2014 Singapore Grand Prix team radio transcript

2014 Singapore Grand Prix

24th September 2014, 15:00 | Written by Keith Collantine

The Singapore Grand Prix weekend was supposed to be the scene for a far-reaching clamp-down on team radio messages by the FIA. However shortly before the first practice session they drastically reduced the scope of their plans.

Even so questions were raised over whether all the messages teams gave their drivers during the race complied with the new restrictions. Daniel Ricciardo, for example, was given driving instructions during the race, but his Red Bull team were careful to link it to a problem he was managing on the car and the FIA took no action.

Other teams appeared to be preparing for future restrictions from the FIA. During the Safety Car period it appeared that Lewis Hamilton was keeping an eye on his front brake temperatures using his car’s display, something drivers may have to do without radio assistance soon.

But those who were hoping the new restrictions would mean an end to drivers being told not to fight for position were disappointed. When Hamilton appeared in Sebastian Vettel’s mirrors, Red Bull were quick to advise their driver not to get involved in a fight with him.

Singapore is a gruelling race at the best of times but it got a lot worse for Daniil Kvyat moments before the race when Toro Rosso discovered his drinks system had malfunctioned. It’s clear from his desperate messages late in the race, even within a few miles of the chequered flag, how much he suffered in the heat.

The new rules restrictions ended up having little effect on the amount of radio traffic we heard. Almost 250 messages were played throughout the race, more than three times as many as there were two weeks ago in the (considerably shorter) Italian Grand Prix.

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2014 Singapore Grand Prix team radio transcript

