Puncture. So box. So puncture button, box.
11	Jenson Button	Dave Robson	What are the laptimes that the leaders are doing? Obviously not the Mercedes, but the rest.
11	Dave Robson	Jenson Button	The Safety Car has been deployed OK Jenson, Kevin last lap 1’35.6.
12	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	OK Safety Car. Safety Car. Box. Box. Keep the delta time positive, let us know if you want a flap adjust at the stop.
12	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	Front wing, question? Front wing, question?
12	Daniel Ricciardo	Simon Rennie	I have the feeling we’re probably just a little bit high for this first stint.
12	Kimi Raikkonen	Antonio Spagnolo	I need a little bit more front wing, I have front graining.
12	Antonio Spagnolo	Kimi Raikkonen	We will remove the lip from the rear and the equivalent will be half a degree.
13	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	OK, nobody stayed out. Everybody pitted. When you get to Safety Car line, you need to respect the delta.
13	Dave Robson	Jenson Button	OK Jenson. So things have worked out nicely. We are currently P6. You’re obviously just picking up the train now.
14	Daniel Ricciardo	Simon Rennie	How was the pace? Obviously not compared to Rosberg but everyone else?
14	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	You were the second-quickest car. Bottas was similar, but he has retired… or he has pitted. Damaged a wheel, that’s why that tyre was on the road. You were the second-quickest car.
15	Mark Temple	Kevin Magnussen	OK Kevin. As a reminder, once the Safety Car comes in, you can race from the Safety Car One line. Look for the lights on the Safety Car, when they go out, it will be coming in this lap. You may know before us.
15	Kevin Magnussen	Mark Temple	How many laps do we think we can do on these tyres?
15	Mark Temple	Kevin Magnussen	OK, let’s aim for 20 laps. Twenty laps on these tyres.
15	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	OK Daniel, there may be very light rain at turn three. We only expect a few drops.
15	Daniel Ricciardo	Simon Rennie	Understood.
15	Jenson Button	Dave Robson	How are we looking on fuel? I think we’ve done pretty well.
15	Dave Robson	Jenson Button	Yeah Jenson, you’ve been doing a great job and obviously saving more now. So there will be a little bit more to do before the end, but we’re looking good. We can attack on the restart.
15	Jenson Button	Dave Robson	Is the Force India [Hulkenberg, in fourth] quite fast?
15	Dave Robson	Jenson Button	The Force India is Hulkenberg. Similar to you, possibly a bit slower. We’re in good shape. We can have him.
15	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	So Nico, on your next pit stop, we want you to be cautious on your second lever release. Cautious, second lever release.
15	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	Move the pit box in front out of the way. And I’m going to come in at an angle. I’m going to position myself at an angle to drive out more easily.
16	Paul Davison	Jules Bianchi	The race is restarted And blue flag straight away, Jules. Blue flag behind.
16	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	Tell me the stint length.
16	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	So, a rich 20.
17	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Not sure what is said So, go strat seven. No more “hogies” required currently.
17	Mark Slade	Pastor Maldonado	OK Pastor, we need to use the overtake button. Charge is high.
18	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	Magnussen is less than a second behind Ricciardo Charge ten. Charge ten. You can use the overtake to defend. Charge ten.
18	Marcus Ericsson	Angel Baena	Ericsson, 15th, did not pit and had Gutierrez behind him at this point. Why I get blue flags all the time? Every corner I get blue flags!
18	Angel Baena	Marcus Ericsson	Ignore them! You are racing all the cars!
19	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Rosberg has immediately set the fastest lap of the race …and ‘HPP2’ to ‘one’. And gap to Ricciardo, 3.2 seconds.
20	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	OK, you do not need to save fuel. Hit the beeps. You do not need to save fuel.
20	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	So target, +0.3 on the delta time.
21	Angel Baena	Marcus Ericsson	Continue, continue. Diff map ten, less understeer.
21	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	Driver default 58, OK? That will let you use DRS whenever. You need to only use it when you think you’re within a second of the car in front. So it’s up to you.
21	Valtteri Bottas	Jonathan Eddollls	Yep.
21	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	So just be safe when you use the DRS Valtteri, we don’t want to get in trouble. There is a problem with the hardware.
22	Mark Temple	Kevin Magnussen	OK Kevin, you’re doing a really good job so far. Let’s keep doing this and we’ll see what sort of opportunities we’ll get later in the race. Other cars may struggle with their fuel.
24	Paul Davison	Jules Bianchi	Bianchi is ahead of his team mate on track, but six laps behind OK Jules, into turn one, you need to let Max past. He’s faster behind. He needs to race Ericsson, we need to let him past.
24	Gary Gannon	Max Chilton	Max, at the end of this lap, Jules will give back the track position.
