Since the FIA introduced rules restricting what drivers can be told on the radios, one driver appears to have found this more of a constraint than others.
In Malaysia as in Australia Nico Rosberg was heard asking for information which his race engineer could not pass on to him. “Can’t help you with lines, Nico” he was told when asking for advice on how to drive his final flying lap in Q3.
As we only hear selected radio messages which are chosen for broadcast it’s not possible to be certain that Rosberg is experiencing this situation more than other drivers. And the number of radio messages being played in the television broadcasts and on Formula One Management’s revamped website has fallen since last year, though that may change in races to come.
Here’s a selection of the messages which were broadcast last weekend.
First practice
| Session | From | To | Message |
|---|---|---|---|
| FP1 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Marco Matassa | OK some early feedback. Drive-ability big, big step forward. Big step forward on drive-ability. And the track very, very dirty. |
| FP1 | Marco Matassa | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Understood. |
| FP1 | Josh Peckett | Will Stevens | Manor got both their cars on track for the first time in 2015. OK Will so you are the only car on track. No traffic, free track. Go to multi position three, gearbox two now, Will. And SA6 please, Will. |
| FP1 | Max Verstappen | Xevi Pujolar | It’s really hard for the tyre, now. Out of turn nine I had a lot of traction problems. I lost three or four tenths, there. |
| FP1 | Xevi Pujolar | Max Verstappen | Understood, we saw it. |
| FP1 | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | Hamilton stopped at the turn nine hairpin. There was a click in the rear and the gears still worked. I just pulled over and stopped as you told me to, I would have made it back. |
| FP1 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Yeah Lewis we just haven’t got any telemetry mate so we’re just a bit worried as this is as it’s a race engine. We’ve just got to make sure we don’t have ourselves over. |
| FP1 | Daniil Kvyat | Gianpiero Lambiase | Some pushing under braking, abort the lap, abort the lap. |
| FP1 | Gianpiero Lambiase | Daniil Kvyat | Copy. |
| FP1 | Daniil Kvyat | Gianpiero Lambiase | Yeah I already lost the power in turn five again. |
| FP1 | Gianpiero Lambiase | Daniil Kvyat | Yeah understood. That’s because we tried two laps in a row there, we didn’t quite recover enough during that final phase of the first timed lap. |
| FP1 | Jenson Button | Tom Stallard | Do you need another lap? |
| FP1 | Tom Stallard | Jenson Button | Jenson if you’ve got a good feel we can box, box this lap. |
| FP1 | Jenson Button | Tom Stallard | Well I haven’t got a good feel but I’m not going to get a good feel, I think, with this. |
| FP1 | Tom Stallard | Jenson Button | OK, understood. Will one more lap teach you anything? |
| FP1 | Jenson Button | Tom Stallard | No. |
| FP1 | Tom Stallard | Jenson Button | OK. Yellow G2 and box this lap. |
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Second practice
| Session | From | To | Message |
|---|---|---|---|
| FP2 | Sergio Perez | Tim Wright | I have very poor up shift from second to third, it’s upsetting the car a lot. |
| FP2 | Fernando Alonso | Mark Temple | I don’t need more laps with these tyres if you want to ancitipate anything. |
| FP2 | Mark Temple | Fernando Alonso | OK, let’s push, do one more laps as an in lap, push on that lap so we can get some aero data. |
| FP2 | Jenson Button | Tom Stallard | Yeah second to third up shift is very poor, also. |
| FP2 | Tom Stallard | Jenson Button | Copy that Jenson so up shifts and down shifts from second were poor. Barney’s aware, he’s looking at it. Front brakes are hot so cool the brakes on the in-lap please. |
| FP2 | Roberto Merhi | Nicholas Perrinn | Merhi’s session came to an end when he spun into the gravel at turn 11. I did a spin in the corner. |
| FP2 | Nicholas Perrinn | Roberto Merhi | OK, we can see that. Can you switch off the engine. |
| FP2 | Sebastian Vettel | Riccardo Adami | After the session resumed Vettel spun in the same place but kept going. OK box I spun in turn 11. |