Lap*	From	To	Message
PR	Ayao Komatsu	Romain Grosjean	All looks good so going to the grid now please, going to the grid.
PR	Romain Grosjean	Ayao Komatsu	OK going to the grid.
PR	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Start was good. Bogs down a little bit initially.
PR	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK. Good bit of information.
PR	Daniel Ricciardo	Simon Rennie	No issues I’ll just do another mirror adjustment on the grid. Everything seems to be working fine. We’ll talk about balance when I get out. Think we’re close enough.
PR	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Brake temps are looking good, proceeding to the back of the grid. Stop and switch to P0.
PR	Daniil Kvyat	Marco Matassa	Was badly affecting my braking. I couldn’t push on entries. Felt a little strange, I have no bite on the brakes and the deceleration is very poor as well. So it’s not great. For the rest I really don’t know, really. I mean the tyre was cold, everything was cold. Just got to think of anything. Already a bit of sliding in the exits. On the entries everything feels OK. Flap… I think flap is fine.
PR	Unknown	Unknown	On Rosberg’s radio. No answer was broadcast. Rosberg’s steering wheel was changed prior to the start after an electrical problem was diagnosed. And question, did we change steering column on grid, question?
PR	Unknown	Unknown	On Rosberg’s radio. So Nathan can we go up two-turns on front wing please, up two turns on the front wing.
PR	Phil Charles	Phil Mitchell	On Vergne’s radio. Kvyat had to drive the race without a drinks bag. Phil Mitchell it’s Phil Charles. We’ve got a leaky drinks bag on Dany’s car. Can you have Valchy run an assembky down to us by the side of the pit wall? I’ll meet you there between the cars. OK, we’re definitely changing. Phil can you please let Charlie know. We’re changing the whole assembly. [Pause] Dany car, Dany car, and yes we’re changing the whole assembly: drink bag, connector and the pipe.
PR	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Hamilton has already reduced his front wing angle by one turn on the grid, and on hearing Rosberg has gone down by two turns he decides to take another half-turn out. Nico down one hole relative to your start position, they’ve made a change. So just have a think what you want, to take half out…
PR	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Yeah I think maybe we should do the half. And sure maybe we’ll balance that with the diff.
PR	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Affirm if you need to. So remember diff init coming backwards, five four three will make it globally looser on entry.
PR	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	So Nico obviously intermittent fault. If you have control of it just pull away manually. If you don’t we’re going to have to start from pit lane, and the same thing when you come round to start on the grid properly.
PR	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Vettel, who was directly behind Rosberg on the grid, was advised what to do if the Mercedes did not move. If Rosberg has an obvious problem and he can’t go forwards, you’re allowed to overtake him. But just if he’s a little bit slow, don’t do that. Just make sure it’s obvious he’s got a problem. Rosberg might have some issues getting off his box so I don’t know what you want to do, try your start immediately or maybe pause a few seconds, see what’s happened.
FL	Bernadette Collins	Jenson Button	OK Jenson launch map off, warm the brakes. [Pause] OK Jenson brakes are good.
FL	Tony Ross	Unknown	Rosberg was unable to get away when the field began the formation lap and had to start from the pits. Yes we will be pushing Nico in the start from the pit lane, OK, but you can’t get there now. [Brief pause seemingly in response to an unheard question] Marshals will need to I believe. Ronnie just confirm marshals will need to push Nico off the grid?
FL	Kamui Kobayashi	Tim Wright	Kobayashi retired on the formation lap. No brakes, I have no brakes, no brakes.
FL	Unknown	Sebastian Vettel	All systems are good.
1	Marco Schupbach	Adrian Sutil	Performance has to be five and mix nine.
1	Nico Hulkenberg	Brad Joyce	I had some contact on the front, check the front wing.
1	Brad Joyce	Nico Hulkenberg	Copy that.
2	Gianpiero Lambiase	Sergio Perez	We need to clear Gutierrez, come on.
2	Sergio Perez	Gianpiero Lambiase	I think I have front wing damage.
3	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	So Nico at the moment just keep trying the start. The only thing that is working on the dash is your gear shift paddles, OK?
3	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	…OK. So Nico it’ll be Plan B, Plan B on the strategy. Pit stops will be difficult but we will be able to cope with it.
3	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Gap to Vettel, constant at 1.6.
3	Gianpiero Lambiase	Sergio Perez	So just settle into a rhythm, look after your rear tyre surface temperatures.
4	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	Rear brakes are hot, rear brakes are hot. Brake balance two clicks forwards. Avoid the tow if you can. Avoid the tow if you can. So pull right if possible, pull right if possible.
5	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	OK Sebastian we’re looking at the dash message that you have right now. It’s not an issue, it’s not a problem. We’re looking into it.
5	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Pace is OK, yeah?
5	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Yeah pace is good.
5	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Rear brake temps OK now?
5	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Yeah rears have improved a little. Fronts are on the hot side so you just manage them as you see fit.
5	Valtteri Bottas	Jonathan Eddollls	I think I can do either one, Plan A or Plan B. So let me know what to do with tyres. Or which route to go.
5	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	Copy that. Source one.
5	Jules Bianchi	Francesco Nenci	This is a complete joke, I’m losing four-tenths on the straight.
6	Francesco Nenci	Jules Bianchi	Understood Jules, as soon as I can see the SOC [state of charge] is in a better place I will get you back into SOC 7.
6	Daniil Kvyat	Marco Matassa	Kvyat appeared to have been ordered to let Vergne past, which he initially refused while he tried to pass Magnussen. No way
