2014 Hungarian Grand Prix team radio transcript

2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

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On lap 26 of the Hungarian Grand Prix Daniel Ricciardo, who had been leading the race earlier, had fallen to sixth in the queue behind the Safety Car.

Pitting from the lead for another set of soft tyres had been an aggressive move, but Ricciardo was confident it would pay off. “We can win this,” he told his team.

His confident prophecy came true, though it took over 40 laps for him to finally hit the front of the race for good. However his exclamation “that’s how you do it, ladies” after passing Fernando Alonso was not broadcast during the race.

As always the team radio transcript reveals many interesting details about what was going on in the race – that Williams seemed to think Alonso was going to make another pit stop, that Force India thought Sergio Perez could go a lot quicker in the damp conditions, that Sebastian Vettel was unhappy with his team’s restart preparation and that Daniil Kvyat had a tough day in the office.

But it’s intriguing to wonder what else was going on that the race broadcasters chose not to share with us. Did Lewis Hamilton get any other requests from his team to let Nico Rosberg past besides the ones we heard? And do we miss out on hearing more of Ferrari’s strategic calls because they tend to be discussed in Italian instead of English?

Here are the details which can be gleaned from the 268 messages broadcast during Sunday’s race:

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2014 Hungarian Grand Prix team radio transcript

