A faulty fuel read-out caused a minor scare for Lewis Hamilton as he romped to victory in the Australian Grand Prix.
Team mate Nico Rosberg was also trying to find out how much fuel was in Hamilton’s car – but had to be told the team couldn’t let him know because of the FIA’s restrictions on the content of radio messages.
It was a frustrating weekend for the Renault-engined cars – not just Red Bull but Toro Rosso as well, and rookie Max Verstappen made his dissatisfaction with the power unit clear during practice.
Life was even more difficult at McLaren. Jenson Button tried to bring some cheer to the team at the end of the race after they were the only team to see the chequered flag but fail to score a point. Earlier on during practice Button had also pointed out an encouraging early sign of the MP4-30’s cornering performance.
Review highlights of some of the notable team messages broadcast during the Australian Grand Prix weekend below.
First practice
Sesson | From | To | Message |
---|---|---|---|
FP1 | Max Verstappen | Xevi Pujolar | The engine is breaking down a lot. |
FP1 | Romain Grosjean | Julien Simon-Chautemps | The level of power is really low. |
FP1 | Julien Simon-Chautemps | Romain Grosjean | OK copy that, we will have a look. |
FP1 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | You can do a normal-paced in-lap, Nico. |
FP1 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | What does ‘normal’ mean? Push? |
FP1 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Affirm, push. |
FP1 | Nico Hulkenberg | Brad Joyce | I’ve got a lot of limiter action on up-shifts. The brake judder is still there, not so good. |
FP1 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | Note: No out-lap page |
FP1 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Copy, copy. So tyre temps are ten all around. Brakes starting to come up. |
FP1 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | Actually, correction, I do have it, it just doesn’t indicate the gear learning. So, correction, I do have the out-lap page. |
FP1 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | Note: I’m doing a bad job with the engine management. Keep an eye on that, keep pushing me. |
FP1 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Copy, copy. |
FP1 | Jonathan Eddolls | Valtteri Bottas | And obviously the wind as you said is having an effect. What woul;d you say, trying to ignore the wind, would be the main balance limitation of the car at the moment. |
FP1 | Valtteri Bottas | Jonathan Eddolls | For me it’s both understeer and oversteer because turn one was particularly oversteery, then turn three I’m losing a lot of time because of understeer. It’s the same, changing corner by corner, so I really cannot choose one. |
FP1 | Max Verstappen | Xevi Pujolar | I went off in turn one, that’s why that was not good. |
FP1 | Xevi Pujolar | Max Verstappen | Understood, copy that, we saw that. |
FP1 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | OK Lewis practice pit entry but we will use these tyres again, make sure the magic is cancelled. |
FP1 | Daniel Ricciardo | Simon Rennie | The drive-ability’s really tricky. Tip-in’s really aggressive. |
FP1 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | Need to practice the start because putting the throttle down is very different, the throttle map is very different, so I’m not doing very good starts at the moment. |
FP1 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | OK Lewis you’ve taken the flag so just watch out for the Virtual Safety Car. |
FP1 | Max Verstappen | Xevi Pujolar | It’s almost impossible to drive with this engine! |
FP1 | Xevi Pujolar | Max Verstappen | Copy that. |
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Second practice
Sesson | From | To | Message |
---|---|---|---|
FP2 | Marcus Ericsson | Erik Schuivens | Really strange feeling on the brakes. |
FP2 | Erik Schuivens | Marcus Ericsson | OK, copy that. |
FP2 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | DRS does not work. |