6	Marco Matassa	Daniil Kvyat	Jev is on a different strategy. Don’t worry, don’t worry.
6	Daniil Kvyat	Marco Matassa	I can pass him in next two laps.
6	Marco Matassa	Daniil Kvyat	Do it. OK Dany, attack Magnussen.
6	Xevi Pujolar	Jean-Eric Vergne	Jev, Dany’s getting two laps to attack Magnussen.
7	Francesco Nenci	Jules Bianchi	Jules, front brake temps are very high. If you can do a little bit of brake saving on every big braking stop.
7	Jules Bianchi	Francesco Nenci	Yeah I do it on big brakes.
7	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	You’re doing a good job on fuel and good pace.
8	Jean-Eric Vergne	Xevi Pujolar	Vergne pointed out Kvyat had still not been able to pass Magnussen. The pair later changed places, most likely under instructions from the team. What are we waiting for? He’s never going to pass him, he’s losing ground.
9	Gary Gannon	Max Chilton	Sutil’s just pitted from 18th, he’ll be coming up behind you on used [super-softs].
10	Jules Bianchi	Francesco Nenci	Are we safe compared to Ericsson and Max?
10	Francesco Nenci	Jules Bianchi	You are still over a second a lap quicker. Let’s try and make Plan A work on tyre deg.
10	Marco Matassa	Daniil Kvyat	Think about flap adjust next set.
10	Daniil Kvyat	Marco Matassa	Down, down.
10	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	For information pit lane limiter won’t work so in first gear you can’t go higher than 6,500rpm.
11	Andrew Murdoch	Felipe Massa	OK Felipe box this lap, box, go engine mode position five.
11	Felipe Massa	Andrew Murdoch	OK.
12	Gianpiero Lambiase	Sergio Perez	Come on Checo. Mode two.
12	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes explain to Rosberg how his pit stop will be carried out given his problems. At the pit stop you’ll need to stall the car so come in in first gear…
12	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	Do you hear me?
12	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	[Louder] Yep, yep I can hear you. Go strat three. Talk to us Nico, we can hear you.
12	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	So Nico confirm you’re happy, you know what you’re doing in the pit stop, yeah? So we’ll be changing steering wheel and we’ll drop you off the jacks because the clutch won’t work, so you’ll just select first gear and we’ll drop you off the jacks.
12	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	How do I know what 6,500rpm is? Give me another indiction.
12	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Just keep it below the red lights, Nico. So Nico the red lights on the dash in first gear, you need to have no red lights. No red LEDs.
13	Mark Temple	Kevin Magnussen	And Kevin last lap, same pace as Jenson.
13	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Box, box.
13	Tom Stallard	Jenson Button	Jenson all these cars are fitting [super-soft], we stick to the plan, target plus one.
13	Gary Gannon	Max Chilton	Ericsson has pitted, Ericsson is in so let’s push now.
14	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull advised Vettel to save his tyres instead of trying to attack Hamilton. Sebastian you’re not going to undercut Hamilton so save tyres and fuel. Stand down, save tyres and fuel. Alonso and Ricciardo pitted behind you, you’re in front of them.
14	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Despite Rosberg’s encouragements, Mercedes were unable to get him back out into the race. Box, box. Remember first gear, no red LEDs. We’ll stall the car in the box, change the tyres, change the steering wheel, fire it up and drop it off the jacks. You’ll need to use revs to get it going and then no red LEDs in first gear again leaving the pit lane.
15	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Pull the jack up, lift the car. Nico select first gear. High rpm Nico, select first gear with the paddle. OK just select first gear try and select first gear otherwise we’ll need to plug in and put the driver defaults in. [Pause] OK let’s park it. Stop, stop, stop. Switch off.
15	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	No put the defaults in, plug in put the defaults in.
15	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	OK.
15	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	Another good move so we’ve stayed ahead of the McLarens as well. Push on to Raikkonen.
16	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Tyre temps OK?
16	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Everything’s under control Lewis, you’ve got it all under control so well managed. So we’ll be running a couple of laps longer on these tyres so just manage them.
16	Gary Gannon	Max Chilton	Jules pitted onto [super-softs]. We’re going to be in now Max, in now.
17	Tom Stallard	Jenson Button	Jenson Vergne behind on [super-soft], Bottas in front also on [super-soft].
17	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	How’s the pace?
17	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Yeah we’re just discussing that, Lewis. We think we need low 53s, let’s pick it up to low 53s. That gap’s at seven seconds.
17	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	How are my brakes looking?
17	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Brakes are looking good Lewis. Any problems to report?
17	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	No.
18	Gianpiero Lambiase	Sergio Perez	[Soft] tyre looking competitive for Button.
20	Gary Gannon	Max Chilton	In now Max, in now, we have a front-right puncture. In now.
20	Jenson Button	Tom Stallard	How long has Vergne been on this tyre for?
20	Tom Stallard	Jenson Button	Jenson eight laps, eight laps.
21	Francesco Nenci	Jules Bianchi	Deg is very similar to the first stint, Jules, what you’re doing is correct.
21	Gary Gannon	Max Chilton	You’re on [softs] so we’ll stretch them as long as we can.
22	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull were alert to the threat posed by Alonso but the Ferrari driver came into the pits not long after this message giving Vettel little time to respond. Sebastian open the gap to Alonso, ignore the beeps. Open the gap.
22	Tom Stallard	Jenson Button	Gap to Vergne two seconds.
22	Jean-Eric Vergne	Xevi Pujolar	I’ve lost my [unclear] tyres, do I need to pass him?
22	Brad Joyce	Nico Hulkenberg	If we can push up to Vergne and Magnussen we should be able to get them in the pit stop.