Lap* From To Message
PR Sebastian Vettel Guillaume Rocquelin After the circuit was soaked by a sudden downpour, drivers explored the wet conditions on their reconnaissance laps
Turns five, six seven completely dry, eight wet again, and turn nine wet as well. Intermediate tyres.
PR Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie [Full wets] for now.
PR Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington It’s very slippery out here. Too wet for inters, for sure.
PR Valtteri Bottas Jonathan Eddollls Yeah, I think it’s still [full wets] for turns one, two and three. After that it will be OK for inters [intermediates]. But let’s get one more lap.
PR Bernadette Collins Jenson Button OK Jenson, straight to the back of the grid. A bite-point find at the back and the guys will pick you up there.
PR Nico Rosberg Tony Ross It’s going to be inters to start the race.
PR Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Copy that, Nico.
PR Nico Rosberg Tony Ross What’s the weather forecast doing?
PR Tony Ross Nico Rosberg We’re not expecting any more rain before the start.
PR Nico Hulkenberg Brad Joyce Also, the wet start will be… in terms of drivability, it’s very bad.
PR Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie Yeah, so, in general the inter was better. There’s a couple of points on track with aquaplaning, which makes it a bit dodgy. But overall it’s quicker.
PR Daniil Kvyat Marco Matassa I think some corners were definitely ready, but there was standing water in other places, so a bit tricky to make a choice.
PR Jean-Eric Vergne Xevi Pujolar It seems extremely slippery for me. Traction is quite bad.
PR Marco Schupbach Adrian Sutil All cars on inters. Everyone on inters.
PR Gary Gannon Max Chilton We are fitting inters. Flap adjust has been done for inters, all the switches are for inters.
PR Unknown Sergio Perez I think it was approaching a close call. But at the moment, we feel that everyone else is on an intermediate tyre.
FL Daniil Kvyat Marco Matassa Kvyat has failed to leave the grid for the Formation Lap
I have no engine. I have no engine. Just went off.
FL Unknown Sebastian Vettel Engine is on target. Battery is good. So gearbox sync when you can.
FL Unknown Sergio Perez Checo, we need more brake temperature. More brake temperature. And for information, Kvyat will not start from his spot, so do not pull into his empty spot.
1 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton The race begins. Hamilton immediately spins at turn two, gently tapping the wall with his left-front tyre.
OK Lewis. If you’ve got any damage, let us know.
1 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington The brakes are just not working.
1 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton So driver default one-zero. Driver default one-zero.
1 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton So we’re in ‘passive’. We understand BBW is in ‘passive’ we’ll try and recover it.
1 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington My front-left hit the wall, I think. Just check my wing and everything. The brakes just gave up.
1 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK, copy that Lewis. So brakes are cold. Brakes are cold.
2 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington My brakes are still not working, it’s still on ‘passive’.
2 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK, so we just nee to get some brake temperature into the front-right. It is starting to come up.
2 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington It’s still in ‘passive’ though.
2 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Yeah, copy that Lewis. As soon as we get the temperature up, we can go driver default one-zero again.
3 Gianpiero Lambiase Sergio Perez How are conditions?
3 Sergio Perez Gianpiero Lambiase Yeah, they’re improving. It’s a little bit too early though.
3 Andrew Murdoch Felipe Massa OK Felipe, DRS is enabled. DRS is enabled.
4 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Still got a good vibration somewhere.
4 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK Lewis, looks like we’ve got front-wing endplate damage, left-hand side.
5 Xevi Pujolar Jean-Eric Vergne OK Jev, very important you look after the tyres – could be more rain coming soon.
6 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton So you’re achieving purple sectors, we are expecting more rain – ten minutes, maybe.
6 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Just check so there’s nothing wrong with my diff… back end’s getting very tacky, now.
7 Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo How is the balance? How’s the balance?
7 Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie Just struggling with a bit of understeer now.
7 Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo OK, understood.
7 Marco Matassa Daniil Kvyat How many laps before you think it dries? How many laps?
7 Daniil Kvyat Marco Matassa Three or four, maximum.
7 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Think a piece of my wing just fell off again. Is my end plate massively damaged?
7 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton No Lewis, it’s not as bad as last week. It’s just the flick, it’s mainly drag.
8 Gianpiero Lambiase Sergio Perez Checo, use shorter gears at all apexes, please. Use a lower gear at all apexes. Too slow on the throttle down to turn two as well, OK? Nico far more aggressive on the throttle down to turn two. Stop the car a bit earlier for the apex of turn one and get on the power.
10 Guillaume Rocquelin Sebastian Vettel Ericsson has crashed at turn three. The Safety Car has been deployed.
Box, box, box. Box, box.
10 Sebastian Vettel Guillaume Rocquelin Are you sure?
10 Guillaume Rocquelin Sebastian Vettel And remember, you’re racing to Safety Car line two. You’re racing to Safety Car line two, which is at pit exit. Box, box.
10 Jenson Button Tom Stallard Button has pitted, but McLaren have fittted another set of intermediates on the car anticipating more rain
Is the rain still looking likely?
10 Tom Stallard Jenson Button OK Jenson, we’re expecting some rain. Difficult to be certain on intensity.
10 Tom Stallard Jenson Button OK Jenson, here’s the situation. The front four cars stayed out, they’re still on inters. Ricciardo is in front, he fitted a [soft]. And several cars behind have also fitted dries.
10 Jenson Button Tom Stallard Let’s hope the weather forecast is OK.
11 Guillaume Rocquelin Sebastian Vettel Grosjean has crashed under Safety Car
OK Sebastian, Grosjean has crashed between turn three and turn four. Safety Car will stay out. We’re still in Safety Car mode.
11 Ayao Komatsu Romain Grosjean Are you OK? OK, P1 for ten seconds, then P0, please.
11 Romain Grosjean Ayao Komatsu Yeah I’m OK, but we speak too much on the radio. I think upshift, [unclear].
11 Ayao Komatsu Romain Grosjean OK. And P0, please. P0.
12 Nico Rosberg Tony Ross My rear brakes are smoking a little bit.
12 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Yeah, copy copy.
12 Nico Rosberg Tony Ross Should I stop using brakes?
12 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Just move it forwards and don’t use the brakes for now, I would say.
12 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton This was not entirely correct as although Button was still on intermediates he had fitted fresh tyres during the Safety Car period.
Currently P13. Currently in P13. All cars are on soft tyre, apart from Button on inter, who is sitting in P2, but yet to stop.
12 Tim Wright Kamui Kobayashi OK Kamui we intend to do 25 laps on this set. We don’t expect any more rain for half an hour.
12 Jenson Button Tom Stallard How does it look, the weather?
12 Tom Stallard Jenson Button Jenson, do you think we can make this tyre work, or do we need a dry?
12 Jenson Button Tom Stallard [Laughs] If we think it’s going to rain, then obviously we’re in the right place. But it’s just that nobody else has it on their radar, which is a bit of a surprise.
12 Tom Stallard Jenson Button OK Jenson, we’ll stay out. We will make this work.
