Qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix produced the biggest surprise of the season so far as the Mercedes drivers stumbled and Williams claimed the front row of the grid.
During the session drivers were largely preoccupied with two challenges on the Red Bull Ring: the amount of traffic due to the short track, and the danger of running too wide at turn eight which would result in their times being disallowed.
Nico Hulkenberg was one of the drivers who got caught out by the run-off at turn eight and initially objected to having his time disallowed.
Here’s the team radio chatter which was broadcast during qualifying.
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2014 Austrian Grand Prix qualifying team radio transcript
| Phase | Time | From | To | Message |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | 17:00 | Xevi Pujolar | Jean-Eric Vergne | OK straight to the run. Force India is just behind. With a good warm-up on brakes and tyres. Five timed laps as discussed. |
| Q1 | 15:25 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | So the two cars in front are still warming up tyres on this lap and Raikkonen behind is on an out-lap. |
| Q1 | 15:08 | Jenson Button | Dave Robson | Button’s car has been repaired following problems with his engine braking in final practice. For your information it said I was in first gear while I was in the garage but I was actually in neutral. So I had to go back to neutral and then put it in first gear. |
| Q1 | Dave Robson | Jenson Button | OK Jenson understood. Everything currently looks OK to us. So the car in front is Grosjean, obviously he left the pit lane with you, he’s six seconds ahead and you’ve got a 12 second gap behind to Kvyat who is on a timed lap. | |
| Q1 | 14:45 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Tyre temperatures are nine front and rear. Brake temps coming up nicely front and rear together. |
| Q1 | 13:27 | Gianpiero Lambiase | Sergio Perez | Checo consider -1%, consider minus one click on the brake balance. |
| Q1 | 12:37 | Xevi Pujolar | Jean-Eric Vergne | Get some space to Dany. |
| Q1 | 10:54 | Marco Schupbach | Adrian Sutil | Fronts you can drop them five degrees, rear you can drop them as much as you can. |
| Q1 | 10:37 | Jenson Button | Dave Robson | Just got held up massively in the last sector by a Caterham. |
| Q1 | Dave Robson | Jenson Button | OK Jenson understood. So need to watch for Rosberg behind on a timed lap. We make our gap, then we’re going for two more timed. So watch for Rosberg, gap behind Rosberg. | |
| Q1 | 9:01 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | Watch out for Raikkonen on the way into the pits. Do not block him on the way in. |
| Q1 | Nico Hulkenberg | Brad Joyce | Calm down, there is more than enough space. | |
| Q1 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | Copy that, I’m just feeding you the info I’m getting. Sorry. | |
| Q1 | 8:22 | Pastor Maldonado | Mark Slade | I just feel a big loss of power in the exit of turn seven. |
| Q1 | 6:40 | Sebastian Vettel | Guillaume Rocquelin | OK, tyres are still not perfect so the next lap should be better. |
| Q1 | Guillaume Rocquelin | Sebastian Vettel | Copy. Watch out for Bottas. | |
| Q1 | Guillaume Rocquelin | Sebastian Vettel | I think he’s slowed down behind you. You’re OK. | |
| Q1 | 5:12 | Simon Rennie | Daniel Ricciardo | Remember keep up the pace at turn five so you’re well out of the way at turn eight. Keep up the pace after turn five. Cars behind are on out-laps, though. |
| Q1 | 4:55 | Jonathan Eddollls | Valtteri Bottas | Looks unlikely we will have to go again, though we’ll get the car ready. We’re doing fuel for two timed. |
| Q1 | 3:55 | Simon Rennie | Daniel Ricciardo | OK Daniel we are not running again. That lap should be a couple of tenths inside the cut-off, OK? |
| Q1 | Daniel Ricciardo | Simon Rennie | Yeah so just trying to get the front, just get the front in. It’s pretty much the reason for the improvement. Just kept getting better but took a while. | |