23	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Degradation is looking better than the first stint. Looks like we picked up a bit of debris in the front wing, may have lost a bit of front balance. It happened a couple of laps ago so let us know what you feel.
23	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Feels OK still.
23	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK copy that, we’ll not panic.
24	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	At this point it appears Red Bull had realised Alonso was going to ‘undercut’ Vettel and get ahead, so they chose to switch to the soft tyre (which is why Vettel turned his front wing down so much) to have a chance to attack the Ferrari at the end of the race. Good job Sebastian, hang in there. Front wing feedback when you can.
24	Sebastian Vettel	Guillaume Rocquelin	Minus four.
24	Antonio Spagnolo	Kimi Raikkonen	Push now, push now. So we stay out and we push as much as we can.
24	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	OK Daniel how’s the balance, how’s the balance?
24	Daniel Ricciardo	Simon Rennie	Pretty similar to first stint. Just got to watch that I don’t lock the front. Then after that yeah maybe tip in to a bit of understeer but then it’s all managing slip.
24	Mark Temple	Kevin Magnussen	Three-stop cars are starting to pit. We will be racing them at the end.
25	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	It’s all going to kick off soon.
25	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Let’s not save the engine?
25	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Er no let’s just have it in strat three.
26	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK Lewis so they’ve left the pits. Push, push.
26	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Hamilton raised the possibility of switching to the soft tyres at the next stint. Is it possible to consider Plan B?
26	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Best thing to do Lewis is just shadow the other cars, we’ve got a healthy lead.
27	Andrea Stella	Fernando Alonso	OK Ricciardo is staying out at the moment but is going very slow. Should be OK.
28	Kevin Magnussen	Mark Temple	The seat is mega hot, it’s burning.
28	Kevin Magnussen	Mark Temple	It appears the first part of the reply was not played. …and Kevin we’re racing Vergne for points, try and get him if you can.
29	Brad Joyce	Nico Hulkenberg	Will be full race distance for us Nico, full race distance. P11 at the moment.
29	Nico Hulkenberg	Brad Joyce	We’re not struggling for tyres at the end of the race?
29	Brad Joyce	Nico Hulkenberg	Not on strategy L.
29	Daniel Ricciardo	Simon Rennie	Message appears to have been edited. I think I lost the power. Just stops [cut] in some gears.
29	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	OK understood. We can see the issue.
30	Romain Grosjean	Ayao Komatsu	Grosjean complained that Perez didn’t give him enough room when racing through turns seven and eight. Not very fair from Perez.
30	Ayao Komatsu	Romain Grosjean	Yeah we saw it on TV. Come on, then,
30	Gianpiero Lambiase	Sergio Perez	Bit, pit confirm Checo. Box and pit confirm. We’re changing strategy. Plus one click for the new super-soft?
30	Sergio Perez	Gianpiero Lambiase	Yes.
30	Tom Stallard	Jenson Button	Magnussen abandonded his attempt to run a two-stop strategy and switched to super-softs at his second pit stop. The other car has converted to Plan B. We still think Plan A can work. Target [cut] lap.
30	Jenson Button	Tom Stallard	Make sure there’s more to gain than more to lose.
30	Tom Stallard	Jenson Button	Jenson we believe we can get two Williams if we make this work, there is more to gain.
31	Sergio Perez	Gianpiero Lambiase	Perez and Sutil collided and the debris from Perez’s wing caused the Safety Car to be deployed. I think I had contact with Sutil. I lost my front wing. Box, box.
31	Gianpiero Lambiase	Sergio Perez	Box, pit confirm.
32	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK so look for debris.
32	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	OK man that was a little bit late, I went over a lot of stuff there. Keep an eye on my pressures, won’t you? I got the message as I was going over the stuff.
32	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Copy that Lewis, we are keeping an eye on them. All look OK at the moment.
32	Daniel Ricciardo	Simon Rennie	Are me and Seb the only two on prime [soft]?
32	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	Williams also on prime [soft] at the moment.
33	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Vettel on six-lap-old [soft] tyres, you are on five-lap [super-soft].
33	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Did you say he is on the [soft]?
33	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Copy. So brake temps are on the low side but you’re doing a good job there.
33	Sebastian Vettel	Guillaume Rocquelin	How many laps did we do on the [super-softs], first two stints?
33	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Twelve on average.
33	Sebastian Vettel	Guillaume Rocquelin	OK then try and let’s go as long as we can on [softs] and then do around that 12 laps on [super-softs].
33	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	OK, we’ll see, we’ll see.
33	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	Were Red Bull using the pretext of having a car problem to get around the new restrictions on offering driving advice? OK Daniel avoiding exit kerbs may help your issue. Avoiding exit kerbs may help the problem with the car.
34	Francesco Nenci	Jules Bianchi	When you are allowed to overtake you will need to raise up the [unclear] temperature.
34	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	So brake temps look OK, fronts just on the cold side, just do as much as you can, try and get some front tyre temp.
34	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Alright to me it looks it says that they’re at 500, 600, so it’s a bit confusing. Can’t do any more.
34	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK well just keep doing what you’re doing.
34	Mark Temple	Kevin Magnussen	And Kevin remember to drink.
34	Kevin Magnussen	Mark Temple	It’s too hot, I can’t drink it, it burns my mouth.
34	Mark Temple	Kevin Magnussen	OK understood.
34	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	Expect one or two laps more Safety Car, that’s what we expect.
35	Brad Joyce	Nico Hulkenberg	Magnussen ahead may have an issue with cramp.
35	Valtteri Bottas	Jonathan Eddollls	For your info, the steering feels a bit weird, a bit sticky, like the power steering.
