2014 Chinese Grand Prix team radio transcript

2014 Chinese Grand Prix

23rd April 2014, 13:2924th April 2014, 11:08 | Written by Keith Collantine

The Chinese Grand Prix gave us some of the most revealing team radio messages of the year so far.

Sebastian Vettel was asked to let team mate Daniel Ricciardo by even though both drivers were on the same tyres. His response was a blunt “tough luck”.

Shortly afterwards he was told Ricciardo was on a different tyre strategy – he would be pitting twice while Vettel might have to make three stops.

Whether Red Bull were seriously considering that possibility for Vettel is no more clear than whether Ricciardo’s pass at the start of lap 26 was because Vettel made a mistake or let his team mate go. Just a few corners earlier Vettel had been defending his position, but because radio messages aren’t played in real time there’s no way of knowing whether the last instruction for Vettel to move aside came after that.

Very soon after Ricciardo had gone by, Vettel was told to stay out and stick to a two-stop strategy.

Vettel wasn’t the only driver holding his ground in the cockpit. Nico Rosberg had a tough race after his telemetry failed on the first lap and had to read out his fuel consumption figures to his team.

It clearly vexed Rosberg to have to broadcast such a sensitive piece of information and in the second half of the race he made it clear he wasn’t going to do it any more.

While Mercedes weren’t getting fuel data from Rosberg’s car, FOM were and it was being displayed during the broadcast. But no information at all was coming from the Williams of Valtteri Bottas.

Here are all the broadcast team radio messages from the Chinese Grand Prix.

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2014 Chinese Grand Prix team radio transcript