FP2 | Tom Stallard | Kevin Magnussen | Magnussen crashed at turn six. Kevin are you OK? |
FP2 | Kevin Magnussen | Tom Stallard | Yeah I’m completely fine. |
FP2 | Marcus Ericsson | Erik Schuivens | The shifts are very slow. |
FP2 | Jenson Button | Mark Temple | I seem to have got a lot of understeer in the car, a lot of understeer. |
FP2 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | I have no information on the gears, again the out-lap page didn’t work I believe. I need to know that before the start. |
FP2 | Kimi Raikkonen | David Greenwood | The front was a little bit better now but still not ideal. And also not very good lap but it’s going in the right direction. |
FP2 | David Greenwood | Kimi Raikkonen | OK copy, understood Kimi. |
FP2 | Mark Temple | Jenson Button | Jenson we lost a bit of time starting the session late, I suggest if you’ve got a feel or this that we box and we’ll do the rear wing gurney and we’ll get onto the option tyre. |
FP2 | Erik Schuivens | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber did not run in first practice and in the second session Ericsson limped back to the pits with an obvious suspension problem. OK the smoke is coming from the tyre, Marcus, it’s rubbing on the bodywork. If you can make it back, we can make it back. |
FP2 | Marcus Ericsson | Erik Schuivens | Yeah I can make it back really slow. |
FP2 | Erik Schuivens | Marcus Ericsson | OK, copy that. |
FP2 | Pastor Maldonado | Mark Slade | There is no more power. |
FP2 | Mark Slade | Pastor Maldonado | OK Pastor, we need to box. |
FP2 | Nico Hulkenberg | Brad Joyce | We should go soon before we hit some long-runners. |
FP2 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | That’s true Nico but we’ve got a bit of an issue, just sorting out the front wing. I’d rather get that right. |
FP2 | Nico Hulkenberg | Brad Joyce | Having been delayed in joining the track for his run on the soft tyres, Hulkenberg didn’t feel the need to do an extra lap one them. I’m going to box this lap. |
FP2 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | You don’t want to see if the tyres get any better for the final one? I don’t mind, it’s up to you. |
FP2 | Nico Hulkenberg | Brad Joyce | I’m pretty sure they don’t. |
FP2 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Feedback on the start, box for another start. |
FP2 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | Start was very good, just a little bit too much wheel spin later on for some reason. |
FP2 | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | That start was worse. Under-engaged. |
FP2 | Nico Hulkenberg | Brad Joyce | What have you done with the aero balance? |
FP2 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | The aero balance has been left as is, unchanged from previous run. |
FP2 | Kimi Raikkonen | David Greenwood | The clutch is doing it again. I don’t know, are you guys putting it in the wrong position or we have some issue with it? |
FP2 | David Greenwood | Kimi Raikkonen | OK understood, we’ll have a look. |
FP2 | Kimi Raikkonen | David Greenwood | Now the front wing feels better but maybe it would OK to take a half out. Or shall we leave it, what do you think? |
FP2 | David Greenwood | Kimi Raikkonen | Let’s remove a half, Kimi. We’ll remove a half. |
FP2 | Kimi Raikkonen | David Greenwood | Yeah. |
FP2 | Marco Matassa | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Yellow turn 15. |
FP2 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Marco Matassa | Yes it was me. |
FP2 | Marco Matassa | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ah yes, I saw you. |
FP2 | Gianpiero Lambiase | Daniil Kvyat | So pace update Dany, we’re looking for mid-to-low 1’33s. |
FP2 | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | Hamilton was puzzled by his car’s handling on the first day, when he was slower than Rosberg. Yeah, something doesn’t make sense. |
FP2 | Kimi Raikkonen | David Greenwood | How is the lap time? |
FP2 | David Greenwood | Kimi Raikkonen | Last lap was half a second quicker than Vettel. Obviously he’s on the other tyre. |