24	Gary Gannon	Max Chilton	Ericsson has pitted from 16th OK Max, good job. We are monitoring the situation… In now, Max. In now.
25	Xevi Pujolar	Jean-Eric Vergne	Vergne is challenging Button for sixth You should be closer. You need to close the gap for the DRS
26	Marco Schupbach	Adrian Sutil	Adrian, stay at this pace. We need 12 more laps at this pace, then we can change strategy. Slower will not work in any case.
26	Daniel Ricciardo	Simon Rennie	Starting to get a bit of deg’ on the left-front. That’s the limiting factor at the moment.
26	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	OK, understood. Think about diff five. Think about going down on the diff if you’re having understeer.
26	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Nico, just confirm tyres are OK? Remember to drink.
26	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	Tyres dropping off a bit more than expected at the moment. I am graining on the left-front. Rears also struggling a little bit.
27	Mark Temple	Kevin Magnussen	…and Kevin look after the front-left at turn 13. Front-left at turn 13.
27	Gary Gannon	Max Chilton	Blue flag, Rosberg.
28	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	So Nico, you’re in your Safety Car window. We will go medium for the next stint.
28	Dave Robson	Jenson Button	And Jenson, balance check?
28	Jenson Button	Dave Robson	Understeer, four. Oversteer, two.
28	Dave Robson	Jenson Button	OK, understood.
29	Angel Baena	Marcus Ericsson	Ericsson pulls off at turn four to retire Stop the car, stop the car! Engine oil pressure.
29	Marcus Ericsson	Angel Baena	Stop the car? Copy.
29	Angel Baena	Marcus Ericsson	Man, that was a good race on your side. Very good Marcus, until this point
30	Sergio Perez	Brad Joyce	Perez is tucked up behind Sutil’s Sauber So what at the moment? I don’t have power, how can I overtake him?
30	Craig Gardiner	Esteban Gutierrez	Looks to me like rear degredation is not as much of an issue as we predicted.
30	Andrea Stella	Fernando Alonso	Button is less than a second behind fifth placed Alonso I remind you, ‘K1’ available. I saw the McLaren with the DRS on
31	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	OK Daniel, Magnussen behind you is starting to struggle. You’re doing a good job at the moment.
31	Daniel Ricciardo	Simon Rennie	Understood.
31	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	Give me an update on tyres and balance. And would you want a front wing adjustment for the mediums?
31	Valtteri Bottas	Jonathan Eddollls	Plus one. Plus one. We are graining the front-left quite bad already.
32	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	So Nico, we’re still planning to stretch the stint out. Gap to Ricciardo, 11.6.
32	Mark Slade	Pastor Maldonado	Maldonado has retired in sector three Stop the car. Stop the car. Stop the car please Pastor. Stop the car. We’ve got a failed MGU-K, so stop the car.
33	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	So just continue with the current “hogies”. You’ll be able to continue that until the end of the race.
33	Dave Robson	Jenson Button	Button pits from sixth OK Jenson, launch map on, first gear before you stop and apply the brakes. This is the medium tyreand we are fuel-zero – we are pushing to undercut these guys.
33	Marco Schupbach	Adrian Sutil	OK Adrian, keep the pace. We try to go a little longer.
34	Gianpiero Lambiase	Nico Hulkenberg	Hulkenberg pits from fourth as does Vergne from sixth Racing Button on exit.
34	Xevi Pujolar	Jean-Eric Vergne	You’ll be racing Jenson to turn one.
36	Dave Robson	Jenson Button	Button has successfully undercut Hulkenberg OK Jenson, so Alonso has stayed out. We’ve currently got a three second gap on him, so we’re looking good. Let’s just find out rhythm.
36	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	Front wing, question? Front wing, question?
36	Daniel Ricciardo	Simon Rennie	At the start of the run, it’s pretty OK. But then at the end, I have some front graining. So probably go up a little bit. Two steps maybe.
37	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Nico, just be aware there maybe some light rain around, but it’s not expected to get wet. Not expected to get wet, but maybe a couple of drops.
37	Brad Joyce	Sergio Perez	Good pace, good pace.
38	Mark Temple	Kevin Magnussen	OK Kevin, box this lap. Box this lap, confirm.
38	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	So all cars ahead on medium – older medium than us. So we should be able to catch them. Twenty laps to go.
38	Xevi Pujolar	Jean-Eric Vergne	OK Jev, so fighting everyone around until the end of the race now. Look after the tyres at the moment.
39	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	OK Daniel, Magnussen has come out behind you. We’re going to the end. Turn five and turn 14 are the places to look after the left-front.
39	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	Some of the cars in front have quite high deg’ after the first couple of laps on the mediums. So don’t kill this medium early, just look after it.
39	Dave Robson	Jenson Button	OK Jenson, car in front is Kevin. We are racing Kevin for third place. Our fuel is good.
40	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	Ricciardo is coming under pressure from Magnussen You can use overtake button to defend.