35	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	Copy that. Is that just happened or has it been degrading during the race?
35	Valtteri Bottas	Jonathan Eddollls	I don’t know, just noticed now. I’ll let you know if it gets worse.
35	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Ahead Hamilton is on [super-softs] so he’ll have to stop again. Behind you there’s several cars, Alonso and two Williams, on [softs], probably trying to make it toward the end. So when it restarts we’ve got a 35-lap race of one-stoppers versus two-stoppers.
36	Mark Temple	Kevin Magnussen	We think Vergne and Kvyat either side of you will be making one more stop like us. Other cars around us will be trying to go to the end on [softs].
36	Gianpiero Lambiase	Sergio Perez	Sutil’s penalty was not for the incident with Perez, but Perez has not been told that. Checo just for information Sutil has been given a five-second penalty.
36	Sergio Perez	Gianpiero Lambiase	Needed more than that. He put me in the wall.
36	Marco Schupbach	Adrian Sutil	Anyway I have to tell you now that in the next stop we have a five seconds penalty because you left the track before. Anyway we keep pushing, can still be something here.
37	Valtteri Bottas	Jonathan Eddollls	OK the steering is getting a bit worse. Just losing the power steering kind of slow. But I can drive to the end no problem. It’s just a bit more heavy.
37	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	Think it could be related to the presures? Obviously pressure’s on the low side. It’s going to be the same for everyone pressure-wise. For info hydraulic data looks OK from our side so we’ll see how it goes.
37	Valtteri Bottas	Jonathan Eddollls	OK then it’s maybe a bearing in the steering or something. But we’ll stick with it.
37	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	Copy that.
37	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK Lewis you’ve got seven cars behind all on the [soft] tyre.
37	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Is this going to be a problem for me?
37	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Negative, you have a pace advantage.
38	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	OK Daniel we need to be pulling away from the cars behind. Don’t go crazy. Might be a long stint.
39	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	So the only way we’re going to make today work now is to get this tyre to the end.
39	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	How many laps do I need to do on these?
39	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Hamilton’s stint was later extended to lap 52. We think probably six or seven laps, Lewis, but it may change.
39	Romain Grosjean	Ayao Komatsu	Guys, problem on the car.
39	Ayao Komatsu	Romain Grosjean	OK what is the problem from your side?
39	Romain Grosjean	Ayao Komatsu	I don’t have rear end.
39	Ayao Komatsu	Romain Grosjean	OK nothing immediately obvious. Tyre pressures are still there. So far aero data looks OK.
40	Andrew Murdoch	Felipe Massa	Massa had to run the longest final stint, spending 38 laps on a set of soft tyres. OK Felipe we want to try to take this tyre set to the end.
40	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Gap at 5.8. So target lap time mid-to-low 51s. So let’s look after these front brakes, don’t want to let them get too hot.
41	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Sebastian look after your tyres, we’ll try and make it to the end.
41	Sebastian Vettel	Guillaume Rocquelin	I don’t think that’s my plan.
41	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	OK. Sebastian that’s what Daniel is trying to do and it’s the same for both cars behind you. We think that if you have to pit you have to overtake too many cars.
41	Gary Gannon	Max Chilton	So we could think about going [super-soft] early and just trying to close the gap to them, just try and make more time on the [super-soft], what do you think?
41	Max Chilton	Gary Gannon	Well it’s too early because it’s the longest anyone’s gone but we’re not catching them sat here so we might as well.
42	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	How many laps left? Do you think they are going to do two stops?
42	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	20 laps to go. We think one or two may try it but there’s a long way to go.
42	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Therse tyres are good. I can do several more laps if I need to. If I need to pick up the pace I can.
42	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK Lewis this is good pace.
43	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	We’re going to target another seven laps on this tyre, seven laps if we can.
43	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Just a question but that sounds a bit risky. Another Safety Car… don’t we lose out then?
43	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Nope we’ll be straight in in that case, Lewis. So you’re doing a great job Lewis we just need to push everyone out of our Safety Car… out of our pit stop window.
43	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	On the previous stint your wear was similar to Daniel’s. You’re doing good.
44	Kevin Magnussen	Mark Temple	We’ll be fast, we need to go onto the [super-softs].
44	Daniil Kvyat	Marco Matassa	Kvyat continued to suffer with thirst. Oh guys it’s really bad. I need to stop.
44	Marco Matassa	Daniil Kvyat	We need you to stay out, Dany. Load five, Dany.
44	Daniil Kvyat	Marco Matassa	It is a disaster.
44	Marco Matassa	Daniil Kvyat	Understood. Load five, load five
44	Daniil Kvyat	Marco Matassa	[Louder] We need to stop!
44	Marco Matassa	Daniil Kvyat	Box, box, box now, box now.
44	Daniil Kvyat	Marco Matassa	Oh my god. Without the drink… I’m dying here.
44	Marco Matassa	Daniil Kvyat	Yes Dany OK. Torque six.
45	Valtteri Bottas	Jonathan Eddollls	There’s absolutely zero steering feel. It’s really sticky and heavy. But I can drive, it’s OK, just with a lap time penalty I think.
45	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	Copy that. If you can keep doing what you’re doing that’ll be amazing. You’re doing a great job.
46	Gianpiero Lambiase	Sergio Perez	Having regained the lap he lost under the Safety Car and joined the tail of the midfield queue, Force India pitted Perez with 16 laps tro go for a set of super-soft tyres. We’re just trying to jump, get a pit stop window, get ahead of the pit stop window of the cars ahead and hope they deg off towards the end now, OK? Race to the end of the race.