FP2 | David Greenwood | Kimi Raikkonen | OK Kimi update on pace: Very similar pace to Bottas at the minute, sometimes we’re slightly quicker, sometimes we’re slightly slower, but very similar. |
FP2 | David Greenwood | Kimi Raikkonen | And fuel seven, Kimi, fuel seven, it’s quite severe fuel saving. |
FP2 | Mark Temple | Jenson Button | And Jenson Orange E10 is the map for lift-and-coast. |
FP2 | Jonathan Eddolls | Valtteri Bottas | Stop fuel-save. |
FP2 | Tim Wright | Sergio Perez | Deg is still low. Pace compared to Ferrari, we are closer on long run than short run. |
FP2 | Jenson Button | Mark Temple | I lost a lot of power. |
FP2 | Mark Temple | Jenson Button | OK Jenson we’re looking at it. OK we need to box please, cool the car. |
FP2 | Jenson Button | Mark Temple | That was actually quite interesting with other cars on the circuit. I know it’s the second-slowest car to us but the Force India was struggling to keep up through corners. |
FP2 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | And give us feedback on the start. |
FP2 | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | It was good. |
FP2 | Nico Hulkenberg | Brad Joyce | I have a very good rhythm and felt quite comfy. Stability was quite OK for once. |
FP2 | Kimi Raikkonen | David Greenwood | OK radio check |
FP2 | David Greenwood | Kimi Raikkonen | OK loud and clear, Kimi, loud and clear. |
FP2 | Kimi Raikkonen | David Greenwood | I cannot hear you, it’s not loud enough, I cannot hear you at all. |
FP2 | David Greenwood | Kimi Raikkonen | OK, understood, switch back to normal radio if you can hear me. |
FP2 | Kimi Raikkonen | David Greenwood | It’s pointless to have this radio when it’s like this, it doesn’t help at all, it’s just carrying a weight. Either we fix it or we take it out. |
FP2 | David Greenwood | Kimi Raikkonen | Understood. |
Third practice
Sesson | From | To | Message |
---|---|---|---|
FP3 | Daniil Kvyat | Gianpiero Lambiase | Something is wrong with the engine. It was pushing me a lot in the braking. |
FP3 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | These are new brakes so just warm the brakes up on the install, just make sure everything’s working OK. We’ve also got a new plank fitted, I’ll remind you again. |
FP3 | Simon Rennie | Daniel Ricciardo | Poor power delivery from the Renault engine blighted Red Bull all weekend. How is the engine under braking? |
FP3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Simon Rennie | Braking’s OK just throttle. Really bad drive-ability. |
FP3 | Simon Rennie | Daniel Ricciardo | OK, understood. |
FP3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Simon Rennie | Box this lap. Drive-ability’s really bad. |
FP3 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | Not able to use ERS out of the last corner. |
FP3 | Jenson Button | Mark Temple | The balance isn’t there, we’ve got too much oversteer. |
FP3 | Daniil Kvyat | Gianpiero Lambiase | Yeah I was a lot down in sector one because of the yellow. And drive-ability is quite on the edge. |
FP3 | Riccardo Adami | Sebastian Vettel | It’s not clear what Vettel is referring to here – presumably he felt he was held up by Hamilton during one of the Friday sessions. Watch for Hamilton behind you. |
FP3 | Sebastian Vettel | Riccardo Adami | Do you think we should pay back for yesterday? |
FP3 | Xevi Pujolar | Max Verstappen | OK what do you feel now? |
FP3 | Max Verstappen | Xevi Pujolar | It’s just pushing and I can’t rotate the car. |
FP3 | Max Verstappen | Xevi Pujolar | I come in now, this is not good. |
FP3 | Xevi Pujolar | Max Verstappen | Copy that. |
FP3 | Erik Schuivens | Marcus Ericsson | With less than 20 minutes to go, Ericsson spun at the exit of turn 12 without hitting anything. Marcus, you OK? |
FP3 | Marcus Ericsson | Erik Schuivens | Yeah, all OK. |
FP3 | Erik Schuivens | Marcus Ericsson | Car is fine, question? |
FP3 | Marcus Ericsson | Erik Schuivens | We need to box, the tyres are done. |
FP3 | Erik Schuivens | Marcus Ericsson | Copy, box this lap. |