| FP2 | Riccardo Adami | Sebastian Vettel | Are the tyres OK? |
| FP2 | Sebastian Vettel | Riccardo Adami | They’re pretty flat-spotted. I would change the order so I would prefer to do the long-run on [hards]. |
| FP2 | Riccardo Adami | Sebastian Vettel | OK copy. |
| FP2 | Fernando Alonso | Mark Temple | I cannot see any fuel, only ‘+1000’ all the time. So tell me if I need to change anything. |
| FP2 | Mark Temple | Fernando Alonso | OK, we’re looking into that. |
| FP2 | Valtteri Bottas | Jonathan Eddolls | Just the overall grip is really, really poor. And the rear is very snappy. And from this lap onwards, more deg. |
| FP2 | Valtteri Bottas | Jonathan Eddolls | The tyres are not working at all. |
| FP2 | Jonathan Eddolls | Valtteri Bottas | Copy that, we see that. Box now. We’ll fit the [medium]. Talk to me about the balance, do you want a front wing adjust? |
| FP2 | Valtteri Bottas | Jonathan Eddolls | Minus two. |
| FP2 | Will Stevens | Josh Peckett | I’ve got a slight flat spot on my front left. |
| FP2 | Josh Peckett | Will Stevens | OK mate, understood, we’ll monitor it. |
| FP2 | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | Some sort of vibration in the car since I’ve been out this last run. It doesn’t feel like it’s in the tyres, could be somewhere else. |
Third practice
| Session | From | To | Message |
|---|---|---|---|
| FP3 | Kimi Raikkonen | David Greenwood | Raikkonen felt Grosjean was holding him up. This guy has just tried to go inside of me when I try to pass him, he just turned in. |
| FP3 | Max Verstappen | Xevi Pujolar | And also traction compared to yesterday very poor. |
| FP3 | Xevi Pujolar | Max Verstappen | OK. What do you think the level of stiffness and balance compared to yesterday? |
| FP3 | Max Verstappen | Xevi Pujolar | I don’t like it. |
| FP3 | Xevi Pujolar | Max Verstappen | Copy that. |
| FP3 | Jenson Button | Tom Stallard | Initial pick-up on the throttle is not easy. |
| FP3 | Tom Stallard | Jenson Button | Yeah we can see that in the data. It also looked like the snap oversteer in turn 11 mid-corner was caused by a dab on the brakes so just watch out for that. |
| FP3 | Daniil Kvyat | Gianpiero Lambiase | We made a step back. Is there a chance to come back on set-up and give it another go? |
| FP3 | Gianpiero Lambiase | Daniil Kvyat | We’ll talk about it back in the garage, Danny. |
| FP3 | Marco Matassa | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Let’s keep the position, keep the position to Ricciardo, don’t let him by. |
| FP3 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Marco Matassa | Is Ricciardo in a push lap? |
| FP3 | Marco Matassa | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Yes but keep the position. |
Qualifying
| Session | From | To | Message |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Max Verstappen | Xevi Pujolar | I had a lot of rear locking and traction problems. |
| Q1 | Xevi Pujolar | Max Verstappen | Copy that. |
| Q1 | Nico Hulkenberg | Brad Joyce | Oh I can see the thunder is very close to us. Going to chuck down soon. |
| Q1 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | Copy that Nico. |
| Q2 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | Rain was imminent as Q2 began. How urgent to do a fast out-lap? |
| Q2 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Very urgent, Nico, important, first lap will be it. |
| Q2 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Rosberg seems to have been given this message on his flying lap, probably on the straight before the last corner. So there’s good chance of slippery surface last corner. You’re up, so just take it easier. |
| Q2 | David Greenwood | Kimi Raikkonen | OK so unfortunately Kimi we are P11. Obviously now with the rain it’s going to be impossible to improve on that position. |
| Q2 | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | You guys got me out, got us out too far behind everyone. |
| Q2 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Yeah Lewis engine didn’t fire up for some reason. We’ll investigate afterwards. |
| Q3 | Valtteri Bottas | Jonathan Eddolls | We need to be in the last lap on the inter, make sure. New inter in the last lap. |
| Q3 | Jonathan Eddolls | Valtteri Bottas | Copy. |