Lap*	From	To	Message
PR	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	And yeah just have a think about this front wing angle. If you think you’ve got the scope as we said use the diff, use the [unclear] to manange the balance in the cockpit, and also it’ll be easier for you to manage the exits, whereas the front graining that’s something we’re going to struggle with. Plus half one [edit] happy with it if you’re happy with it.
PR	Gianpiero Lambiase	Sergio Perez	Magnussen to the left of you ahead is the only car starting on [medium].
FL	Bernie Collins	Jenson Button	Launch map off and yellow G10.
FL	Unknown	Nico Rosberg	Cancel RS. We have no telemetry so feedback on the start please.
FL	Nico Rosberg	Unknown	It was a perfect start, just right.
FL	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	We still need gearbox sync when we can. Engine looks good, engine is on target. So sync up to eighth gear.
FL	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	Eight burn-outs: Three before 16, five after.
FL	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Remember to park on the right. Stay within the box, but on the right.
FL	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	RS modes on, please.
FL	Bernie Collins	Jenson Button	Last cars forming up.
1	Felipe Massa	Andrew Murdoch	Alonso and Massa banged wheels on the way into turn one. He crashed me, Fernando. Crashed my car.
1	Xevi Pujolar	Jean-Eric Vergne	Remember to look after the front-left.
2	Kimi Raikkonen	Antonio Spagnolo	What the hell is happening on the straight, why? There was no power whatsoever. The switches are in the right position?
2	Antonio Spagnolo	Kimi Raikkonen	Switches are OK.
2	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	That’s a good move, Valtteri.
2	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	So we don’t have telemetry, is everything OK with your car? Let us know if you need to come in.
2	Valtteri Bottas	Jonathan Eddollls	Car’s feeling OK.
2	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	Copy that.
3	Kevin Magnussen	Mark Temple	It feels like I’ve got damage at the front wing or something.
3	Mark Temple	Kevin Magnussen	OK understood, we’ll keep looking into it. It’s OK to keep going how bad is it?
3	Kevin Magnussen	Mark Temple	I don’t know but it feels alright.
3	Mark Temple	Kevin Magnussen	OK just keep going, you’re doing a good job, we’ll keep monitoring it.
4	Brad Joyce	Nico Hulkenberg	Bottas has passed the Lotus behind so we need to get into the DRS train if we can.
5	Nico Hulkenberg	Brad Joyce	Front-left graining starts.
5	Brad Joyce	Nico Hulkenberg	Copy that.
5	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	How is the balance?
5	Daniel Ricciardo	Simon Rennie	Little bit limited on the left-front at the moment. Traction not great.
6	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Give us some updates on tyre wear.
6	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	So far tyres seem to be OK.
6	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	We have no telemetry, we’re not expecting to have any in the race. So we will get you to start looking at the fuel later, it’s OK at the moment.
7	Fernando Alonso	Andrea Stella	Left-front graining.
7	Xevi Pujolar	Jean-Eric Vergne	One click rearwards hydraulic brake balance for temperatures. To the rear with the brake balance.
7	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Tyres are looking quite good. Small graining at the front but not causing any problems.
8	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	Just letting you know Valtteri we don’t have telemetry so just confirm you’re blend one.
8	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	The ‘beeps’ are heard by the drivers heading in to braking zones to let them know when to lift off the throttle to optimise their fuel saving. The last part of the message seems to be a contradiction or correction. Respect the beeps. Target plus zero zero two. Target plus zero two.
9	Max Chilton	Gary Gannon	Tyre is graining a lot.
9	Gary Gannon	Max Chilton	Understood, Max, understood.
9	Sebastian Vettel	Guillaume Rocquelin	OK I start to have some serious graining on the front left.
9	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Understood, Sebastian. There are no good gaps behind.
10	Kevin Magnussen	Mark Temple	Understeer, high speed, medium speed. I need more front wing.
10	Mark Temple	Kevin Magnussen	OK, understood.
10	Daniel Ricciardo	Simon Rennie	If we were to go out again with this set, I’d go at least four clicks up.
11	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Sebastian some cars are pitting. Massa in.
11	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	Cars behind are starting to pit.
11	Andrew Murdoch	Felipe Massa	Massa’s pit stop went badly wrong when his team got his left and right rear tyres mixed up. Can you select neutral.
12	Gianpiero Lambiase	Sergio Perez	Just to confirm white engine six position three.
12	Sebastian Vettel	Guillaume Rocquelin	We have to go up on front wing, probably four to six clicks.
12	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Understood.
13	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	Come to the pit wall and check my front wing and everything.
13	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	That’s possibly rubber in the front wing.
13	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	How many laps to go?
13	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Rich four at the moment Nico. Correction Nico, will be rich five. Let us know how the tyres are again.
13	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	Got some graining on the right-front now.
13	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	OK Danny we’re looking at two or three more laps.
13	Daniel Ricciardo	Simon Rennie	Understood
13	Marco Matassa	Daniil Kvyat	We stick on the plan. Think about flap adjust for this set.
13	Daniil Kvyat	Marco Matassa	One or two turns up.
13	Marco Matassa	Daniil Kvyat	OK, OK.
13	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Box, box, box.
14	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	We do not need to save fuel.
14	Sebastian Vettel	Guillaume Rocquelin	Which brake bias map is for [mediums], again?
14	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Map five. Bias five.
15	Mark Temple	Kevin Magnussen	Where energy is low we can afford to push the fronts harder.
15	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Ricciardo the only car in our pit window at the moment, you were four tenths a lap faster than him last lap.
16	Gianpiero Lambiase	Sergio Perez	And overtake. OK, nice work. OK let’s break his DRS. Good job.
16	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	You’re close with Ricciardo on the pit stop window so pushing three out of three, please.
16	Sebastian Vettel	Guillaume Rocquelin	We are too slow on the straights, we won’t pass him. Do you think it’s worth backing off?
16	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Confirmed. It’s worth backing off.
16	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Surprisingly the front tyres still feel really good, as well as the rears.
16	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK copy that Lewis, we’re just discussing.
17	Gianpiero Lambiase	Sergio Perez	Use more road on the exit of turn three and turn four for a better exit.