FP3 | Simon Rennie | Daniel Ricciardo | I had a little bit more front grip but as the run went on, just started to hurt the rears, late entry. |
FP3 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | A lot of problems with the engine like hesitations when I’m shifting from fourth to fifth gear. |
FP3 | Xevi Pujolar | Max Verstappen | How is the balance now? |
FP3 | Max Verstappen | Xevi Pujolar | It’s still very difficult. Sometimes oversteer, sometimes understeer. But I didn’t push like it should be in my fastest lap just because I wanted to make a clean lap. |
Qualifying
Sesson | From | To | Message |
---|---|---|---|
Q1 | Daniel Ricciardo | Simon Rennie | Locked the left-front in turn 15. Not sure why, lost me a lot of grip. Drive-ability’s worse than P3. |
Q1 | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | The vibration is pretty big on these tyres. |
Q1 | Valtteri Bottas | Jonathan Eddolls | What time do we need? |
Q1 | Jonathan Eddolls | Valtteri Bottas | We need another half second if we can. |
Q1 | Mark Temple | Jenson Button | The McLarens were the slowest cars to set times and were eliminated in Q1 along with the Manors, which did not run, and Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber. Jenson we leapfrogged Kevin there but unfortunately we are half-a-tenth slower than Ericsson and out. |
Q2 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | The tyres have cooled down in the garage so you’re going to have to really work at making temperature in those. They’re lower than desired. |
Q2 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | Problem with the engine it cuts into turn 15 on the entry in second gear. |
Q2 | Kimi Raikkonen | David Greenwood | Are we going out again? |
Q2 | David Greenwood | Kimi Raikkonen | I think we’re getting ready to run, Kimi. |
Q2 | Max Verstappen | Xevi Pujolar | Verstappen failed to make the cut for Q3, unlike his team mate. I had a big moment out of turn five. |
Q2 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Marco Matassa | Are we going to Q3? |
Q2 | Marco Matassa | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Yes. |
Q2 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Marco Matassa | Nice one. |
Q3 | Jonathan Eddolls | Valtteri Bottas | Are they improving Valtteri, the brakes? |
Q3 | Valtteri Bottas | Jonathan Eddolls | Not really, it’s a poor bite. |
Q3 | Kimi Raikkonen | David Greenwood | This tyre doesn’t feel right, very poor grip. |
Q3 | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | Generally all the tyres have had some kind of vibration. |
Q3 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Nice work Lewis, that P1. Well done there mate. Six-tenths to Nico P2. |
Race
Sesson | From | To | Message |
---|---|---|---|
R | Julien Simon-Chautemps | Romain Grosjean | Magnussen stopped with an engine failure on his lap to the grid. For your information McLaren blew up an engine turn seven so there is yellow turn seven and there might be oil on track, so turn six seven yellow. |
R | Daniil Kvyat | Gianpiero Lambiase | Kvyat also failed to make it as far as the start of the race, though not for a lack of trying. Gearbox is gone I’m in the gravel. I’ll try to get back to the box. |
R | Gianpiero Lambiase | Daniil Kvyat | OK Dany can we have mode one then please and try to limp home. |
R | Daniil Kvyat | Gianpiero Lambiase | Some went in the braking. Now the gearbox came back. I’m in the gravel so we might need to clean the car. |
R | Gianpiero Lambiase | Daniil Kvyat | Dany please go direct to the grid please, we’ll check over the car on the grid. Stay out, direct to the grid. |
R | Jenson Button | Mark Temple | OK the smell was from the Red Bull, not us. Straight to grid. |
R | Gianpiero Lambiase | Daniil Kvyat | Do not use fifth gear, Dany, stay in sixth or above if you can. |
R | Daniil Kvyat | Gianpiero Lambiase | I’m stuck, I’m stuck. |
R | Gianpiero Lambiase | Daniil Kvyat | Pull the clutch and upshift. |
R | Daniil Kvyat | Gianpiero Lambiase | I’m trying, nothing is happening. Agh… I am in turn 15, I have to stop. |