| Q3 | Romain Grosjean | Julien Simon-Chautemps | Grosjean hadn’t driven the new Lotus in the rain conditions before. He started the session on full wet weather tyres then switched to interediates but ran out of time to set his flying lap on them. Now box? |
| Q3 | Julien Simon-Chautemps | Romain Grosjean | Yes, yes, track 2, torque 12. Box this lap. |
| Q3 | Romain Grosjean | Julien Simon-Chautemps | OK, nox this lap. Very strange. |
| Q3 | Alan Permane | Romain Grosjean | Romain we’ll explain it after, this is the way to go for sure, I promise you. |
| Q3 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | Not for the first time, Rosberg coes up against the limits of what drivers can’t be told on the radio under the current rules. The guy who’s on first, is he doing dry lines nearly anywhere? Even braking? |
| Q3 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Can’t help you with lines, Nico. |
| Q3 | Riccardo Adami | Sebastian Vettel | Well done, really happy… |
| Q3 | Sebastian Vettel | Riccardo Adami | Not again! Not again, after last year, same! One tenth! Really happy guys. Great reaction in difficult conditions. |
| R | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Nice work Lewis, P1 mate, you did it with that first lap. |
2015 Malaysian Grand Prix
| Session | From | To | Message |
|---|---|---|---|
| R | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | For future reference, be good to have someone, something to try and keep my steering wheel cool. It’s roasting. |
| R | Nico Hulkenberg | Brad Joyce | Woah, mega first lap so far! |
| R | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | What’s the scenario up ahead in terms of positions and tyres? |
| R | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | OK so you are currently P6. You are the first [hard] runner, the first guy to stop, obviously, so you have Vettel, Hulkenberg, Grosjean, Sainz, Perez all on [medium] tyres ahead. |
| R | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | OK Lewis so Vettel the car ahead, you are P2, he’s ten seconds up the road, he is yet to stop. |
| R | Nico Hulkenberg | Brad Joyce | I’m in the cleanest air you can possible have and these guys are all over us. |
| R | Kimi Raikkonen | David Greenwood | OK Kimi race situation we are P6, Massa and Bottas infrotn,we expect them to stop soon, we still have a good chance of fourth. Pace is very, very good. Very good pace. |
| R | Riccardo Adami | Sebastian Vettel | Update on tyre appearance: Tyre appearance in first stint was good, it’s looking positive. |
| R | Xevi Pujolar | Max Verstappen | OK do not fight with Raikkonen, look after tyres. You think you can do five more laps? |
| R | Max Verstappen | Xevi Pujolar | I don’t know. |
| R | Xevi Pujolar | Max Verstappen | Copy that. |
| R | Various voices | Sebastian Vettel | Yes, yes, great drive, well done. Numero uno, top class. Ferrari’s back. Fantasico, grande Seb. |
| R | Sebastian Vettel | Riccardo Adami | Woohoo! Yes! Si, ragazzi. Grazie mille ragazzi. Forza Ferrari! (Thanks very much boys, forward Ferrari!) |
Follow F1 Fanatic Live on Twitter for commentary during all live F1 sessions.
Malaysian Grand Prix data
- 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops
- 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix lap charts
- 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix lap times and fastest laps
2015 Malaysian Grand Prix
- Emphatic Driver of the Weekend win for Vettel
- F1 bounces back with lively Malaysian Grand Prix
- 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix fans’ video gallery
- 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix team radio highlights
- 2015 Malaysian GP Predictions Championship results
Team radio transcripts
- “Am I dead last now?” Unheard radio from Hamilton’s disastrous Qatar GP
- Verstappen was fighting tyre graining, not his rivals, in title-winning drive
- ‘Being nice f**** me over’: Leclerc’s radio anger and Sainz’s criticism explained
- “That’s how we silence them”: Verstappen’s stunning Brazil win from start to finish
- “I’m trying not to die”: Bearman urged team to warn FIA over Brazilian GP conditions
Philip (@philipgb)
1st April 2015, 12:47
I think there is some race chatter missing.