12 Tom Stallard Jenson Button OK Jenson, so we do see rain on the radar. It’s difficult to be precise when that’s going to be. So look after these tyres and we will try to last ’til the rain in seven or eight minutes, hopefully.
13 Gianpiero Lambiase Sergio Perez So, just for your information, Checo, Magnussen and Button, in positions five and two, are on intermediate tyres. So Button in position two, on inters. Magnussen in P5, on inters.
13 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Yeah, brakes are looking really cold. Fronts are looking really cold.
14 Jenson Button Tom Stallard The race has restarted.
Any news?
14 Tom Stallard Jenson Button And Jenson, rain looking less likely, so we should push. And we believe it is fuel zero to the end of the race.
14 Tom Stallard Jenson Button And Jenson, we need your feedback on these tyres. Let us know when they’re dead.
14 Jenson Button Tom Stallard It’s gonna be one more lap.
15 Sebastian Vettel Guillaume Rocquelin OK, you need to tell me to do something. The car is not discharging the battery.
15 Guillaume Rocquelin Sebastian Vettel Charge nine. Niner. Charge nine. Niner.
15 Jenson Button Tom Stallard Yeah, next lap we’re gonna lose a lot of time.
15 Tom Stallard Jenson Button OK Jenson, we’ll box this lap then. Box this lap. Push now.
15 Bernadette Collins Jenson Button Pink R1. Pink R1.
17 Nico Hulkenberg Brad Joyce Button pits. Hulkenberg is out after contact with team mate Perez.
I crashed into Checo.
17 Brad Joyce Nico Hulkenberg Copy that, Nico.
17 Sergio Perez Gianpiero Lambiase I think Nico hit me.
17 Gianpiero Lambiase Sergio Perez OK, can you continue? Can you continue, Checo?
17 Sergio Perez Gianpiero Lambiase I think so.
17 Gianpiero Lambiase Sergio Perez Stay out for the moment.
18 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Who’s in front of me? It’s just so I know who I’m racing?
18 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK Lewis, that’s Vettel. Then Rosberg ahead of Vettel. You’re P8.
18 Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo And how’s the balance? How is the balance?
18 Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie Yeah, bit of understeer still on the left-front.
18 Jules Bianchi Francesco Nenci Maldonado has struck Bianchi at turn one.
Did you see the crash? Did you see the crash?
18 Francesco Nenci Jules Bianchi Yes, we’ve had a look at it.
19 Antonio Spagnolo Kimi Raikkonen Stay on the inside of turn one for debris.
20 Gianpiero Lambiase Sergio Perez Sector one, generally we’re losing four tenths to most of the field. OK, so try to push and through turns one and two.
20 Jonathan Eddollls Valtteri Bottas Targeting only around eight more laps. So increase the pace if you can.
20 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK Lewis, front-left brake is starting to get a little bit hot. So just need to manage these temps.
21 Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo How’s the balance?
21 Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie Yeah, rear’s pretty good. It’s just the front, got to watch out for. Front-left in particular.
21 Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo OK Daniel, understood. You’re doing a good job. Still pulling away from the cars behind.
22 Guillaume Rocquelin Sebastian Vettel Sebastian, your front caliper is a little warm. Rearwards on bias if you can. Rearwards on bias if you can.
22 Andrew Murdoch Felipe Massa OK Felipe. Need one percent further forwards on brake balance for temperature.
22 Felipe Massa Andrew Murdoch I just did. You need another one percent?
22 Andrew Murdoch Felipe Massa Yes, confirm. One percent further forwards.
24 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Perez has crashed exiting the final corner. The Safety Car is out again.
Let me know where I need to put my brake balance for temperatures.
24 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Yeah, roger. OK. So, you’ve got diff exit one available. Diff exit one available. Incident is on the main straight. Lot of debris.
24 Antonio Spagnolo Kimi Raikkonen How are the tyres. What are the tyres like?
24 Kimi Raikkonen Antonio Spagnolo A little bit sliding on the rear and understeering overall, but the front-left looks OK. A little bit… the front wing’s not enough.
24 Antonio Spagnolo Kimi Raikkonen OK. We were just thinking if to come in now or not.
24 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg So brakes are definitely starting to get cold. Start warming the brakes up Nico.
25 Nico Rosberg Tony Ross Tell Charlie he needs to check if people were lifting on the straight past the accident. They seemed to be going flat out past the accident, especially the Toro Rosso in front of me, he just went flat-out.
25 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Copy, copy.
25 Guillaume Rocquelin Sebastian Vettel OK Sebastian, so the order is; Alonso, Vergne, Rosberg, yourself, Hamilton and Ricciardo and Massa who have pitted and are on fresh tyres. But they are behind Hamilton.
25 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK Lewis, so mission critical to get past Vettel and Vergne.
25 Andrew Murdoch Felipe Massa OK Felipe, go BBW [brake by wire] five for brake temperature.
26 Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie We can win this.
26 Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo Yeah, OK mate. It’s going to be status ten for the rest of the race.
26 Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie Yep, understood.
27 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington The race resumes again.
Is there anyone on new tyres behind me?
27 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton So Ricciardo, the car behind, on new tyres.
30 Kimi Raikkonen Antonio Spagnolo Do I have a left-rear puncture?
30 Antonio Spagnolo Kimi Raikkonen From the data, it seems not.
30 Kimi Raikkonen Antonio Spagnolo Something is wrong with the rear-left.
30 Marco Matassa Daniil Kvyat What about the tyre phase, Daniil? Tyre phase?
30 Daniil Kvyat Marco Matassa Front-left is destroyed.
31 Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo OK Daniel, so when these cars ahead pit, we need to be quick at that point. Just think about how we use the tyres.
31 Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie OK.
31 Jenson Button Tom Stallard Got to be careful with DRS. And with engine braking – rear locking. Feels like there’s a lot of engine braking.
31 Tom Stallard Jenson Button E10, Jenson. Orange E10.
32 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg So box, box, box, but do the opposite to Vergne.
33 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Vettel has spun out of the final corner, gifting a position to Hamilton.
Come on Lewis, this is our opportunity.
34 Guillaume Rocquelin Sebastian Vettel Sebastian, did you hit anything?
34 Sebastian Vettel Guillaume Rocquelin Negative, negative. But I’ve flat-spotted the tyres.
34 Guillaume Rocquelin Sebastian Vettel Understood.
34 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg So need to start passing cars now, Nico.
34 Guillaume Rocquelin Sebastian Vettel Sebastian, the plan is to go to the end on these tyres. So try to keep the carcass temps down. You’re in position. You can’t do much. Just try to save your tyres.
35 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Hamilton has passed Vergne into turn four.
Nice work Lewis! Let’s go get ’em.
35 Tom Stallard Jenson Button McLaren prepare to bring Button in for his final pit stop, after which he will run to the end of the race.
And Jenson, we are in the window. In the window. How’s the front wing?
35 Jenson Button Tom Stallard OK.
35 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington The left box side of my seat is getting quite hot.
35 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK Lewis, so we’ll have a look into that. Alonso, six and a half seconds ahead. Currently in P2.
36 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Hamilton’s gains since Rosberg’s pit stop means Hamilton is now far enough ahead to make his pit stop and come out in front.
And Lewis is in front of you if he boxes now. He’s safe to you.
36 Nico Rosberg Tony Ross So what do I do? Push like crazy?
36 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Affirm, affirm, go strat four, keep pushing.