17	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Box this lap. We’re going to go for the [medium] tyre. Make the standard adjust.
18	Mark Temple	Kevin Magnussen	This is [soft], we’ve added max front wing. Racing cars at the exit, stay right of the white line.
18	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	So it’ll be rich 19 Nico. When you cross the start/finish line, can you read the number on the lower-left of the dash, it’s fuel remaining.
18	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	71.9, 71.9.
18	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Copy. You have more fuel at this point than neutral target so fuel is good.
19	Brad Joyce	Nico Hulkenberg	Hulkenberg, however, does need to save fuel and is told to do so at the place where the most gain can be made – the braking zone which marks the transition between the fastest and slowest parts of the lap. We’re after 20 metres lift and coast in turn 14 only.
20	Andrew Murdoch	Felipe Massa	OK skip DRS for Chilton, you should get DRS for Chilton.
20	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Just consider using lower gears in slow speed for understeer.
20	Daniil Kvyat	Marco Matassa	I can overtake him now.
20	Marco Matassa	Daniil Kvyat	OK overtake him, do it now, DRS, DRS.
20	Nico Hulkenberg	Brad Joyce	Graining is kicking in again.
21	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Nine-tenths last lap. Gap at 5.4. Your tyres are six laps newer than Alonso’s.
21	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	Pace looks… Only the Mercedes are quicker than you. You are quicker than Alonso and Vettel
21	Daniel Ricciardo	Simon Rennie	Understood. Keep me posted.
22	Mark Slade	Pastor Maldonado	OK to use power paddle as qualifying for one lap.
23	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	The blue light’s coming on for my brakes.
23	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Looks like the fronts are getting cold into turn 14, they’re OK the rest of the lap, so it’s just turn 14.
23	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	So that’s a really good effort Nico, just think about your strat mode now.
23	Gianpiero Lambiase	Sergio Perez	Some good pace, Checo. That’s a good pace for us at the moment. Let’s make light work of Grosjean haead if we can, save the tyres. We can’t really afford to follow too much.
24	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Sebastian let Ricciardo through, let Daniel through please.
25	Sebastian Vettel	Guillaume Rocquelin	Which tyre is he on?
25	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	[Mediums], but he stopped later than you.
25	Sebastian Vettel	Guillaume Rocquelin	Tough luck.
25	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	OK close up to him and overtake him.
25	Mark Temple	Kevin Magnussen	And last lap wear energy’s good.
26	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Little bit of rear locking into turn 14 so just think about using ‘B bell’.
26	Angel Baena	Marcus Ericsson	Blue flag, Alonso.
26	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Sebastian, Daniel is on a two-stop, Daniel on a two stop.
26	Sebastian Vettel	Guillaume Rocquelin	Think about boxing.
26	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Understood. We’re looking at gaps.
27	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	Both Mercedes very quick. You are three-tenths quicker than Alonso, he is ten seconds ahead of you.
28	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Shortly after Vettel let Ricciardo by he is given the instruction to stay out, indicating he is staying on a two-stop strategy. Sebastian stay out, it helps us, please stay out. We are aware.
28	Romain Grosjean	Ayao Komatsu	I don’t have any fourth gear.
28	Ayao Komatsu	Romain Grosjean	OK we are looking.
28	Ayao Komatsu	Romain Grosjean	OK Romain we’ve got a problem with fourth gear. Try to use fourth gear as little as possible.
28	Romain Grosjean	Ayao Komatsu	I cannot!
28	Ayao Komatsu	Romain Grosjean	Yeah we have to try Romain otherwise it’s just DNF.
28	Xevi Pujolar	Jean-Eric Vergne	We need a few more laps on that set, keep pushing like this.
28	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	How’s my pace compared to people behind Fernando?
28	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Pace is good, Lewis. .75 faster than Nico last lap.
29	Romain Grosjean	Ayao Komatsu	Stage three.
29	Ayao Komatsu	Romain Grosjean	OK, copy that.
29	Ayao Komatsu	Romain Grosjean	OK box Romain, box, we’re going to retire the car.
30	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	This tyre doesn’t feel as good as the last one. Starting to get graining on the left-front.
31	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	Up .7 on the aero balance for this tyre.
32	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Impressively, based on their data Mercedes are able to estimate how much Hamilton’s rubber build-up is affecting his car’s balance. We’re seeing some rubber build-up in the front wing, equivalent to about two turns, so don’t worry about the understeer.
32	Antonio Spagnolo	Kimi Raikkonen	We’re thinking to stop at the end of this lap. Front wing?
32	Kimi Raikkonen	Antonio Spagnolo	The front wing is OK I’m losing the rear and the front so it’s… I just don’t have the grip. Just understeering, I have to change the front a lot. We can try half a turn [unclear] front wing.
33	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Push hard now, pass Alonso.
34	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Alonso in the pit lane now. Nico the car behind, 17.9.
34	Brad Joyce	Nico Hulkenberg	You need to do a better job looking after these tyres, they’re going to do more laps. Do a better job than you did on the first set. It’s onlyBottas that we’re racing and we’re 1.3 seconds ahead of him.
34	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	While some have wondered whether ‘default 13’ is this year’s ‘multi 21’ for Red Bull, this message indicates it isn’t because at this point Vettel (1) was around six seconds behind Ricciardo (3). Still default 13, default map one three, still.
34	Sebastian Vettel	Guillaume Rocquelin	Vettel is unhappy about the Caterham of Kobayashi ahead of him. Are you kidding, honeslty? I mean tell him to get out of the way. He’s got… unbelievable. He’s got new tyres, of course he’s quicker. He’s got two laps and then he’s off.
34	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Understood. He’s getting blues.
35	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Box, box, box. Torque map one and box.
35	Tim Wright	Kamui Kobayashi	Kamui you have to pull away from Vettel. You will keep getting blue flags unless you pull away.
38	Craig Gardiner	Esteban Gutierrez	Despite this tip from the pit wall Gutierrez was easily passed by Maldonado in the DRS zone. Multi-performance three to defend on the straight.
39	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	[Unclear] about one or two more laps with these tyres.
39	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	I might be able to take a little bit more front wing. There is more understeer now than there was before.
39	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK Lewis box, box. We will clean the front wing. It should give you the equivalent of one turn of balance.