MattDS (@mattds)
1st April 2015, 13:08
@philipgb indeed, I was especially looking out for the messages given to Rosberg and Hamilton during the race saying they would catch Vettel.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
1st April 2015, 13:23
@philipgb As it says in the article, this is a selection of the messages which were broadcast.
Sven (@crammond)
1st April 2015, 13:27
@keithcollantine Does that indicate there is a separate article on the way on what happened at Merc?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
1st April 2015, 13:40
@crammond That was covered in some detail on Sunday – in fact all three of the regular data articles had a Mercedes angle which is pretty unusual:
Mercedes couldn’t sustain their Ferrari-beating pace
How Mercedes’ Safety Car strategy backfired
Mercedes’ race problems began in qualifying
And as I say there was far less radio traffic broadcast to begin with so there isn’t the scope to do something like this article after Bahrain last year:
How Mercedes made it a fair fight between Hamilton and Rosberg
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
2nd April 2015, 12:37
@keithcollantine I wanted to show to some people that there was hard proof Rosberg was indeed going for a one stop, prime/prime, after the SC because his engineer told him so. Not really bothered with reading every sentence though…
Philip (@philipgb)
1st April 2015, 13:39
@keithcollantine
Ah, I thought it was just an over site missing out the actual ‘highlights’ with Hamiltons qualifying message accidentally being included in the race transcript :-)
Sven (@crammond)
1st April 2015, 13:21
Yes. Including all the messages where Merc-engineers told their drivers they were on plan for winning.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
1st April 2015, 13:25
@crammond I want to see where Rosberg is being told he’s going to do a one stop after the SC pitstop going prime/prime.
DaveW (@dmw)
1st April 2015, 17:34
I wanted to hear the discussion meant for Rosberg that was open-miked to Hamilton, the explanation of which in turn ticked off Hamilton mightily. That wasn’t clear from the NBC broadcast. But it’s hard to complain about this summary considering the work that goes into it and how interesting it is.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
2nd April 2015, 9:46
@philipgb @crammond @xtwl @dmw Are you interested in seeing more of the messages which were included in the main race broadcast, regardless of whether you’ve heard them already? I tend to not bother with a lot of those on the assumption that everyone’s already familiar with them, but if that’s not the case it’s no problem to include more of them in future articles.
Michael Ingraham
2nd April 2015, 12:49
Yes, at least for the race. Perhaps qualifying too. I think the “off line” radio transmissions can give some insight to what was happening in the race.
Sven (@crammond)
2nd April 2015, 20:02
I´ve now assembled those through the various articles, so I don´t think bothering for this particular race would be worthwile. On a general note I do like it to have them all accessible in one place, as as far as I remember it has been before this race. I do appreciate you asking, though.
JCost (@jcost)
1st April 2015, 13:20
Red Bull was suppose to act like Renault’s factory team but it’s Toro Rosso that is making better use of (though under-powered) Renault PU… overall, TR package is looking stronger than RB.
Matthijs (@matthijs)
1st April 2015, 14:13
The very first comment Carlos Sainz makes is that the driveability is a big step forward. I read it that Renault made a big step forward regarding driveability. If so, Red Bull must have felt that too?
David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
1st April 2015, 16:01
@jcost In all fairness Caterham’s package was stronger than RBR’s during testing last year.
OK, Race 2 is hardly a testing weekend, but surely the same principles do apply?
Todfod (@todfod)
1st April 2015, 13:51
The Mclaren drivers seem to be having some really depressing conversations with the pitwall
Patrickl (@patrickl)
1st April 2015, 13:58
Lol, is that Hulkenberg describing holding up a long line of cars?
It’s like that joke of the old people towing a caravan hearing on the radio that there is a traffic jam on their road and they can’t see it.
Nase (@)
1st April 2015, 18:38
@patrickl
I think this was his way of describing to the team how badly they need to improve the car, as he did manage to get into an excellent track position, but then realised that practically everyone else was faster than him. Even Jenson Button noticed that while catching up on cars that were held up by Hülkenberg.