48	Gianpiero Lambiase	Sergio Perez	At this rate we think we could catch the Lotus in five laps. So perhaps think about your tyres but don’t take too much out of them because we need to maintain temperature, that’s the thing. Just don’t slide them. The cars ahead are three seconds a lap slower, Checo.
48	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	Hold the overtake, hold the overtake next straight to fix the car problem.
48	Daniel Ricciardo	Simon Rennie	No reply broadcast. On all the straights?
48	Tom Stallard	Jenson Button	Bottas has a power steering problem.
49	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Rears starting to drop off.
49	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK copy that Lewis. Probably need another two or three laps. The gap we’re looking for is 27. It’s now 21.1. Vettel 53.6.
49	Gianpiero Lambiase	Sergio Perez	Opportunity coming up with the Caterham, we’re lapping the Caterham so there’s an opportunity coming up.
49	Gianpiero Lambiase	Sergio Perez	Nice stuff, come on let’s push.
50	Jenson Button	Tom Stallard	Button caught the Williams of Bottas. That thing is so fast in a straight line!
50	Tom Stallard	Jenson Button	Jenson his tyres are nine laps older, you’ll get him by the end.
51	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Hamilton became more concerned about his tyres. You guys need to box me soon, my tyres are going off. I told you already a lap before, cannot get to 27.
51	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK Lewis you can go strat mode five, you are still pulling the gap.
51	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	It looks like Vettel’s dropping off the tyre, even more than you.
52	Gianpiero Lambiase	Sergio Perez	Game is very much on here Checo. We have a race on our hands potentially towards the end of this.
52	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Preceding message not broadcast. Copy that Lewis. Last lap time 52.7, great lap, if you can do a 53.5 next lap, we take it.
52	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	My right-rear’s getting seriously worn. I’m not sure whether these things are going to explode or not.
52	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	So still looking good from our numbers, Lewis. That gap’s at 25.2, if you can just eke it out a bit more, let us know if you can do one more lap.
52	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Hamilton’s warning about the dire state of his tyres had echoes of his truble during the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix. There are some lines showing on the outside and the inside of the rear-right tyre.
52	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Copy that Lewis so box, box.
53	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	We think you’ll come out between Vettel and Ricciardo. You’ll have a big pace advantage. Cancel RS. Nine laps to go. Don’t take any risks. Think about brake balance and b-mig. Check the white line on exit.
54	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Vettel is told not to try to keep Hamilton behind. OK Hamilton’s in front of Daniel. Just concentrate on your race, let him be.
54	Romain Grosjean	Ayao Komatsu	Yeah brake pedal is going.
54	Ayao Komatsu	Romain Grosjean	OK we are looking at the data, we’ll get back to you. [Pause] OK Romain understood, we’ll keep an eye on it.
54	Jenson Button	Tom Stallard	Button retired. Shutdown, complete shutdown.
54	Tom Stallard	Jenson Button	OK Jenson we’re looking at it.
54	Jenson Button	Tom Stallard	That’s game over.
54	Tom Stallard	Jenson Button	Yeah Jenson turn the car fully off.
55	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	Keep doing what you’re doing, great job. He hasn’t got the straight line speed on us.
55	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Can I turn the engine down?
55	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	We’re just discussing that Lewis, just turn the revs up. Go strat mode nine.
56	Brad Joyce	Nico Hulkenberg	So you’ve got to keep in the DRS of those cars ahead so you get DRS to defend.
57	Francesco Nenci	Jules Bianchi	You can have SOC 3 to pass him but only for the straight.
57	Andrew Murdoch	Felipe Massa	Valtteri is 12 seconds behind.
58	Jonathan Eddollls	Valtteri Bottas	Mode five in turn one, mode five more beans.
59	Xevi Pujolar	Jean-Eric Vergne	Vergne was notified of his second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. OK Jev they have given us another five-second penalty so we really need to attack these guys ahead to get the points.
59	Jean-Eric Vergne	Xevi Pujolar	What the [censored by FOM].
59	Xevi Pujolar	Jean-Eric Vergne	Keep your head down, keep it cool, just push the guys ahead.
59	Brad Joyce	Nico Hulkenberg	It’s Magnussen behind. And take any advantage of what goes on ahead as well.
59	Marco Matassa	Daniil Kvyat	Three minutes to go, Dany, three minutes to go.
59	Daniil Kvyat	Marco Matassa	I can’t drive any more.
59	Marco Matassa	Daniil Kvyat	Just two minutes to go, Dany, I know it is difficult.
60	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Please have [unclear] meet me afterwards. Same problem as before I started the race.
VL	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Nice work Lewis. Grat stuff. Just keep the revs up, go strat mode 12. Awesome job, pal.
VL	Paddy Lowe	Lewis Hamilton	Great job Lewis that was a really difficult race, well done.
VL	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	You managed that beautifully mate, really well done on that Safey Car restart, managed everything perfectly.
VL	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Fantastic job this weekend guys, thank you so much for all your hard work. Starting to really pay off, thank you.
VL	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Appreciate it mate, we’ll see you down there.
VL	Guillaume Rocquelin	Sebastian Vettel	Good man, good man,
VL	Christian Horner	Sebastian Vettel	Well done Sebby, nice job. You made that stint incredibly long, well done.
VL	Sebastian Vettel	Guillaume Rocquelin	Thanks boys. Good job obviously the Safety Car [unclear] but still managed to get the maximum there was anyway. So great job and, yeah, I didn’t have any tyres left, I did everything I could.