37 Guillaume Rocquelin Sebastian Vettel Sebastian, does the car feel OK to you? Is the car OK?
37 Sebastian Vettel Guillaume Rocquelin Yeah, it’s OK.
37 Guillaume Rocquelin Sebastian Vettel All right.
37 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK Lewis, so we have Nico on our pit window. Zero on our pit window.
37 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington My seat’s getting warmer.
37 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK Lewis. We don’t see anything on box temps. We’ll see if we can find anything else.
37 Gary Gannon Max Chilton Fuel two, strat four. Fuel two, strat four. This is both cars for optimum lap time. Fuel two, strat four.
38 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK Lewis, so one more lap. One more lap.
38 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington I could probably eke out another one or two laps at this pace.
38 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK, just go for it, Lewis. Go for it. Do as much as you can.
39 Andrea Stella Fernando Alonso Fernando we want to push to cover a pit stop from Hamilton eventually, so push one lap.
39 Antonio Spagnolo Kimi Raikkonen People behind, who we want to get out ahead of, they will face traffic soon. But we have to stay out and push now.
39 Guillaume Rocquelin Sebastian Vettel OK, Button has stopped. He’s re-emerged behind you. So he’s on fresh tyres.
39 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK, you’re in a good place. So we’re boxing at the end of this lap. Box at the end of this lap.
40 Andrea Stella Fernando Alonso Fernando, we want to push to cover a pitstop from Hamilton eventually. So push one lap.
40 Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie Fronts suffering a bit in long corners, but I think rears are gonna be the deciding factor. Left-rear’s already showing signs of going.
41 Andrea Stella Fernando Alonso Alonso is told in Italian that he has to do a long stint on the soft tyres, but that he did one almost as long earlier in the race (which included some laps behind the Safety Car and on a damp track).
Hamilton is on the [medium]. He is four seconds behind you. We have 30 laps to do. We ran 27 laps earlier. Let’s see what we can do. Next behind is Rosberg on the soft.
41 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton So we’re going to the end, Lewis. We’ve got 31 laps remaining. All we need to do is keep Alonso within ten seconds. He’s currently at 4.7.
42 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Nico is the car behind. He is on soft tyres.
43 Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie I feel a bit of surging down the straight then.
44 Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie I guess you can see, it’s definitely losing power.
44 Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo Yeah, understood. Fail-6, fail. Fail-6, fail. Keep pushing, we’re looking into it. Keep pushing.
44 Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie Fail-80, fail. Fail-80.
44 Felipe Massa Andrew Murdoch Tyres are starting to go away now. Losing a little bit of pace.
44 Andrew Murdoch Felipe Massa This message suggests Williams may have thought Alonso was not going to run to the end of the race on his set of soft tyres.
OK, copy that. Alonso, who’s four seconds behind, he’s starting to have high degredation on the softs at the minute.
45 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Let me know what I can do to look after these tyres. Left part of my seat getting very hot.
45 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Yeah, roger that, Lewis. Just having a look at this warm seat issue. There’s nothing that we can see. So just report if there’s any change in condition.
45 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington It’s the same feeling that I had in Montreal.
45 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Copy, that’s good feedback.
46 Jean-Eric Vergne Xevi Pujolar The car is undriveable because of braking.
46 Xevi Pujolar Jean-Eric Vergne OK, brake temperatures looking better now here.
47 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK Lewis. Gap to Nico one second. He’s on the [soft] tyre. He has one more stop, so don’t hold him up.
48 Jonathan Eddollls Valtteri Bottas Target ten more laps and that puts us into a clear window. Target ten more laps.
48 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington I can’t imagine these tyres lasting another 20 laps.
48 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton So the softs did an equivalent of 24 laps – albeit from damp conditions – so wear shouldn’t be an issue.
48 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton So there’s free track behind Nico. You don’t need to use the tyres up defending against Nico.
49 Marco Schupbach Adrian Sutil SOC [state of charge] four when you can. SOC four when you can.
51 Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie Just holding on to the left-rear. Both rears, but left is worse. That’s the biggest limitation.
51 Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo OK mate, you’re doing a very good job. Pace is very good. We’re going to keep going while the pace is like this.
51 Nico Rosberg Tony Ross Hamilton has not allowed his team mate through.
Why is he not letting me through?
51 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK Lewis, if you let Nico past this lap, please. Let Nico past on the main start/finish straight.
51 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington I’m not slowing down for Nico. If he can get close and overtake, then he can overtake.
51 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton So stay in torque mode zero, Lewis. And if you can let Nico past into this braking area.
52 Nico Rosberg Tony Ross Why is he not letting me through?
52 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg He’s had the message, Nico. He’s had the message.
52 Tom Stallard Jenson Button And Jenson, rear tyres are OK. Rear tyres are OK.
54 Jonathan Eddollls Valtteri Bottas So give me some feedback on the tyre. Really small drop-off now.
54 Valtteri Bottas Jonathan Eddollls Really small drop-off now.
54 Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie What’s the plan? Struggling with the rears.
54 Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo At the moment mate, pace is good. We’ll keep an eye on the laptimes.
54 Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie I’m not sure how much longer the rears can hang on.
54 Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo OK, understood.
54 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK, Lewis. So 18 laps remaining. We need to get these tyres to the end.
54 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Trying to manage these as best I can.
54 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Yep, you’re doing a good job, Lewis. Just for your information, Ricciardo currently on 29-lap-old soft tyres.
55 Guillaume Rocquelin Sebastian Vettel Sebastian, do you feel the tyres are holding up to make it ’til the end?
55 Sebastian Vettel Guillaume Rocquelin The last laps have been fairly consistent. What are the gaps behind?
55 Guillaume Rocquelin Sebastian Vettel You’re currently plus 11 Vergne. Vergne is in the mid-29s. Button, mid-29s. Sutil, 29s.
55 Sebastian Vettel Guillaume Rocquelin I mean, depends realistically who we are racing.
55 Guillaume Rocquelin Sebastian Vettel You’re racing the cars ahead, but if you stop now you’ll be behind those cars.
55 Sebastian Vettel Guillaume Rocquelin Well, if our only chance is to beat them by staying out, then we should try that. I don’t think we have that much to lose.
55 Guillaume Rocquelin Sebastian Vettel Understood. We’ll go with that. Good call.
56 Guillaume Rocquelin Sebastian Vettel Sebastian, your pace is good. The worst scenario that could happen is that ahead, Bottas and Raikkonen decide to pit, so they’ll come back behind you and put you under pressure for the last five or ten laps.
57 Jonathan Eddollls Valtteri Bottas Continue at this pace, please. Continue at this pace. How many more laps do you think you can do at this pace?