| Q1 | 1:36 | Daniil Kvyat | Marco Matassa | I think on this tyre I still could do a decent lap time which is still quite representative. And then we could go the [super-soft] again. So I think this set and then new set. |
| Q1 | 0:55 | Gary Gannon | Max Chilton | So Jules’ time to beat is still 11.67. Temps are good. |
| Q1 | 0:06 | Mark Temple | Kevin Magnussen | Kevin we think you are safe so box this lap. |
| Q1 | 0:00 | Mark Temple | Kevin Magnussen | Kobayashi 11.67 so we’re P21. |
| Q1 | 0:00 | Tim Wright | Kamui Kobayashi | OK Kamui so a good second run there I think, 11.6. |
| Q1 | 0:00 | Paul Davison | Jules Bianchi | One tenth close. Good job anyway. We are 19th and in front of us are the Saubers, Gutierrez 11.3 then Sutil 10.8. |
| Q1 | Jules Bianchi | Paul Davison | OK. And Max? | |
| Q1 | Paul Davison | Jules Bianchi | Behind you is Koba, 11.6, Max 11.7, then Ericsson. | |
| Q1 | 0:00 | Craig Gardiner | Esteban Gutierrez | So Esteban so unfortunately we are out by… needed half a second. |
| Q1 | 0:00 | Marco Schupbach | Adrian Sutil | OK Adrian you are 17 we missed 16 by four thousandths. So first lap would have been enough but it was disallowed, the time. And Guti is 18, half a second behind. |
| Q2 | 13:38 | Gianpiero Lambiase | Sergio Perez | More brake temperature through the rest of this lap please Checo. Not looking too bad. |
| Q2 | 12:43 | Kimi Raikkonen | Antonio Spagnolo | So fuel for three? |
| Q2 | Antonio Spagnolo | Kimi Raikkonen | Fuel for two. Watch out for Perez behind. | |
| Q2 | 11:55 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | Chassis five, position one. Chassis multi-function five, P1. |
| Q2 | 10:50 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | Nico if we think it’s only one timed lap you could use mode one for this next lap and then on the next set we’ll use mode one on the single flying lap. It’s up to you. |
| Q2 | Nico Hulkenberg | Brad Joyce | I don’t know. Let me know what you think is best. First lap clearly is not best but obviously we don’t know what the second lap will be like. | |
| Q2 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | Try mode one this lap as well, mode one for this lap. | |
| Q2 | 9:43 | Gianpiero Lambiase | Sergio Perez | Spoken quickly and urgently. Raikkonen behind, let him through. Do not impede through turn eight. |
| Q2 | 7:28 | Gianpiero Lambiase | Sergio Perez | Again quite urgent and then cut off by the reply. Checo, fuel for one lap or three laps, mate? You need to talk to me. Checo you need to get back to me… |
| Q2 | Sergio Perez | Gianpiero Lambiase | More slowly I said the third lap quite low grip so… |
|
| Q2 | Gianpiero Lambiase | Sergio Perez | OK we’ll fuel for three, OK mate. | |
| Q2 | Sergio Perez | Gianpiero Lambiase | That’s not what I meant. I don’t know how the track improvement will be on this. | |
| Q2 | 6:19 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Hamilton is told where he’s losing time compared to Rosberg. So looks like the time loss is five and six, turns five and six. |
| Q2 | 4:48 | Simon Rennie | Daniel Ricciardo | Daniel what do you think about number of laps? Still think build then push? Probably could do a slightly quicker push lap – er, build lap, sorry – if you think the fronts weren’t quite ready still. |
| Q2 | Daniel Ricciardo | Simon Rennie | Yep. Yeah I think we still need it. But yeah we’ll wrap it up. | |
| Q2 | Simon Rennie | Daniel Ricciardo | OK we’ll go for that, then. | |
| Q2 | Daniel Ricciardo | Simon Rennie | Happy with four clicks. | |
| Q2 | Simon Rennie | Daniel Ricciardo | OK we’ve done four clicks. We’ll be going pretty soon. | |
| Q2 | 4:31 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | I had a lot of understeer there especially high-speed. |
| Q2 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | OK. Do you want to do another run with a bit more front wing? | |
| Q2 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | Affirm. | |
| Q2 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | OK so we will run again in this session. | |
| Q2 | 4:03 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | Do you think that’s fast enough to get through? |