39	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Got it.
39	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	The primary objective is stint length.
39	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	Tyres will be good to the end.
40	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Let us know on the fuel number, Nico.
40	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	33.5. It really annoys me to do that so I need to stop doing that now.
40	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Copy that, Nico.
41	Craig Gardiner	Esteban Gutierrez	Kill the tyre.
41	Paul Davison	Jules Bianchi	We have two more laps of clear air, let’s try and build temp again.
41	Craig Gardiner	Esteban Gutierrez	Box this lap Esteban we’ll be [soft tyre], front wing plus two.
41	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	Read the value on the left-hand side when you cross the start/finish.
41	Valtteri Bottas	Jonathan Eddollls	Nothing comes up with that too. If you want to know the fuel it’s ten four.
42	Gary Gannon	Max Chilton	Let’s keep him behind us, he’s on [softs].
43	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	Alonso and Rosberg fighting ahead of you, you are still catching Alonso at one second a lap.
44	Dave Robson	Jenson Button	Evidently Button said something prior to this which wasn’t broadcast. OK Jenson understood, still we’re looking into it. And Jenson default X1C, please.
44	Jenson Button	Dave Robson	You’ll have to explain to me how many pushes of each button.
44	Dave Robson	Jenson Button	OK Jenson so one push on the left and thirteen on the right.
44	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	We’ll just manage the pace. Look after these tyres instead of a late Safety Car.
45	Marco Matassa	Daniil Kvyat	Watch for front-left in turn eight, it’s the most critical part, save tyre there.
45	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Fuel is fine to the end.
45	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	What is the gap to Lewis?
45	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Gap to Lewis is 15 seconds.
46	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Cars still good.
46	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK, we got the update.
47	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	You are +12 Vettel. You can catch Alonso.
47	Max Chilton	Gary Gannon	Mid-corner oversteer.
47	Gary Gannon	Max Chilton	Go up diff mid, up on diff mid.
48	Marco Matassa	Daniil Kvyat	Come on Dany, very good job.
49	Jenson Button	Dave Robson	Button is unable to attack Kvyat He seems to be using power all the time, he seems to be using the ERS power all the time.
49	Dave Robson	Jenson Button	OK Jenson understood. As you can tell we are having some difficulties with it, I don’t think there’s much we can do at the moment.
50	Gary Gannon	Max Chilton	In now Max.
50	Max Chilton	Gary Gannon	Where’s Marcus?
50	Gary Gannon	Max Chilton	We should come out ahead, we will come out ahead.
50	Gary Gannon	Max Chilton	You have a blue flag, blue flag for Vergne.
51	Xevi Pujolar	Jean-Eric Vergne	Chilton ahead will get blue flag, blue flag for you.
52	Gianpiero Lambiase	Sergio Perez	So at the moment we’d just like to bring this home. We have a pit stop window on the Toro Rosso behind, for your info.
52	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	Five laps to go, keep going.
52	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	Five laps to go. Risk from behind very low, 17.3 seconds to Raikkonen. Push a bit harder if you can.
54	Brad Joyce	Nico Hulkenberg	Push in turns seven, nine and ten.
55	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	That’s good Valtteri, six tenths on that lap, you’re catching him, good work.
56	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Because Hamilton was incorrectly shown the chequered flag a lap early the race result was declared based on the running order on lap 54. I just got the chequered flag.
56	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	No, negative, keep pushing.
VL	Marco Matassa	Daniil Kvyat	Yes Dany, yes. P10. Bravissimo! [More congratulations in Italian]
VL	Gianpiero Lambiase	Sergio Perez	Well done mate, well done, P9. I think that’s a valiant effort from where you started. A lot of cars to get through and yeah, that’s a good job, something to take away.
VL	Kimi Raikkonen	Antonio Spagnolo	I don’t understand why we have to save fuel when [unclear] because we were close to finish
VL	Antonio Spagnolo	Kimi Raikkonen	We see some problem, some movement on the fuel system.
VL	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	P7 Valtteri, good job today, another solid weekend. Good push at the end there as well. Shame about being pushed wide in turn one but the car held together, you kept your head down, did a good job, nice one.
VL	Valtteri Bottas	Jonathan Eddollls	Thanks guys, well done. Was not easy race for you guys without telemetry. In the last lap I felt my front end go. I was hoping to get at him but we just needed a bit more time.
VL	Brad Joyce	Nico Hulkenberg	Well done Nico, great job mate, very good job P6.
VL	Nico Hulkenberg	Brad Joyce	Just mechanically we are having a lot of understeer. And all the low-speed corners I’m losing shit loads of time because we can’t rotate the car. And at exit you have a lot of steering angle, and when you go power you get snaps. So that was quite penalising.
VL	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	OK Sebastian good job, I’m sure it wasn’t very enjoyable but good job, these are good points.
VL	Sebastian Vettel	Guillaume Rocquelin	OK. Yeah not the best Sunday afternoon but great job. Fantastic pit tops, guys and it will take time but we’ll get there.
VL	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Thanks mate, that’s the attitude, good job mate.
VL	Christian Horner	Sebastian Vettel	Horner explains Vettel’s strategy considerations. Yeah absolutely Seb, chin up, still a long, long way to go, that was a tough afternoon. We switched the cars because at that point we were looking at three-stopping the better route to you to the end of the race, going [soft soft]. Then as the gaps weren’t opening up that nicely behind and whatever the two stopper was actually the better race for you. That’s how we ended up where we were. But as I say chin up, keep fighting, we’ll work our way back into it.
VL	Andrea Stella	Fernando Alonso	Grande, Fernando. Grandissimo.
VL	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Excellent drive Nico, excellent drive P2.
VL	Unknwon	Nico Rosberg	Great job Nico, great recovery.
VL	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	Thank you buddy.
VL	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Get in there Lewis. Excelent drive there. Absolutely epic.
VL	Unknwon	Lewis Hamilton	Well done Lewis, great
VL	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Really amazing job guys this weekend. Really happy with all of the effort. And what a great race, thanks so much.
VL	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Yeah great stuff Lewis, made it look easy again.
VL	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	And also the guys back in the factory.
VL	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Cheers for that mate, they appreciate it. Bite point check and then switch off. We’ll see you up there.