40	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	So current gap to Ricciardo, who’s also stopped for medium tyres, 23 seconds. No graining seen on mediums so far.
41	Brad Joyce	Sergio Perez	Protect the left-front.
41	Jean-Eric Vergne	Xevi Pujolar	How is the performance looking right now?
41	Xevi Pujolar	Jean-Eric Vergne	We are a a bit slower than the soft tyre, but still OK.
42	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Rosberg set his fastest lap on lap 19 and was clearly managing his pace from that point on. So on the previous set of tyres, ten percent remaining left-front, 45 left rear.
42	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	Is there nothing else I can do for reliability?
42	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	We’re completely happy as you are, Nico. So just staying off kerbs.
43	Gary Gannon	Max Chilton	In now. Clutch, four. Torque, one and remember pit limiter.
43	Jean-Eric Vergne	Xevi Pujolar	Vergne is currently running seventh Watch Bottas behind. Keep him behind.
43	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	So Nico, we’d like to up the pace up just a little bit. By about point four of a second. So just more on the delta time. Just to get a nice Safety Car window.
43	Andrea Stella	Fernando Alonso	OK Fernando, no threat from behind anyhow. We stay focussed. Here is, like I said, a battle of reliability as well. So we look after everything and we see what happens.
44	Dave Robson	Jenson Button	OK Jenson, Ricciardo last lap, 1’33.9.
46	Ayao Komatsu	Romain Grosjean	Grosjean has now retired in the second Lotus. He sounded dejected, as he often did on the radio during practice. OK, stop the car please. Stop the car. We lost MGU-K. Stop the car and go to P1, please.
46	Romain Grosjean	Ayao Komatsu	OK, I stopped the car. Is it safe?
46	Ayao Komatsu	Romain Grosjean	Car is safe Romain, so go to P0, please. Car is safe.
46	Jenson Button	Dave Robson	Does Ricciardo have to save fuel, you think?
46	Dave Robson	Jenson Button	We don’t think so, Jenson. But his last lap was 1’33.9.
47	Mark Temple	Kevin Magnussen	Protect rear tyres. Protect rear tyres, turn 14. We may be racing Jenson at the end of the race.
47	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	Bottas is challenging Vergne for seventh Mode eight will build up a bit of charge and then we do a mode five to overtake.
48	Gianpiero Lambiase	Nico Hulkenberg	Bottas has passed Vergne along the pit straight OK Nico. So Bottas is through on the Toro Rosso behind, so I expect you’ll be coming under attack from Bottas soon.
48	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	Yeah, great stuff Valterri. Let’s save that mode five for overtaking Hulkenberg. So stay in mode eight.
48	Xevi Pujolar	Jean-Eric Vergne	OK, so we need some lift-off.
49	Dave Robson	Jenson Button	OK, Ricciardo struggling. Ricciardo is really struggling.
49	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	OK, you can now use target +0.03.
49	Mark Temple	Kevin Magnussen	And Kevin let’s try and get Ricciardo, he is struggling.
50	Andrea Stella	Fernando Alonso	Fernando, you are being eight tenths quicker than the three cars in front of you. Ricciardo, I think, is slowing down everybody so he may be struggling. Ricciardo is ten seconds in front of you now.
50	Xevi Pujolar	Jean-Eric Vergne	OK Jev, your pace is good now. Keep it like it is. Keep your head down, keep Raikkonen behind.
52	Dave Robson	Jenson Button	OK Jenson. Purple C8, postion six. C8, position six. Rear tyre temperature.
53	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	Magnussen is within DRS range of Ricciardo OK Daniel, you are doing a good job. Fuel is good.
53	Mark Temple	Kevin Magnussen	OK Kevin, let’s have yellow G6 for a couple of laps. We’ll save G3 for the last two.
53	Brad Joyce	Sergio Perez	Go gentle on right-hand side corners.
54	Marco Matassa	Daniil Kvyat	OK Daniil. At the end of this lap, we will attack Raikkonen. We need to charge the [“sock”?]. Use brakes on lift-off
54	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	OK Daniel, we need to keep up the pace. Magnussen is saving fuel – he will try again later. Keep up the pace, pull away from him.
55	Xevi Pujolar	Jean-Eric Vergne	Vergne has just been overtaken by Raikkonen OK Jev. Daniil behind is faster than you – don’t hold him up.
55	Mark Temple	Kevin Magnussen	OK Kevin. Yellow G3. Yellow G3, three laps to go.
56	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Last lap now.
57	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	OK mate. This is the last lap. Last lap. Keep it going, mate. You’re doing a good job.
VL	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	That’s it, well done Nico! Well done. Good job.
VL	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	Woo! Come on guys! Brilliant stuff! Brilliant! What a car you’ve given me. What a car… unbelieveable.
VL	Mark Temple	Kevin Magnussen	OK Kevin, Absolutely fantastic. Absolutely awesome.That was sensational all weekend.
VL	Daniel Ricciardo	Simon Rennie	Thank guys [laughs]. It’s all a bit of a blur right now. That’s… that’s really cool [laughs]. Wow.
VL	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	That’s brilliant mate. I think we can see your smile from here. Nice job.