| Q2 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Affirm, we think that’s fast enough to get through, Nico. | |
| Q2 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | Well I definitely didn’t have a good balance, that’s for sure. I didn’t have a good balance. | |
| Q2 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Reply is cut off. I’m happy to run again, Nico, just to try and improve the balance. Obviously engine modes… |
|
| Q2 | 3:33 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | Come on the radio, Nico. |
| Q2 | Nico Hulkenberg | Brad Joyce | If that’s not a penalty I don’t know. He just didn’t move out of the way. | |
| Q2 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | I know Nico, I know, he was in the way all the way through, yep. | |
| Q2 | 3:10 | Guillaume Rocquelin | Sebastian Vettel | Alright Sebastian you’re less than a tenth from the cut-off at the moment which is a 9.8, basically. |
| Q2 | Sebastian Vettel | Guillaume Rocquelin | OK I’d like you to go down on front wing OK? Another two clicks. | |
| Q2 | Guillaume Rocquelin | Sebastian Vettel | Copy, down two clicks. | |
| Q2 | 2:18 | Fernando Alonso | Andrea Stella | I think we should come in. The lap was good so I don’t see much point to keep running. |
| Q2 | 1:28 | Ayao Komatsu | Romain Grosjean | Grosjean set a 1’10.522 which was disallowed because he ran wide at turn eight. Ten other drivers did the same. OK Romain previous lap was too wide at turn eight so it does not count. |
| Q2 | 0:02 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | Was you held up by Massa there, Nico? |
| Q2 | Nico Hulkenberg | Brad Joyce | Yeah a little bit. He was in my aero. | |
| Q2 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | Copy that. | |
| Q2 | 0:00 | Ayao Komatsu | Romain Grosjean | So what happened, you let Vettel past, then… |
| Q2 | Romain Grosjean | Ayao Komatsu | Lots of audio break-up or edits in Grosjean’s agitated reply. No you told me he was on a quick lap, he was on a slow lap so then I have to [unclear] backed off and by the time we get the time [unclear] what I should have done. So that’s it. |
|
| Q2 | Ayao Komatsu | Romain Grosjean | Yeah Vettel sector one… I told you he was on a quick lap because Vettel’s sector one time was in 17s. | |
| Q2 | 0:00 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Xevi Pujolar | I’m sorry guys I really couldn’t [unclear]. I don’t know, sorry. |
| Q2 | Xevi Pujolar | Jean-Eric Vergne | Copy that, Jev. | |
| Q2 | 0:00 | Mark Slade | Pastor Maldonado | OK Pastor. Bad luck that was a big shame. But still, P14, think that’s our best so far and the car’s not too bad. |
| Q2 | Pastor Maldonado | Mark Slade | Yep. Yeah I think we still need it. But yeah we’ll wrap it up. | |
| Q2 | 0:00 | Dave Robson | Jenson Button | Jenson we are P12, P12. |
| Q2 | Jenson Button | Dave Robson | Yeah. | |
| Q2 | Dave Robson | Jenson Button | So Jenson car in front in P11 is Perez. He’ll obviously get a five-place penalty so we’re going to be P11 at the race start, P11. | |
| Q2 | Jenson Button | Dave Robson | Sounds like the first part of Button’s reply was cut. Top ten, but if you’re not going to be in that obviously P11 is the best place. Strategy. |
|
| Q2 | 0:00 | Gianpiero Lambiase | Sergio Perez | Hard luck mate. Just sector three was… Well, half a tenth in sector two compared to your first run and then one-and-a-half in sector three compared to your first run. What were your thoughts? Sector one was green, it was good. |
| Q2 | Sergio Perez | Gianpiero Lambiase | Like yesterday was saying I was four-tenths down on my previous run. So [unclear] grip as well. | |
| Q3 | 9:50 | Simon Rennie | Daniel Ricciardo | OK track will be clear. |
| Q3 | 9:24 | Mark Temple | Kevin Magnussen | And Yellow Golf 2 is correct for warm-up lap. Good gaps in front and behind. |
| Q3 | 8:45 | Fernando Alonso | Andrea Stella | Traffic? |
| Q3 | Andrea Stella | Fernando Alonso | No problem Fernando, no problem with traffic. Behind you is Magnus, who should be doing the same as us. | |
| Q3 | 7:33 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | So straight out, there will be traffic on the out-lap but the cars are spread. |