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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36 comments on “2014 Chinese Grand Prix team radio transcript”

Atticus (@atticus-2)
23rd April 2014, 13:55

The Red Bull hint at a 3-stopper for Vettel, closely followed by a ‘stay on a 2-stopper’ message is still somewhat suspicious for me.

Of course, their radio is clear of any sign of bait, and Horner did provide a well-suited explanation, so this will surely remain a suspicion forever.

That’s as far as ‘against’ is concerned, but I’d like to point out a ‘for’ for Red Bull.

Looking at the race chart, it is clear that while Vettel was fighting with Rosberg and Ricciardo, his gap to the leader (and I reckon his fuel usage and tyre wear) notched up a fair bit, so it is quite probable that if he’d had continued to put up a fight against his teammate and succeeded, he would have had to switch to a 3-stopper indeed. But not because of gaps not emerging for a stop at those moments.
HiPn0tIc (@hipn0tic)
23rd April 2014, 14:19

When Horner needs to get a message to Vettel to just justify the Ric overtake 3 or 2 pit stops, i think is all just said.
Don’t get me wrong, i think for know RIC is the most solid driver at RBR, and i know that in the past Vettel had the same protection from the team in the past, but for me it’s more honest to say, Vettel, just move Ric is better…that to give this poor image….If told like that Vettel will just try and mantain the place (like Massa did).
I recon that for the future it’s better for RBR to avoid this 3rd degree encounters beetween VET and RIC because it will got them problems…
1. leadfoot (@leadfoot)
  23rd April 2014, 14:58
  
  I agree I think RIC is the more solid guy right now. I’m interested to see how it goes as the car evolves over the year.
  