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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Australian Grand Prix data

Text by @keithcollantine, radio transcript by @willwood.

2014 Australian Grand Prix

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Author information

Will Wood

Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...
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77 comments on “2014 Australian Grand Prix team radio transcript”

Retired (@jeff1s)
18th March 2014, 12:08

Bernadette Collins, really?

Thanks for the upload F1F
1. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
  18th March 2014, 12:26
  
  @jeff1s Yep she’s Button’s performance engineer, started late last year. Was in at least one of the late-2013 transcripts I’m sure.
  1. Retired (@jeff1s)
    18th March 2014, 12:38
    
    Thanks!
    
    And once again for this now mandatory insight of our sport. I even read them loud and clear, hear them loud and clear, mate ;)
  2. George (@george)
    18th March 2014, 18:29
    
    I wondered who she was, she sticks out like a sore thumb with that pink uniform
2. GB (@bgp001ruled)
  18th March 2014, 23:56
  
  yeah, i couldnt believe a girl was giving dirctions. cool! i had to google her…
JCost (@jcost)
18th March 2014, 12:51

I need to pass Jev!

Young Daniil means business! That was lap 9!
1. vjm
  18th March 2014, 13:02
  
  Jev was too slow, he wanted him to go out of the way! ;)
2. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
  18th March 2014, 13:05
  
  @jcost Start as you mean to go on!
  1. JCost (@jcost)
    18th March 2014, 19:58
    
    I think JEV is gonna have a hard time against Kvyat. He’s quick and composed.
erix
18th March 2014, 13:15

45% rear tire left on Rosberg..this gonna be a boring year. What the hell is Mark Slade doing with a burning car? He should fighting championship with Kimi.
Neel Jani (@neelv27)
18th March 2014, 13:33

Jenson Button, “What are the laptimes that the leaders are doing? Obviously not the Mercedes, but the rest.”

Epic!! Haha!!
1. Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
  18th March 2014, 13:54
  
  And Ricciardo said essentially the same as well. . .
2. avl0
  18th March 2014, 23:25
  
  yeah i think those two are the most telling comments of the whole thing. Have a feeling this is gonna be another Brawn 2009, RB 2011, RB 2013 style year.
  1. MaroonJack (@maroonjack)
    19th March 2014, 9:10
    
    Except they have two quick, evenly matched drivers, and they both want this championship badly. I think it will be much more interesting.
iFuel
18th March 2014, 13:42

Okay, so not a single complaint about not having enough fuel, and no complaint about tyres deg..
I think teams were being a little on the conservative side, just to ensure the cars would be able to get the checkered flag…
Joe (@joetoml1n)
18th March 2014, 13:50

Any one know what a “hogie” is? As in “No more hogies required currently”..
1. Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
  18th March 2014, 16:08
  