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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Keith Collantine

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33 comments on “2014 Singapore Grand Prix team radio transcript”

MilleniumBug (@milleniumbug)
24th September 2014, 15:25

Please have [unclear] meet me afterwards. Same problem as before I started the race.

Wonder what problem is Lewis referring to
1. BasCB (@bascb)
  24th September 2014, 15:40
  
  I think in the message he said “felipe” but really not sure what it is and what about @keithcollantine
2. Michael C
  24th September 2014, 16:32
  
  Probably his physio, he was one of the only drivers not wearing knee/leg/ankle pads in qualifying. A very physical and brutal race!
Jake (@jleigh)
24th September 2014, 15:53

Isn’t “ignore the beeps” driving advice? I think so. Just “open the gap” would be fine, and Seb should then have to work out that he can use more of the revs.
1. LosD (@losd)
  24th September 2014, 18:08
  
  I think it’s more related to the state of the car, which has been allowed again.
  1. Jake (@jleigh)
    24th September 2014, 19:36
    
    Is it? The beeps go when the driver should shift up. Isn’t telling a driver to ignore effectively telling them to shift later, and in this case it was in order to make the car go faster.
2. JCost (@jcost)
  24th September 2014, 21:17
  
  There’s not a giant difference between Singapore and Italy. They’re still coaching drivers somehow.
Psychotext (@textuality)
24th September 2014, 15:56

Poor Kvyat. Did they manage to give him a new drink bottle when he pitted? Sounded like he was in a bad way.
1. LosD (@losd)
  24th September 2014, 18:10
  
  I don’t think so. I have seen some people criticise him for whining, but driving the hottest race of the season without anything to drink, and still completing is very well done.
  
  Honourable mention to Magnussen for completing with burns to his backside and almost boiling water.
Ferrari
24th September 2014, 18:04

I question that how a 4- time world champion needs that much information, plus beeps, plus feedback to get the 2nd place on podium . I dont understand why hamilton needs 40 plus messages. Riccardo has a handful and between Kimi / Alonso there’s a total (2) messages.

I’m I missing something ? cause it sure hell seems like performance enhancing driver aids the way Vettel / Hamilton/ Rosberg are getting information
1. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
  24th September 2014, 22:32
  
  I’m I missing something ?
  
  These are all the messages that were broadcast. However there will have been far more messages between each team and there driver that weren’t broadcast. There’s no reason to assume the total number of messages broadcast involving each driver reflects the total number that were communicated.
  
  I think I might have to put a disclaimer to this effect on future transcripts – I thought it was obvious but this has come up quite a few times now. More on it here:
  
  https://www.racefans.net/2014/09/17/monza-sounded-team-radio-ban/
2. Matthijs (@matthijs)
  25th September 2014, 8:24
  
  “I question that how a 4- time world champion needs that much information, plus beeps, plus feedback to get the 2nd place on podium.”
  
  Lionel Messi is being coached during a match, Roger Federer is being coached during a match, why is it strange that an F1-driver is being coached?
  1. rulox777
    25th September 2014, 16:35
    
    Actually, Roger Federer is not. ATP don’t allow players to be coached during an ongoing match. Women’s circuit allows them though.
Dan
24th September 2014, 19:02

Why so few messages from Ferrari? Anyone would think they get a special deal from the FIA …
1. IJW
  24th September 2014, 19:33
  
  Maybe because they are in Italian/Spanish? However, having said that, I thought it was a requirement that all radio traffic had to be in English, or is a request that any team can choose to ignore?
2. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
  24th September 2014, 22:35
  
  Certainly some of Alonso’s messages do include Italian sometimes, but they are also often wholly or partly in English. And Raikkonen’s have always been in English, and though he admits he talks less on the radio than other drivers I’m sure he had far more than one message. So I don’t think it’s entirely down to FOM worrying about the language barrier to the English-speaking audience.
  
  During the Singapore weekend Alonso said Ferrari don’t use the radio for “performance related reasons” – by which I suspect he was referring to messages about driving style – but do use it “to control temperatures, to talk about traffic and strategy”. And yet we rarely hear any of these messages either.
  