  However I don’t think they can avoid these encounters if Vettel is struggling. I’m looking forward to watching Vettel’s temperament if Daniel keeps it up.
OOliver
23rd April 2014, 14:51

Nico Rosberg: What is the gap to Lewis?
Tony Ross: Gap to Lewis is 15 seconds.
Nico Rosberg: *Swallows*

Jenson Button: You’ll have to explain to me how many pushes of each button.
Dave Robson: OK Jenson so one push on the left and thirteen on the right.

You mean they can’t come up with another way of effecting the same action, or am I getting it wrong.
Unless he’s doing that on the very long straight.
1. Ncedi
  23rd April 2014, 15:27
  
  Yeah, it does seem excessive regardless of where he is on track>
  
  I wonder if Default X1C is like Default (button) Times (X) 1 (one, hahaha) 3 (C being the third letter).
  
  I’m tired, don’t know why i’m thinking about this…
  1. spankythewondermonkey (@spankythewondermonkey)
    25th April 2014, 12:18
    
    C also being 13 in hexadecimal….
    1. spankythewondermonkey (@spankythewondermonkey)
      25th April 2014, 12:19
      
      scratch that, it’s 12. doh!
2. MONEYR (@moneyr)
  23rd April 2014, 15:39
  
  “Nico Rosberg: *Swallows*”
  
  lol
3. frood19 (@frood19)
  23rd April 2014, 15:50
  
  this seemed absolutely bizarre to me too. imagine doing that at monaco – “10, 11, 12, aaaaaah, lost count!”
  
  i wonder if they could manage all this complexity if they were driving absolutely flat out (i.e. in the refuelling days). part of me thinks they could – these guys just seem to have an extra brain for that kind of thing.
  1. nidzovski (@nidzovski)
    23rd April 2014, 16:32
    
    They are all intelligent racing drivers of course but the routine that you develop while using the simulator sure helps a lot. Maybe thats the reason why Kimi is struggling a lot this year. He sounds like he is completely lost:”Kimi: The front wing is OK I’m losing the rear and the front so it’s… I just don’t have the grip. Just understeering, I have to change the front a lot. We can try half a turn [unclear] front wing.” ANd we all know that he is bloody fast when he is settled.
    1. scratt (@scratt)
      23rd April 2014, 19:05
      
      Seems to me Kimi knows what is wrong with the car, but is unable to get the help he needs from the team to fix it. Lotus were able to react to his needs within a couple of races, including building him a custom steering wheel.
      
      Ferrari, generally, seem to be woefully bad at managing things during the race, on the fly. Admittedly Alonso just gets on with it, to his credit, and has been with the team much longer etc.
      
      But I have never been very impressed with Scuderia on race day when they have to deal with anything other than a confident driver in a car that suits them, and no drama around the pit stops or with strategy.
  2. Spinmastermic (@spinmastermic)
    23rd April 2014, 20:25
    
    Theres a +1 button and a +10 so 13 is just 4 button presses.
    1. Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
      24th April 2014, 8:28
      
      @spinmastermic There’s a Button in the car pressing buttons ;-)
      1. JackJ
        24th April 2014, 9:23
        
        Buttons everywhere.
Corrado (@)
23rd April 2014, 14:56

LOL, Massa seems so lame !

“Fernando crashed my car ! Why ?!?! Uauahahahahahahaaaa !” Because Fernando “is faster and stronger than you !”
reiter (@reiter)
23rd April 2014, 15:03

I would have loved to hear Massa say something during that botched pit stop. He looked so frustrated on video, I wonder if any words were actually said.
vickyy (@vickyy)
23rd April 2014, 15:27

Is it just me that Massa sounds too paranoid for his own good?
1. Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
  23rd April 2014, 17:21
  
  No actually he straightened the car and thought Fernando had seen him in his mirrors. So when there is even the slightest of contacts , there is always reaction . He must also be full of adrenalin . So , yeah , an outburst initially in the radio is okay as long as it doesn’t become permanent and Pastor-ish .
Deej92 (@deej92)
23rd April 2014, 15:42

Are you kidding, honestly? I mean tell him to get out of the way. He’s got… unbelievable. He’s got new tyres, of course he’s quicker. He’s got two laps and then he’s off.