R | Gianpiero Lambiase | Daniil Kvyat | Stand by Dany. Release the clutch. |
R | Daniil Kvyat | Gianpiero Lambiase | Nothing, I am in neutral. |
R | Gianpiero Lambiase | Daniil Kvyat | OK, stand by. Release the clutch, then re-pull it in, and try to upshift. |
R | Daniil Kvyat | Gianpiero Lambiase | Still nothing. Come on guys, let’s do something. |
R | Gianpiero Lambiase | Daniil Kvyat | You can’t drive it Dany, no? |
R | Daniil Kvyat | Gianpiero Lambiase | No I am stuck. |
R | Gianpiero Lambiase | Daniil Kvyat | Can you downshift Dany? |
R | Daniil Kvyat | Gianpiero Lambiase | I get some response from the engine but it doesn’t work. That’s it, engine is dead. |
R | Felipe Massa | Dave Robson | Bottas did not start the race due to injury but he withdrew early enough for the grid to be reorganised to take his absence into account. Just a question. Is a car here? So the Valtteri space stays empty or somebody… No, somebody’s there right? OK. |
R | Jenson Button | Mark Temple | The screen isn’t working. I try to adjust the G6 but I’m getting nothing on the dash, it says E14 also while I’m in E6. |
R | Mark Temple | Jenson Button | OK Jenson that’s just the launch map overriding it. No problem, set them on the rotary. |
R | Pastor Maldonado | Mark Slade | Maldonado tangled with Felipe Nasr at the first corner and crashed out. Someone crashed me. |
R | Mark Slade | Pastor Maldonado | OK Pastor you got hit from behind. Need to go to P0. |
R | Daniel Ricciardo | Simon Rennie | Just drive-ability, seemed like it got a decent launch then I had massive kicks. Otherwise it was looking alright. |
R | Simon Rennie | Daniel Ricciardo | OK mate, understood. |
R | Romain Grosjean | Julien Simon-Chautemps | Romain Grosjean was forced to retire with an engine problem. There’s no power guys… Is the problem solved? Anything I can do? |
R | Julien Simon-Chautemps | Romain Grosjean | We are trying to have a look, Romain. Try to use low gear and high revs… OK Romain, box this lap, we are retiring the car, sorry about that. |
R | Romain Grosjean | Julien Simon-Chautemps | FOM’s race highlights video show Grosjean also responded “are you kidding me?”. Box. |
R | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Nico, fuel situation improved, level -1. |
R | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | Starting to get caught by Ericsson behind, took 0.8 out of us that lap. |
R | Jenson Button | Mark Temple | I’m struggling with under-rotation on the braking. Under-rotation very poor. |
R | Mark Temple | Jenson Button | Jenson Blue B7. |
R | Craig Gardiner | Felipe Nasr | How are the tyres? |
R | Felipe Nasr | Craig Gardiner | They look OK. |
R | Craig Gardiner | Felipe Nasr | Gap to Ricciardo behind is nine-tenths, if we get another tenth we can get him out of DRS. |
R | Mark Temple | Jenson Button | Perez made contact with Button. Jenson is the car OK? |
R | Jenson Button | Mark Temple | Yeah we took a tap on the front-right but I think it’s OK. |
R | Mark Temple | Jenson Button | Jenson there are only 13 cars in this race there could be points available for finishing. |
R | Jenson Button | Mark Temple | Yep, Roger. |
R | Daniel Ricciardo | Simon Rennie | Just let me know when we get a pit window. Can’t do anything about the Sauber. |
R | Jenson Button | Mark Temple | Struggling with the rear but have been for the last eight laps. If we were to run this tyre again I would come down two turns I think. |
R | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | I touched the wall on the entrance to turn 11, check everything. |
R | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Copy, copy. |
R | Kimi Raikkonen | David Greenwood | I don’t know if I lose part of the front wing just… |
R | David Greenwood | Kimi Raikkonen | OK, understood, I’ll monitor. |
R | Dave Robson | Felipe Massa | Massa dropped behidn Vettel when both made their single pit stops. OK Felipe we need to get past Ricciardo, we need everything we can, this is going to be very tight with Vettel. |