  It does strike me as odd we hear so few messages involving the team which is by far the most popular in the sport. To put it into perspective, here’s how many radio messages were broadcast involving each driver in Singapore:
  
  Lewis Hamilton – 69
  Sebastian Vettel – 21
  Daniil Kvyat – 18
  Jenson Button – 16
  Sergio Perez – 16
  Valtteri Bottas – 15
  Nico Rosberg – 14
  Daniel Ricciardo – 13
  Romain Grosjean – 10
  Kevin Magnussen – 9
  Nico Hulkenberg – 9
  Jules Bianchi – 9
  Max Chilton – 7
  Jean-Eric Vergne – 6
  Felipe Massa – 4
  Adrian Sutil – 2
  Fernando Alonso – 1
  Kimi Raikkonen – 1
  Kamui Kobayashi – 1
  Pastor Maldonado – 0
  Esteban Gutierrez – 0
  Marcus Ericsson – 0
  1. Dave (@)
    25th September 2014, 11:32
    
    If I was feeling cynical, I’d suggest we hear so little of Ferrari’s messages because they’re the least likely to send the media into a frenzy of clickbait headlines.
    1. BasCB (@bascb)
      25th September 2014, 11:37
      
      Me being cynical too, is that its rather FOM being friendly to Ferrari by not revealing as much about what they are doing on the radio rather than any potential or not for making headlines. Indeed in the past several Ferrari radio messages have made for great headlines and meme’s to live on for years @raceprouk
    2. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
      25th September 2014, 11:45
      
      @raceprouk I don’t follow you – there’s loads of interest in the Ferrari drivers and what little we’ve heard of their messages has often been of interest – whether it’s Massa being told “Fernando is faster than you” or Alonso criticising the “geniuses” on the pit wall after their botched attempt at slipstreaming at Monza last year.
      1. Dave (@)
        25th September 2014, 12:02
        
        And both those messages generated plenty of headlines, the first due to being a coded breach of the ban on team orders, the second because it allowed the media to speculate on Alonso’s future due to some perceived ‘rift’ within the team, whether there was an actual rift or not.
        
        It’s harder to spin a headline from the more mundane messages like ‘Fuel mix 12; overtake available’ :)
      2. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
        25th September 2014, 14:59
        
        @raceprouk Of course FOM prefer to play more dramatic radio messages – like Grosjean complaining about his engine last weekend. But they also play a lot of more mundane ones. In that respect Ferrari is no different from any other team.
        
        So I don’t think this thing about headlines and ‘spin’ tells us anything about why we hear so few of Ferrari’s radio messages.
      3. Dave (@)
        25th September 2014, 15:12
        
        Obviously, if it is true, it won’t be the only reason. As @bascb states, it could also be due to FOM just being kind to Ferrari.
reiter (@reiter)
24th September 2014, 20:22

I would have liked to see Gutiérrez’s radio transcript. That guy was so angry when his Sauber stopped working (again).
hzh (@hzh00)
24th September 2014, 21:48

Kevin Magnussen said: “the seat is mega hot, it’s burning”.
He should have reported ay what “Kelvin” it was burning.
1. hzh (@hzh00)
  24th September 2014, 21:49
  
  at*
@HoHum (@hohum)
25th September 2014, 2:12

If there were disguised coaching messages at Singapore most of them would seem to be of the “slow-down” kind.
don brown
25th September 2014, 4:39

where are Rosberg’s radio transmissions covering the period when he came into the pits for the last time before retiring. You only indicate Tony ross’ comments and not much from Rosberg apart from the word ok. Toto Wolff made it clear that he said a lot more than that
1. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
  25th September 2014, 7:56
  
  See previous comment.
2. don brown
  25th September 2014, 11:54
  
  so are the more juicier or controversial messages taken out of the transcripts that are published
  1. hugo-the-rabbit
    25th September 2014, 15:05
    
    Read this.
    http://www.autoevolution.com/news/full-transcript-of-renault-s-2008-singapore-gp-11019.html
    
    That was in 2008 so just think how much more radio use each driver will be getting today.
    1. Patrickl (@patrickl)
      25th September 2014, 16:14
      
      That’s mostly chatter between team members though.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
25th September 2014, 21:26

I noticed almost no difference during the race. Pointless rule change?

Also, how ridiculous would it be to penalise a driver to the same standards as they would be subject to for a driving infraction for a radio message sent by an engineer? The sporting credibility aspect would be completely annihilated.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
26th September 2014, 20:20

The FOM race edit is up and includes two notable pieces of radio which weren’t broadcast at the time.

Gutierrez being told to retire, followed by his partially censored response.

And Perez being told: “Checo this could be the last lap… this is the last lap.”