57 Valtteri Bottas Jonathan Eddollls Well every lap is about three-tenths slower.
57 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg So you’re racing ’til the end. There are another 13 laps to go. So pushing hard, qualy laps every lap.
58 Andrew Murdoch Felipe Massa OK Felipe, we need engine mode position seven. Engine mode position seven and use ‘overtake’.
59 Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo You’re catching Hamilton very quickly. Think about how you’re using the tyres. You want to be fresh when you catch them.
59 Guillaume Rocquelin Sebastian Vettel Sebastian, just to be clear, your main possibility to gain places will be if cars in front pit and you have good enough tyres to hold them back. Don’t use up your tyres trying to hold them back.
59 Jonathan Eddollls Valtteri Bottas So maintain position. Box this lap, box.
60 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton So one second faster than Alonso. Ricciardo, six tenths faster.
61 Gary Gannon Max Chilton Last lap, Jules, 30.2.
61 Max Chilton Gary Gannon I lose too much downforce sat behind him.
61 Gary Gannon Max Chilton Understood, Max. Understood.
61 Kevin Magnussen Mark Temple I’ve got massive understeer to the right and massive oversteer to the left. It’s unbelieveable to drive.
61 Mark Temple Kevin Magnussen OK Kevin, we still have the same pace as cars behind. So we’d like to stay out while it’s still safe to do so.
62 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Rosberg has passed Raikkonen and Bottas and is now chasing down the leading three.
So great job, Nico. So just catch up the front runners.
62 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton So use higher RPM, shorter gears. Higher RPM, shorter gears.
62 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Is everything OK?
62 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Yeah, everything’s fine, Lewis. We’re just going to manage it like this. We’re good on fuel, so you may as well do it.
63 Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo Remember, you can hold the ‘overtake’. Battery is good.
63 Daniil Kvyat Marco Matassa Engine driveability is awful in the chicane.
63 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Alonso has cut the chicane.
Fernando gained an advantage.
63 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Yeah, copy that Lewis. We saw it.
64 Mark Temple Kevin Magnussen If we can make this set last ’til the end, we may still get some positions if others have problems at the end.
65 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg If you can keep this pace up, you’ll catch the top three at the end.
66 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg So five laps remain, you’re catching them at five seconds a lap.
66 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton So use the revs, shift beyond the tone, use the revs.
66 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Running out of power.
66 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK Lewis, so on the main straight, you can go HPP-2, position one. HPP-2, position one.
68 Guillaume Rocquelin Sebastian Vettel We can’t stop now, mate. We’ll end up behind other cars.
68 Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo Ricciardo has passed Hamilton for second in turn two, then taken the lead from Alonso at the start of the next lap.
OK mate. You know what you’ve got to do. Let’s get him.
68 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington My tyres are dead, guys.
68 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Just do what you can, Lewis. Just got four laps to go.
69 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Two laps remaining, you’ll catch them this lap.
69 Marco Schupbach Adrian Sutil Sutil is one place away from Sauber’s first points of the season.
Two laps to go, push, push. Put the multi on performance, now. Put the multi on performance.
VL Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie Ricciardo takes the chequered flag.
Yahoo! [Roars in celebration] Yahoo!
VL Christian Horner Daniel Ricciardo Amazing! Absolutely amazing! Sensational! You deserve that absolutely fully. Well done, well, well done!
VL Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie Yes! Cheers boys!
VL Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo Absolutely brilliant, mate. Absolutely brilliant. That’s definitely worthy of a fist bump, that one. Nice job.
VL Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie Woo!
VL Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo OK, mode three, please. Mode three. And ‘reverse’ on. Look after the brakes on the way in, please. Cool the brakes.
VL Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie Roger that, big homie. Thanks boys.
VL Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo OK mate. Enjoy yourself on the way in.
VL Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie Thanks boys. Strategy worked a treat in the end. Cheers.
VL Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo Yeah, we always knew it would come good, mate. But it did involve a bit of top driving from you as well, so very well done for that. Excellent job.
VL Andrea Stella Fernando Alonso Super! Super! Super! No comments for this race… No comments. Super. Very well done, congratulations from all of us.
VL Marco Mattiaci Fernando Alonso Fernando, Marco. Grande. Grande, Fernando. Fantastic.
VL Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Nice work, Lewis. That was one hell of a recovery from the pit lane, man.
VL Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Good job, Nico. Good job. Obviously that Safety Car did not do us any favours at all.
VL Andrew Murdoch Felipe Massa OK, good job, Felipe. Good job. P5. P5 in the end.
VL Felipe Massa Andrew Murdoch OK. Yeah. For sure, the car was not in a good line as far as the tyres. So on the medium, was very, very difficult with the car. Very, very difficult to drive. I mean, for sure, the car was a lot better on the soft, so…
VL Andrew Murdoch Felipe Massa Yep, copy that Felipe. Understood.
VL Antonio Spagnolo Kimi Raikkonen OK, that was a good race. For once. Basically, the problem was yesterday, but I think you did great today. We had the problem with Gutierrez and then Felipe, we just couldn’t avoid him basically. So I think, basically, it was OK.
VL Christian Horner Sebastian Vettel Well done, Seb. That’s the widest Red Bull we’ve seen! Well done. Good recovery.
VL Sebastian Vettel Guillaume Rocquelin OK guys. Unlucky race. I think mistake from my side to spin, but also you left me in charge-3 after the restart. We lost two positions because of that. So…
VL Guillaume Rocquelin Sebastian Vettel Yep, understood Sebastian. I appreciate your comments.
VL Jonathan Eddollls Valtteri Bottas Nice try, Valtteri. Go mode-12, please. Mode-12. So, ended up P8 in the end. Unlucky with the Safety Car at the start.
VL Xevi Pujolar Jean-Eric Vergne OK, Jev. Good job. Well done. Very solid race.
VL Jean-Eric Vergne Xevi Pujolar Thank you guys. That was a good race. I mean, I really did my maximum. I wanted to bring more points home, but everyone did a good job. Thanks a lot and just a little bit too slow, I believe. So let’s keep fighting and second part of the season will be much better, I believe.
VL Marco Schupbach Adrian Sutil Always stuck behind Jenson, the whole time. Anyway, other than that, was quite OK. Good race, Adrian. The Safety Car, we speak after. But I think we had to make this call. Speak after, but other than that, good race.
VL Mark Temple Kevin Magnussen We finished P12. Definitely not what we were aiming for, so plenty for us to think about.
VL Mark Slade Pastor Maldonado That was a tough race, mate. But we got there in the end.
VL Marco Matassa Daniil Kvyat P14, Daniil. P14. Cool the brakes. Cool the brakes. Very hard race today.
VL Daniil Kvyat Marco Matassa I have no words. Was the toughest race I ever had. I don’t like to say it, but the balance was nowhere. Just nowhere. Was very, very poor. Very poor. We didn’t get right even one lap of this race, to be honest.
VL Marco Matassa Daniil Kvyat OK, understood Daniil. Understood. We will discuss later about that.