R | Mark Temple | Jenson Button | Box, box. |
R | Jenson Button | Mark Temple | Too late for that, too late. |
R | Mark Temple | Jenson Button | OK Jenson doesn’t matter, stay out, push now. Jenson, Perez has stayed out, that’s ideal for us. |
R | Jenson Button | Mark Temple | Yeah he’s on the [medium] tyre also. |
R | Riccardo Adami | Sebastian Vettel | Is looking good, is looking good. Rosberg and Hamilton pitted already. You are 16 seconds behind race leader. |
R | Jenson Button | Mark Temple | Starting to struggle with these tyres, guys. |
R | Mark Temple | Jenson Button | Understood, Jenson, understood. OK Jenson it’s OK to push the tyre. |
R | Jenson Button | Mark Temple | I’ve been doing that since lap one! Box this lap, box this lap. |
R | Max Verstappen | Xevi Pujolar | My engine sounds heavy. |
R | Xevi Pujolar | Max Verstappen | Stop the car, stop the car on track. |
R | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | So it’s important to save some fuel Nico to attack at the end of the race. |
R | Simon Rennie | Daniel Ricciardo | OK Daniel you are faster than Nasr, let’s have him. |
R | Kimi Raikkonen | David Greenwood | Raikkonen retired after his second pit stop, where wheel nut which had beencross-threaded at his first pit stop did not reattach correctly. Something broke. |
R | David Greenwood | Kimi Raikkonen | OK stop the car Kimi, stop the car and find a safe place to pull off. |
R | Kimi Raikkonen | David Greenwood | Did you leave the wheel loose? |
R | David Greenwood | Kimi Raikkonen | Unfortunately wheel was not tight. I’m sorry, Kimi. |
R | Sebastian Vettel | Riccardo Adami | Harsh drive-ability out of turn three. |
R | Riccardo Adami | Sebastian Vettel | OK copy. |
R | Dave Robson | Felipe Massa | OK Felipe doing a great job. We can still reel Vettel in. And there are nine laps to go, nine more laps. |
R | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | Hamilton was confused by a faulty fuel read-out. How’s my fuel? I’m four bars down. Am I OK to continue as I am or slow down a bit. |
R | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Continue as you are, we’ll get a reference and let you know. |
R | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | Am I OK with fuel? |
R | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Affirm, you are OK. |
R | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | My dash is telling me that I’m about to run out. |
R | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Yeah copy that Lewis just ignore the dash, no need to look at that, there is an error. |
R | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | How’s other car’s fuel? |
R | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | So Nico fuel level plus, can’t give information. |
R | Erik Schuivens | Marcus Ericsson | OK Marcus three laps. Come on, push, get him. |
R | Erik Schuivens | Marcus Ericsson | Last lap, bring it home buddy. |
R | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Nice work Lewis. Beautifully managed. Excellent job, really solid race there. Great stuff. |
R | Paddy Lowe | Lewis Hamilton | Well done Lewis, fantastic drive. That was the 30th Silver Arrows victory. Well done. |
R | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | Incredible job guys, both here this weekend but also everyone back at the factory. Thank you so much for building such an amazing car, thank you. |
R | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Thanks Lewis, great way to kick off the season. |
R | Riccardo Adami | Sebastian Vettel | Yes, yes, P3, well done mate, great job. |
R | Sebastian Vettel | Riccardo Adami | Ragazzi! Forza Ferrari! (Boys! Forward Ferrari) |
R | Maurizio Arrivabene | Sebastian Vettel | Seb, good job, fantastic, well done, grazie. |
R | Sebastian Vettel | Maurizio Arrivabene | Grazie a voi. (Thanks to you.) |
R | Felipe Massa | Dave Robson | That’s a great job Felipe, really nice drive. Sorry we lost out to Vettel at the stop that was… Nonetheless I hope the car was OK to drive and it was a really good result. Great job managing everything. |