| Q3 | 7:07 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Bottas 8… 1’08.8. |
| Q3 | 6:21 | Jonathan Eddollls | Valtteri Bottas | Good lap, let’s box. |
| Q3 | 6:03 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | Brake temps look good now. |
| Q3 | 5:43 | Daniel Ricciardo | Simon Rennie | I think we can live with two more clicks. |
| Q3 | Simon Rennie | Daniel Ricciardo | OK understood. Box this lap, we’ll go two more clicks. Reverse off. | |
| Q3 | 4:37 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Hamilton spun at turn eight on his first lap in Q3. That time was disallowed, you may anticipate. You were purple sector one and sector two. We’ll get an overlay for you. |
| Q3 | 3:12 | Simon Rennie | Daniel Ricciardo | Ricciardo’s display screen is faulty. OK for your info the lap time delta will not work. Ignore the lap time delta. |
| Q3 | 2:34 | Simon Rennie | Daniel Ricciardo | Think about the torque map you use for turn two. Looks like the rear’s getting a bit on edge. |
| Q3 | 1:50 | Andrew Murdoch | Felipe Massa | OK we’ll need some… Just look at Magnussen and Alonso on a timed lap then drop in behind them. Next car behind is Hamilton, he’s on an out lap. |
| Q3 | 1:13 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | So Kvyat still 16 seconds behind. Behind him Nico, he’s also on an out-lap so you’ve got loads of space, we can use all this room. Tyre temps 115 front, 107 rear. |
| Q3 | 0:00 | Jonathan Eddollls | Valtteri Bottas | Box this lap, Valtteri, box. |
| Q3 | 0:00 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | Nico your time has been disallowed so it’s P10 I’m afraid. |
| Q3 | Nico Hulkenberg | Brad Joyce | Well we have to review that. I obviously disagree. | |
| Q3 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | Copy that Nico. Obviously you had to drive through the dust in the corner earlier, so… | |
| Q3 | 0:00 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | OK Lewis so unfortunately failed to set a time in that session so we’re P10. Nico P3 with Massa, Bottas P1 and 2 respectively. |
| Q3 | 0:00 | Daniil Kvyat | Marco Matassa | Kvyat achieved his best qualifying position so far with seventh. Struggled for the tyres and temperature I think. |
| Q3 | Marco Matassa | Daniil Kvyat | Yep we’ll look into it if we spot some differences. | |
| Q3 | Daniil Kvyat | Marco Matassa | Plus a mistake in turn five. | |
| Q3 | Marco Matassa | Daniil Kvyat | OK Dany, OK. | |
| Q3 | 0:00 | Mark Temple | Kevin Magnussen | And Kevin we are P6, nice job. |
| Q3 | Kevin Magnussen | Mark Temple | OK, good job guys. That’s good progress. Let’s keep it up. | |
| Q3 | 0:00 | Simon Rennie | Daniel Ricciardo | OK, may be P5 because Hamilton might have had his time deleted. |
| Q3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Simon Rennie | OK, understood. Cheers guys. | |
| Q3 | 0:00 | Andrea Stella | Fernando Alonso | [Told in Italian that Massa is on pole.] |
| Q3 | 0:00 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | OK so order at the moment is Massa, Bottas, yourself, Lewis has not set a lap time. |
Phase/time: Refers to point at which message was broadcast. There may be a delay between messages being said and being broadcast. PQ = pre-qualifying.
Message: Repetitive or irrelevant messages omitted. Notes in italics. Highlights in bold.
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2014 Austrian Grand Prix
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Image © Force India
Strontium (@strontium)
21st June 2014, 23:52
Interesting conversations between Hulkenberg and his team, clearly immediately trying to get the steward’s attention the moment something happens (comment, Nico), and the dust excuse at the end!
Trevor
22nd June 2014, 0:56
OK, the qualifying laps are disallowed when they go outside the track boundary, but this is obviously the racing line. What happens if they do this during the race? If nothing, there should not be a penalty during qualifying. This is inconsistent.
PP RJ (@pprj)
22nd June 2014, 1:13
Where is Massa’s conversation after the pole? The TV had it in their coverage.