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.

Follow F1 Fanatic Live on Twitter for team radio highlights during all live F1 sessions.

Hungarian Grand Prix data

Transcript by @WillWood, text by @KeithCollantine

Image © Red Bull/Getty

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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47 comments on “2014 Hungarian Grand Prix team radio transcript”

  1. “We can win this”
    It was a perfect observation from Daniel and a perfect reaction from the team. Plus his bravura and brave drive.

  2. iAltair (@)
    30th July 2014, 12:34

    Dam, based on what Seb. Another pit wall error that cost him higher position in the race (SC restart left engine in charge-3)?

    1. I thought the wall couldnt change things in the car, but they could tell the driver which buttons to push.

      1. @austus Indeed: pit-to-car adjustments have been banned for several years, that’s why we get so many messages where drivers are being told to make settings changes.

        1. @keithcollantine

          I thought the time between pit-to-car adjustments being technically possible until it got banned was a relatively short span nearly 20 years ago, or am I wrong?
          I´d appreciate if you (or anybody) knew this into more detail.

        2. This is explained in an interview with Vettel in Auto Motor und Sport, they have a battery saving mode they use behind the safety car, which saves the charge left in the battery and prevents it being discharged, so there will always be enough charge ready for the restart.

          They then use the “overtake” which should override all other modes to put the system back into the correct engine map for the restart, it failed to do so, which prevented the battery discharging leaving him with just the engine power and no hybrid/battery power at the restart, resulting in the loss of two places.

          He was able to reset the map (presumably by typing in the correct mode) in turn two, so a technical problem, not the engineer forgetting to tell him a procedure to follow and not the driver’s fault in anyway.