R | Dave Robson | Felipe Massa | Yeah sorry for that but was a much better start than last year. Thank you guys for the job and let’s keep pushing for the next races. |
R | Felipe Massa | Dave Robson | Absolutely it’s a really tight battle with Ferrari, we can definitely race them hard in the next races. So great job. |
R | Felipe Nasr | Craig Gardiner | Well done guys, great job, great job. Amazing. |
R | Daniel Ricciardo | Simon Rennie | Thanks anyways boys. Obviously did the best we could I think. Compared to the Sauber was more just a straight line thing. Even with DRS just struggled a lot. |
R | Mark Temple | Jenson Button | Well done, mate. I know that’s not even close to where we want to be but equally we have made a lot of progress today. |
R | Jenson Button | Mark Temple | Yeah obviously at this stage positions don’t matter really unless we’re fighting in the front. So this is a good step forward, guys. This is a very good step forward. Very, very happy with what we’ve achieved here today. Let’s keep pushing and see more and more improvements every time we get out there. Let’s turn this into something good. We can do it. |
R | Mark Temple | Jenson Button | Yep, cheers Jenson, we’ll make it happen, we’re going to make it happen. |
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Australian Grand Prix data
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Team radio transcripts
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Andy (@andycz)
20th March 2015, 12:06
It’s pointless to have this radio when it’s like this, it doesn’t help at all, it’s just carrying a weight. Either we fix it or we take it out.
Kimi is god :-D.
Brian Frank (@brianfrank302)
20th March 2015, 16:27
+1
dragoll (@dragoll)
20th March 2015, 12:27
Even Pastor was surprised that it wasn’t his fault :P
Atticus (@atticus-2)
20th March 2015, 12:56
@dragoll Actually he was more to blame this time around as well – not 100% his fault, part-racing accident, but there’s a bit more on his part.
He was the one who had space to avoid the three-car tangle in T2 – Kimi was right by the left side of the road and Felipe (Nasr) had nowhere to go when Pastor squeezed him as tight against Kimi as he did. Even a full stop wouldn’t have helped the Brazilian avoid the minor collisions with the other two car, although mostly, I’d just assume he didn’t expect Maldonado to leave him as little room as he did in the end. Bottom line is, Pastor could’ve been more careful when he saw it was three-wide into the corner.
In part, it’s a racing accident still as even more skilled drivers than Pastor may fail to correctly judge the speed differentials of two cars, let alone three (Kimi moved in slow motion, Nasr had a wiggly traction and Pastor had miles better acceleration than him in return). So it was a hard situation.
So in the end it’s a part-racing accident, part-another Maldonado error.
dragoll (@dragoll)
20th March 2015, 13:08
@atticus-2 So are you suggesting that Nico vs Hamilton in Spa 2014 was partly Ham’s fault because he put his car in a position where it could be hit? From my point of view, its the driver from behind that has more options than the driver in the front who can’t see whats in his blind spots.
Patrickl (@patrickl)
20th March 2015, 13:35
The point is that Both Nasr and Kimi had no place to go and there was plenty space for him on the right. So no reason for Maldonado to squeeze Nasr into Raikkonen like that.
Completely different from Spa where there was only space for one car through that corner and Rosberg knew up front that he was never going to make that move stick anyway.
Alex
20th March 2015, 14:32
Or Nasr could have used his brakes, how about that?.
Crazy, huh?
Mads (@mads)
20th March 2015, 17:53
Alex
Sorry, but that is quite frankly a ridiculous suggestion.
Hitting the brakes in an acceleration zone with half the grid behind you is the perfect recipe for a massive accident.
Mads (@mads)
20th March 2015, 17:54
sorry about the bold section. I messed that up quite badly.. oops.