  They’re used for charging the sock.
  1. Crackers (@crackers)
    18th March 2014, 23:34
    
    I think “sock” refers to the “SOC” or the “State of Charge” of the energy store.
    1. Steven
      19th March 2014, 2:05
      
      So what exactly is a hogie?
timi (@timi)
18th March 2014, 13:56

Not too many “save fuel” messages. Considering this was the first race with the PU and fuel regs, it bodes very well for the season ahead. I even remember a driver saying Melbourne would be one of the most fuel-marginal races. Oh happy days. Again, the media fear-mongering is proved to be hyperbole..
1. Mr win or lose
  18th March 2014, 16:14
  
  Probably the safety-car period and the two formation laps helped quite a bit.
Mr win or lose
18th March 2014, 13:57

What does “IC” mean?
1. Dion (@infinitygc)
  18th March 2014, 14:00
  
  I think Internal Combustion (Engine).
2. Joe (@joetoml1n)
  18th March 2014, 14:01
  
  as in ICE – Internal Combustion Engine – The v6 engine part of the power train..
3. Justinas M (@justinas-m)
  18th March 2014, 16:08
  
  Not the intercooler?
  1. Mr win or lose
    18th March 2014, 17:08
    
    Thanks! So Vettel had less internal combustion than normal? He allegedly lost some cylinders, so it seems plausible.
Dion (@infinitygc)
18th March 2014, 14:02

Stop the car. Stop the car. Stop the car please Pastor. Stop the car. We’ve got a failed MGU-K, so stop the car.

Mark Slade almost sounds as if he’s begging Pastor to stop the car.
1. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
  18th March 2014, 14:04
  
  @infinitygc When you hear the actual audio it’s clear he’s just making sure the message is heard. Even with the quieter engines the radio do still give problems – indeed Lotus had one with their other car right at the start.
  1. Dion (@infinitygc)
    18th March 2014, 14:06
    
    I didn’t hear the message on air, I read it just now and it sounded quite funny in my head.
andae23 (@andae23)
18th March 2014, 14:04

OK, that was a great article, great article and yellow G3.
1. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
  18th March 2014, 14:24
  
  @andae23 Thanks! Remember to drink.
  1. andae23 (@andae23)
    18th March 2014, 14:46
    
    @keithcollantine OK, understood.
    1. Magnificent Geoffrey (@magnificent-geoffrey)
      18th March 2014, 15:27
      
      @andae23 @keithcollantine Lolz.
      1. JCost (@jcost)
        18th March 2014, 20:27
        
        LOL.
  2. Lewis McMurray (@celicadion23)
    18th March 2014, 14:55
    
    Keith baby stay cool, we’re reading your white articles!
  3. spoutnik (@spoutnik)
    18th March 2014, 18:09
    
    Haha! Very good!
BasCB (@bascb)
18th March 2014, 14:28

The best prove of why DRS is just NOT needed:

Valtteri Bottas, who had one self-inflicted prolem earlier in the race, also had to cope with a DRS fault, though it didn’t stop him overtaking 14 cars on his way to fifth place.
1. @HoHum (@hohum)
  18th March 2014, 14:49
  
  Indeed, more torque, less downforce and reasonable tyres = better racing.
  1. @HoHum (@hohum)
    18th March 2014, 18:24
    
    In fact, I can’t recall specific passes and watching a commercial TV coverage I probably only saw half of the race anyway but most of the passes I saw were mid-corner passes.
2. Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
  18th March 2014, 16:02
  
  And a Mercedes engine… he made short work of his Ferrari and Renault-powered victims, but needed his DRS to get past another Merc-powered car (Hulkenberg). Plus it sounds like he had to get his mode eights and mode fives ready to attack him, too.
3. Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
  18th March 2014, 17:28
  
  I read the transcript in a way that suggests that DRS was set to manual mode, so that he could use it whenever he wanted. This meant he had to be sure to be within one second of the car in front, and also make sure that he doesn’t open it too early (or incur a penalty otherwise). Normally, the DRS button would not work in either of these circumstances. So I think he still used DRS to overtake.
  
  @bascb @hohum @bullfrog
4. Atticus (@atticus-2)
  18th March 2014, 17:39
  
  He actually did use DRS as far as I saw it.
  
  Rather, I think, based on the transcript, Williams might have two ways of moving the actuator, an automatic and a manual one.
  
  My theory is that the automatic system failed and so the team instructed Valtteri to use manual, obviously cautiously to avoid illegal use.
  