      2. @austus
        “but they could tell the driver which buttons to push”

        Precisely..Rocky probably forgot to tell him which button to push

    2. Number 2 driver fate at RedBull….

    3. pit wall error

      or new feature of Renault PU :)

  3. Why was Hamilton allowed to do reconnaissance laps if he was required to start from the pit lane?

    1. @sharoncom There isn’t anything in the rules which says drivers who start from the pit lane cannot perform reconnaissance laps, which in this case meant Magnussen as well as Hamilton.

      1. Actually there is (it just doesn’t state it very explicitly in the regulations).

        38.1 30 minutes before the start of the formation lap the pit exit will be opened and cars will be permitted to leave the pit lane to cover a reconnaissance lap.

        38.2 15 minutes before the start of the formation lap the end of the pit lane will be closed and a second warning signal will be given.

        23.7 Any driver that is required to start the race from the pit lane may not drive his car from his team’s designated garage area until the 15 minute signal has been given and must stop in a line in the fast lane.

        My reading of that is that the cars required to start from the pit lane (Hamilton and Magnussen) must not leave their garages until the 15 minute signal. Since the pit lane exit is closed on the 15 minute signal, they are not allowed to leave the pit lane and complete a reconnaissance lap.

      2. maarten.f1 (@)
        30th July 2014, 22:13

        @keithcollantine @sharoncom
        Grosjean was penalized in the 2014 Australian Grand Prix for exactly that. He had to start from the pit lane, and did a reconnaissance lap anyway. As a result he received a drive-through penalty.

        Hamilton may have gotten away with it due to the rain. There’s a safety factor involved I suppose.

  4. 48 LH-PB: I can’t imagine these tyres lasting another 20 laps.
    54 – Ricciardo pits and gets a new set of soft.
    59 SR-DR: You’re catching Hamilton very quickly…
    62 LH-PB: Is everything OK?
    62 PB-LH: Yeah, everything’s fine, Lewis. We’re just going to manage it like this…
    68 – Ricciardo has passed Hamiltion…

    Why Mercs didn’t say ‘everything is not fine’, i.e Riciardo is faster and catching up very quickly. Lewis has already warned in Lap 48 that tyres are going. It’s very difficult to understand why Merc didn’t pit LH at the same time as DR. I think Mercs just didn’t have a clue who LH was racing at the time…or perhaps ‘computer says Rosberg’!!!

    1. Because Lewis doesn’t care about Riccardo ☺

    2. @shoponf: Because this was in response to PB instructing LH to run the engine into higher revs. LH was concerned there was something wrong with the car: “Is everything OK?” was specifically about this and not track position or what other drivers were doing.

      1. @psynrg: I take your point but, I still think ‘everything’ means ‘everything’ nothing excluded. Even if he didn’t ask that question Merc should have warned LH that Ricciardo is catching up quickly.

        With that info I think, Lewis could have held him back for another couple of laps. It would have been interesting to see if any messages were passed to Alonso from Ferrrari related to this.

        In general, last 3/4 months LH has been talking of Red Bull being a threat, but TotoWolff thinks it’s the Ferrari. I think Mercs now must take Ricciardo/Vettel more seriously.

  5. Anybody knows why there are almost no radio messages between Alonso/Stella in these transcripts?

    1. Read the leading paragraph, so now I know better… :P

  6. Didn’t realize Lewis was loosing power, maybe thats why he couldn’t pass Alonso and was slow off turn 1 when Ricardo passed and when Nico was attacking. I know he ran a little wide there but he also had DRS. Anyway Merc need to sort out their reliability, seems like they had issues from the beginning of the race.

  7. This may be a tad off subject, but having watched it back, I noticed Hamilton got passed Magnussen before his spin at Turn 2! He certainly wasn’t hanging about!

    1. Yeah he darted right past him at the pit lane exit. I can imagine the look of surprise on Magnussens’s face!

      1. I didn’t know that. I’ll try to find a video of an onboard!

        *And I should’ve put past not passed above.

  8. “Still got a good vibration somewhere.”

    Haha! Nice work Will ;)

    1. Was there also such a sweeet sensation?

  9. So many ifs in the air with Williams. What if they went with softs, like Ferrari, instead of mediums. What if there was no safety car at the start?

    Bottas had decent pace at the beginning of the race but it dropped drastically for a while when he switched to mediums. Yeah, the track wasn’t exactly great for Williams but I feel we didn’t see their true potential pace in Hungary.

    Oh well, it’s history now. Spa and Monza should fit them much, much better.

  10. While I know that emotion cannot be conveyed. It really seems like Lewis’ Engineer may have wanted to pit soon after Nico as they saw an opportunity for the win as he started talking about the pit window being gone later on (taking into account other commets, ). I’m wondering if Lewis himself, deciding to do a few extra laps is what made them Choose medium/1 stop more only, instead of mirroring Dan/Nico because the pit window advtange was close by then. Maybe LH and engineer didn’t consider properly as LH knew DR was on new tyres and already caught up to him during that time. What does the data say? If he had pitted when passing Verge or same time as Alonso he would’ve had clearer air maybe (except for having to pass FA obv).