Strontium (@strontium)
20th March 2015, 18:44
Maldonado was well ahead, he a clear route out of the corner. It’s not his fault if others crash into him.
Atticus (@atticus-2)
20th March 2015, 16:26
@dragoll Nope, because – as I said and you obviously conveniently disregarded – Nasr had next to zero chance of backing out of the situation, I doubt he would have been able to even if he applied full brakes, whereas Rosberg has space to back out of the situation.
It’s practically what @patrickl said right above me here, I basically 100% agree with him.
Saiesh (@saiesh)
20th March 2015, 13:36
“Even Pastor was surprised that it wasn’t his fault :P”
Brilliant. Just choked on my coffee white reading that….
Palle (@palle)
20th March 2015, 21:18
Having seen it numerous times I’m convinced it was Maldonado’s lack of spatial awareness, which was the cause of the accident – he should have known that he had 2 cars on the inside there and left room for them – they were not moving into a too narrow space, Maldonado came on the outside and squeezed them – he will probably never be able to have a wheel to wheel fight with another driver through consecutive turns without contact.
Blunders (@blunders)
20th March 2015, 12:30
At the end of the race, looks like you’ve got Massa and Dave Robson the wrong way round.
Good stuff though, I love reading these. Particularly enjoyed Jenson’s “I’ve been doing that since lap one!”
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
20th March 2015, 14:35
@blunders Also the dispute over who smelt it and who dealt it…
iAltair (@)
20th March 2015, 15:06
Vettel’s radio was very quiet.
Tim M (@tim-m)
20th March 2015, 16:13
Conversely, we’re hearing a lot more from Kimi. I’m not sure if he’s talking more, or we’re just hearing more, though. I wonder if Fernando’s radio will be more or less quiet than his time at Ferrari.
Edgar
20th March 2015, 16:41
Just like Alonso’s was the last couple of years.
I suspect we aren’t going to hear from Vettel for a long time!
rm
20th March 2015, 20:10
I look forward this year to finally hearing what Alonso has to say during a race! Or am I being too optimistic?
hobo (@hobo)
20th March 2015, 15:40
@keithcollantine – Is there a reason that the lap number is not indicated in the race portion? That is always helpful for context.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
20th March 2015, 15:56
@hobo The problem is because the messages are delayed in the broadcast it’s not possible to be specific about when a message took place, only when it was broadcast. It was clear on occasions last year people didn’t realise this and were getting confused.
hobo (@hobo)
20th March 2015, 15:59
@keithcollantine Got it. They did seem extra delayed this year as well. I thought perhaps last year that the lap data you used was available from someone (FIA, transcript) after the fact and that’s how they were added. But what you said makes sense.
Steve Dennison (@routrax)
20th March 2015, 20:37
It would be nice to see the lap number, even if it was when it was broadcast. It adds a little bit of context, even if it’s not too accurate.
I feel like it’s harder to read without.
Atticus (@atticus-2)
20th March 2015, 22:19
I agree.
John H (@john-h)
20th March 2015, 19:56
“How’s the other car’s fuel?”
“Sorry can’t give information.”
Story of 2015 right there.
DR
20th March 2015, 23:30
Love these comments, do you seriously think it doesn’t go both ways, and Lewis would have poured over Nico’s data after all the practice sessions where it appeared Nico had a bit of an advantage?
Please they are a team, just stop it with the silly “Nico steals Lewis’ data” garbage. Its childish finger pointing, and what’s worse, Its very selective to make it appear one sided. Whay can’t some Lewis fans be happy when he wins without having to be vindictive towards other drivers for no reason?
DR
20th March 2015, 23:30
would have = wouldn’t have, sorry.
AmbroseRPM (@ambroserpm)
20th March 2015, 22:14
I thought that Jenson’s race engineer was Tom Stallard not Mark Temple?
Peppermint-Lemon (@)
21st March 2015, 10:13
Changed last year I think