  Apart from the transcript a further proof for manual usage could be that he did not use it AFTER passing someone late in the race in the second zone – he probably forgot it – but did use it on the main straight.
  
  On a sidenote, it’s not that I’m not against DRS, it’s just that I think your above argument is invalid.
  1. PeterG
    18th March 2014, 18:01
    
    He actually did use DRS as far as I saw it.
    
    He used it a few times but most of his overtaking was done without it, In fact most of the overtaking in general looked to occur outside of DRS zones.
    
    Martin Brundle made a comment on Sky’s commentary which most seemed to have missed. He said something like ‘There looking at if DRS is still needed, I suspect it isn’t’.
@HoHum (@hohum)
18th March 2014, 14:36

In light of the accident at the start it is interesting that KK alone was told “please no brakes” while setting the car up on the initial formation lap.
1. F12345
  18th March 2014, 18:19
  
  He is being told not to use the brakes while finding the roling bite point, perhaps they have had problems in the past with him touching the brakes, who knows but that is how I took that comment within that context.
  1. @HoHum (@hohum)
    18th March 2014, 18:29
    
    Oh, sounds reasonable.
InSilico_ (@insilico)
18th March 2014, 17:29

Yeah Sebastian, torque-2 is no ‘K’. Torque-2 is no ‘K’

Does anybody know what this means? When I heard it first in the race “no K” sounded like “okay”. So does no “K” mean “K” is not okay? If I’m right it’s a confusing way of pointing that out!
1. N
  18th March 2014, 17:33
  
  no kinetic recovery. Kers failed basically?
2. Yoshisune (@yobo01)
  18th March 2014, 17:56
  
  @insilico I think he is referring to the MGU-K. It makes a bit more sense when you read all the messages between Vettel and the team.
3. @HoHum (@hohum)
  18th March 2014, 18:19
  
  I’m guessing but I think it refers to K ilowatts available for electric boost, torque2 is probably a low torque setting relying entirely on the ICE for power, hence no K.
  @insilico.
4. JCost (@jcost)
  18th March 2014, 20:43
  
  Should be MGU-K failure.
Dmitry (@albedo)
18th March 2014, 17:33

guys, what’s the bite-point?
1. davey
  18th March 2014, 18:03
  
  Clutch bite point is the point where the clutch bites.
  
  many a driver has lost body parts when the clutch bite point bites them at the wrong times.
  
  scary stuff.
2. Rybo (@rybo)
  19th March 2014, 8:39
  
  It’s where the clutch starts to “bite” as in when the clutch begins to engage. Obviously clutches do wear out which is why that point will change not only during the weekend, but also during the day.
3. MaroonJack (@maroonjack)
  19th March 2014, 9:20
  
  Everything you need to know about the F1 cutch:
  http://scarbsf1.com/blog1/2013/05/31/indetail-the-f1-clutch/
4. Mallesh Magdum (@malleshmagdum)
  19th March 2014, 17:26
  
  @albedo if u have driven a manual transmission vehicle- after engaging 1st gear, as u release clutch u will feel a jerk at a certain point. This jerk starts to happen even without the accelerator being pressed. That point is clutch bite point.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
18th March 2014, 18:13

As always, this now classic insight is so nice to read (in Belgium, the broadcasted messages come even less often than the bold ones in the list.) Thanks, Keith.
rn
18th March 2014, 18:13

That Alonso is certainly a laconic chap. He didn’t say a single word over the course of the entire race!
1. Toxic
  18th March 2014, 22:51
  
  I read somewhere that more intelligent people say much less than others. Why to talk when there is no such need… or maybe he is just focusing on his driving more :)
2. Ross
  19th March 2014, 5:54
  
  I believe the case is that ALO uses italian to speak to his engineer, and Keith, though fluent in F1, not so much in Italian, and can’t transcribe the conversations… I might be wrong though.
3. ^Mo&
  19th March 2014, 6:09
  
  Not all messages are broadcasted by the FOM. The transcript here is just what is broadcasted on the pitlane channel, but there are a lot more messages that go back and forth. I believe Stella tends to talk Italian a lot to Alonso, so FOM might not bother to broadcast that.
4. OneBHK (@onebhk)
  19th March 2014, 9:28
  
  Maybe they talk on a ‘secret’ frequency bypassing the FOM…
  
  And would somebody please explain why Ferrari refer to Ricciardio as Ricchardo
  1. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
    19th March 2014, 17:05
    
    @onebhk Ricciardo is an Italian surname and he has Italian lineage (he speaks the language). While living in Australia his family adopted the Anglicised pronunciation ‘Ricardo’. The pronunciation used by Ferrari is how the surname is pronounced in Italy with a ‘ch’ as in ‘cappuccino’.
    