  11. Alonso makes mistakes but no one is pointing out…he cut the chicane (Fernando gained an advantage.) But the world don’t want to see it..if Vettel makes a spin in slippery track that would brand him as scummed in pressure..And If Ham drives the decade fastest car to recover from pitlane to podium it is brilliant, but if the same Vettel does it is because of car..why this double standard..

    1. Alonso didn’t lose positions by slipping the chicane

      Actually, maybe short-cutting that chicane and not having to load up the rear tyres on exit is what eventually got him to lap 31 on those softs… So you presume mistake, but I believe otherwise. It’s Alonso, afterall.

    2. Alonso didn’t gain lasting advantage. Yes he overshot the chicane but when you watch it again you’ll notice that he slowed down after he did that.

      1. But by cutting the chicane he didn’t lose the position, if there had been a wall in the way then he would have made more effort to stay on track, losing more speed and letting Lewis past.

        If a driver makes a mistake, they should lose out accordingly. To make a mistake and end up with no net disadvantage is the equivalent of gaining an advantage.

  12. Vettel Post-Race: “OK guys. Unlucky race. I think mistake from my side to spin, but also you left me in charge-3 after the restart. We lost two positions because of that. So…”

    I really want to like Vettel (he seems like a decent guy at times) but this stuff really bothers me. He knows that radio feed goes out to the world, and though he did acknowledge his spin he instantly pointed blame back onto the team. It’s classless and not how a true leader acts.

    Considering Vettel’s spin and the fact his own teammate WON THE RACE it makes him look even more petty…save that stuff for the trailer Seb.

    You’re a 4-time champion and presumably a team leader…ACT LIKE ONE!

    1. Pit to car radio is just that – a communications tool for the teams. Just because they let you listen in doesn’t mean it’s suddenly equivalent to a team’s twitter account.

      Also, straight talk between the driver and team is necessary to improve performance. Nobody’s feelings were hurt. The mistakes happened, and they need to be brought to light.

      1. Ken (@myxomatosis)
        30th July 2014, 23:06

        I find it very irritating how so many people call driver feedback “whining”.

    2. What the hell is wrong with Vettel telling his engineer about an error that they have made? Gosh.

  13. Less Crofty, more team radio please.

  14. So did Hamilton actually have a brake issue beyond them being cold when he spun?

  15. Jimi (@hendrix666)
    31st July 2014, 1:40

    Yahoo! [Roars in celebration] Yahoo!

    I loved when he did that! He knew he kicked some ass! He is fast becoming my favorite driver! So nice to hear a driver express himself like that.

  16. FOM’s video highlights of the race served to underline the point made in the article about the sheer amount of radio messages which never get broadcast. There were plenty of new clips in the Hungary video edit, currently available here.

    However the editing of the video doesn’t accurately reflect the order of the race. Ricciardo’s pass on Hamilton for second on lap 67 is shown before the point where Hamilton was being told to let Rosberg past, which took place 20 laps earlier. Then after that there’s a message to Alonso about his tyres needing to go another 18 laps which would have been around lap 52, also a long time before Ricciardo passed Hamilton.

    Here are the new messages or parts of messages not broadcast originally. They include Ricciardo’s “that’s how it’s done, ladies” mentioned in the article. The first one from Alonso gives a revealing glimpse into Ferrari strategy as well:

    First Safety Car period
    Alonso: “I do whatever the Red Bull do?”
    Stella: “Yes Fernando.”

    First restart
    Vettel: “OK you need to tell me to do something. The car is not discharging the battery.”

    Stallard: “Jenson do you think we can make this tyre work or do we need a dry?”
    Button: “Yeah it’s looking pretty dry at the moment.”

    Perez crash
    Lambiase: “Checo are you OK?”
    Perez: “Yeah I’m good.”

    Spagnolo (I think): “Crash on the main straight. Crash on the main straight. Safety Car deployed.”

    Second restart
    Ricciardo: “We can win this. So let’s have it.”
    Rennie: “Let’s get into it.”

    Final laps
    Bonnington: “Alonso ahead, you’ve got Ricciardo behind, he’s on a much newer tyre.”

    Ricciardo passes Alonso
    Ricciardo: That’s how it’s done, ladies.
    Rennie: Yeah nice job mate. Three laps to go.

  17. Did RIC really say ‘That’s how it’s done, ladies.’. That’s awesome.

    Once more, thank you Keith for this kind of information.

  18. I don’t see such greatness in Ricciardo’s comment about how it’s done though. Overtaking two cars with absolutely dead tyres was the least that could be expected from him, but anyway, he had a perfect race.

    1. @spoutnik I agree about the dead tyres but maybe he is reflecting on the race overall, he knew he was going to win at that point after seizing the opportunity.

  19. Hi,

    I’d just like to know from where do you get this transcript? And is this amount of it available with the Premium App?

    1. It’s transcribed directly from the race broadcasts.

      1. Than we are not watching the same broadcasts :)

  20. A couple of extra messages recently appeared here relating to Hamilton being told to let Rosberg through:

    https://twitter.com/F1/status/755797414288646147

    Hamilton was told: “When he gets DRS you can let him past.”
    Rosberg was told: “Nico if the tyres are OK close up to Lewis please.”

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