The funniest moment of the season so far for me. It was just the sheer cheekiness of Kobayashi to dive down the inside to unlap himself.
1. nidzovski (@nidzovski)
  23rd April 2014, 16:27
  
  Yeah I agree :D. Crazy Kamui, and this is why we love him. And Vettel should pull his act together as he is starting to sound a bit too frustrating race after race. I guess there are lot of changes in his life at work with Daniel and the new rules, but maybe also at home with the baby (everyone whos having a kid knows how tough it is when you try to balance between job and family).
2. Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
  23rd April 2014, 17:15
  
  Well , Kamui proved one thing . He is absolutely on par with vettel as far the amount of cheek in him.
  That was a LOL moment
3. GB (@bgp001ruled)
  24th April 2014, 6:12
  
  are lapped cars allowed to do that???
  1. JackJ
    24th April 2014, 9:21
    
    Yes. Article 20.6
4. Veldaar (@veldaarf1)
  24th April 2014, 9:43
  
  Best overtake of the Race :D
5. Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
  24th April 2014, 9:59
  
  Does anyone know if Kamui stayed ahead for a few laps, or was he unable to pull away so had to give back the place?
  
  @bgp001ruled Yes lapped cars are allowed to overtake if they are faster. Have to say, it can lead to some dumb situations and screw up the leaders’ race. I remember one a few years ago where Hamilton had pit issues (probably 2012 then!) and was a lap down, unlapping himself against Vettel i think, and costing him a lot of time. Was quite funny, but i thought pretty unfair too. What’s to stop a team having a 2nd driver run a lap down just to interfere with their rivals?
  
  On the other hand, if a lapped car had to sit behind a slower, leading car, then their race could effectively be over as they couldn’t run their own pace. And they could still be in the points, so i can see why the rule is there.
  1. Peter (@boylep6)
    24th April 2014, 11:49
    
    This is why the rule is there:
    
    http://epic-formula1.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/jim-clarks-brilliant-race-monza-1967.html
  2. Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
    24th April 2014, 19:44
    
    @keithedin
    Vettel ran behind Kobayashi for a lap or two and then pitted.
    
    I can see both sides of the story but ultimately I think unlapping should only be allowed in exceptional circumstances as ultimately the lapped driver is interfering with the driver in front, and the driver in front is more likely to be fighting for points.
    1. Buttface
      24th April 2014, 22:26
      
      Whoever is the faster driver should be the driver in front. There were races in the long distant past where drivers unlapped themselves and ended up winning the race.
nidzovski (@nidzovski)
23rd April 2014, 16:21

Mercedes team is perfectly tuned racing machine right now. They know how the car reacts and in what condition is at every moment (except of course when it got a problem like Hamilton in Australia). It’s not just a performance of the car. It’s the whole coordination of the team. I don’t know how much time they spent developing this car and organise the whole team (courtesy of Brawn of course) but they will pick the fruits from it for a looooong time. If the rules stay stable for a longer period than they’ll dominate even more, for sure (as Felipe would said it :)).
@HoHum (@hohum)
23rd April 2014, 23:28

Tyres,tyres,tyres, bluddi tyres ! Can we have some racing please?
1. Diego (@ironcito)
  24th April 2014, 4:18
  
  Amen to that. A few races into the new era and they’re already becoming the dominant factor again. Not just because of grip, also the rubber on the track, the rubber on the front wings, and so on.
Toxic
24th April 2014, 4:14

Funny enough if Kobayashi wouldn’t overtake Vettel he would probably not be able to overtake Bianchi on the last lap. He was faster than Vettel so he did and Vettel really sounds some times like a big cry baby.
It’s a pity though that the place was taken from the Japanese driver.
1. JackJ
  24th April 2014, 7:32
  
  And how he had to be consoled after the race by Horner. You’re the team principal Horner, you don’t owe your driver an explanation.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
24th April 2014, 4:46

These are great ut my favourite was on Brundle’s grid walk. Horner when asked regarding the contract saga, replied to a Ron Dennis comment about good sense and honour by saying that such accusation coming from Dennis was completely empty. Horner had my respect but that comment earned my sympathy.
timi (@timi)
24th April 2014, 18:39

A great read, as always
Chris Todd (@univex)
25th April 2014, 14:55

The default message to Vettel came through on the timing app and it was “Default 31” not 13.
I am 100% certain what I heard.
My theory is that where a Multi 31 would be an instruction, Default 31 is the expected prediction on current strategy. This is where I believe Vettel was told by the team that Ricciardo was expected to finish ahead of him.