    Of course another spelling of Riccardo is also a forename in Italy as in Riccardo Patrese.
    1. Carlitox (@carlitox)
      19th March 2014, 17:21
      
      My dad and I always thought it was pronounced that way, so I was kind of confused when I hear the Sky guys saying “Ricardo”. They had the same problem with Pérez, but it’s really easy because the little symbol above the first ‘e’ marks where it’s stressed. The way Brundle pronounces it would be “Peréz”
Breno (@austus)
18th March 2014, 23:13

Kimi: At the moment we have an issue with the radio, because I cannot hear you.
Antonio Spagnolo: Ok, we look into that.
soundscape (@)
18th March 2014, 23:38

I can’t believe I waited this long to read my first radio transcript. What a brilliant read! Thoroughly insightful and fascinating (and often amusing).
GB (@bgp001ruled)
19th March 2014, 0:09

what is safety car window? i dont get that…
1. Alexis Ryan (@wench)
  19th March 2014, 2:29
  
  Where it becomes ideal to come in to change tyres if a safety car comes out.
2. William Jones
  19th March 2014, 10:56
  
  The glass bits through which the safety car driver can see out of the car.
  
  (Sorry, I’m joking, Alexis is spot on)
Arki (@arki19)
19th March 2014, 1:50

The radio transcript is always illuminating and I was keen to read whether there had been more instructions regarding fuel saving than we heard on the broadcast.
It is wonderful to see that my worst fears regarding the need to back off and save fuel did not dominate events. Sure there are a few times that drivers are told to change modes (Bottas being told to change to mode 8 on lap 47 so they can attack on mode 5 later and likewise Magnussen instructed to go to Yellow G6 on lap 53 then back to G3 for the last two laps) but nothing like I was expecting.
Sometimes it wasn’t clear if the changes of mode were directly aimed at fuel saving or toward the charging of batteries so the stored energy could be used later.
A wonderful segment as always.
Steven
19th March 2014, 2:01

Yeah this is awesome, just found this site before qualy, great stuff guys.
BlueChris (@bluechris)
19th March 2014, 7:00

Great stuff for the transcripts… sure have changed from last years and you feel the anxiuness more this year.

I strongly believe that what we saw in this race the whole race was not of what the cars are capable of doing in the limit as matter fuel and thats why we didnt had too much info according to fuel. All teams was afraid even if they did tests to be in the limit because not to finish cause of fuel is embaresment more than if you dnf for any other reason and here are big games from manufacturers.
Offcourse Merceded stand out off all and thats why all the other teams was saying that Merc’s are the favoris for this season.
The fuel management seems crucial to me and IF i repeat IF Dany was really gaining a bit cause of more fuel (no matter what the Jury will say it will shown in the upcoming races if Dany’s performance was due to more power cause of bit more fuel) then we have more to see and this Demo Race in Melbourne is not the real deal for me..

Offcourse i say this based totally on my feeling and my thought
mef
19th March 2014, 9:27

Vettel – really showing his true colours there – ‘this is ridiculous guys’..

Yes, only the team that’s allow you to win 4 x WDC in a row..
1. Jason Cheung (@scorer)
  22nd March 2014, 7:58
  
  exactly but seems some of Vettel fans will be unhappy if found words like what you said
Jason Cheung (@scorer)
22nd March 2014, 3:22

Any body notice Merc radio message to Nico Rosberg? Remember to drink. Any new thoughts on that?
1. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
  22nd March 2014, 12:46
  
  @Scorer Yeah It’s not uncommon actually, it was heard a few times last year.
ILuvSoundtracks (@)
2nd June 2015, 17:17

Magnussen’s team radio from post-race:
KEVIN:Ah, thank you guys! Thank you so much. That was a good race. Thank you for being so great to me, spending good time listening to me. Thank you so much man…I cannot describe this.

ENGINEER:Yeah. Absolutely that is bright. I don’t know what to say, that is just such an awesome debut. Fantastic job yesterday, thank you in difficult conditions in the wet. And then, podium finish for first race, it’s absolutely brilliant! Let’s keep this up the rest of the season.