SatchelCharge (@satchelcharge)
1st April 2015, 14:36
I’m so sad about how few messages they gave us. I love these radio articles you put together for us Keith… The new F1.com is disappointment after disappointment. Honestly they old one was totally fine and didn’t feel outdated to me at all. They could easily have squeezed another 3-4 years out of it.
DaveW (@dmw)
1st April 2015, 17:36
And the app is useless. It crashes if you look at it funny.
Park
1st April 2015, 19:26
Totally agree on F1 .com!
They are just pushing F1 Access.
Andrea
1st April 2015, 14:41
What’s the point of the column “Sesson”?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
1st April 2015, 17:46
It provides a link to each specific comment, for example here’s Kvyat saying Red Bull went backwards on set-up on Saturday morning.
lubhz (@lubhz)
1st April 2015, 15:04
@keithcollantine I wish we had more transcripts from the race. I was particularly interested in what was being said between Massa, Bottas and their engineers on the last 3 laps of the race.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
1st April 2015, 17:43
@lubhz Perhaps less is being broadcast at the moment simply because they’ve just put all these new systems in place and they’re still bedding in, in which case it will improve as the season goes on. If not I agree it would be a shame.
Mashiat (@mashiat)
1st April 2015, 15:35
I was right! Stella isn’t Alonso’s engineer? Why though? Is he on gardening leave from Ferrari?
mantresx (@mantresx)
1st April 2015, 17:05
That’s a bit strange I’m sure I’ve seen him on the McLaren pitwall
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
1st April 2015, 20:51
@mashiat I’m pretty sure he is there with him.
Mashiat (@mashiat)
2nd April 2015, 9:24
@xtwl Maybe as a performance engineer? Or in a higher position despite moving to another team because of their driver like Massa and Smedley at Williams.
drmouse (@drmouse)
1st April 2015, 15:44
Thank’s for the article, Keith, but this just seems poor compared to last year. I know it’s not your fault, but I’m very disappointed.
I loved the detailed transcripts from last season. They gave a great insight into what was going on behind the scenes. It’s such a shame they aren’t available…
David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
1st April 2015, 16:02
@keithcollantine I thought Vettel “sang” blue flags at one point?
Mashiat (@mashiat)
1st April 2015, 16:12
@davidnotcoulthard He did. And got a grammy for it.
Paulo Ruiz (@omegadetra)
1st April 2015, 16:26
The biggest album of 2015: Paddock Blues by Sebastian Vettel, featuring the hit single “Blue Flags.”
rm
1st April 2015, 17:25
“It’s not fair”, Hamilton was heard to complain, “I’m a much better singer than he is!”
mike
2nd April 2015, 19:24
Rapper
mantresx (@mantresx)
1st April 2015, 17:10
“Forza Ferrari” is better translated as “Ferrari force” maybe not literally but sounds better ;)
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
1st April 2015, 20:51
@mantresx The real question is, does it need translation…
toiago (@toiago)
1st April 2015, 21:03
I think “Go Ferrari” is better. “Ferrari force” doesn’t even make much sense.
liongalahad
2nd April 2015, 6:29
I’m Italian, “Forza Ferrari” doesn’t mean “Ferrari Force” at all, it means “Come on Ferrari!”, or “Go Ferrari!” as @toiago said
Diego (@ironcito)
1st April 2015, 18:58
Isn’t “nice work Lewis, P1 mate” part of qualifying? Or is he being congratulated for lining up on the grid or something?
iFelix (@ifelix)
1st April 2015, 19:14
@keithcollantine
is there going to be a more comprehensive version of race radio chatter as you published in previous years?
vvans
1st April 2015, 19:48
Does anybody know what is going on with that conversation where they tell Carlos Sainz not to let Ricciardo through?
“Let’s keep the position, keep the position to Ricciardo, don’t let him by.”
“Is Ricciardo in a push lap?”
“Yes but keep the position.”
Is that a big deal (especially since the Toro Rosso boy’s are not supposed to get in the way of the Red Bulls)? Or is there nothing strange here?
Joey of the Bacons
1st April 2015, 22:44
Why can’t we have the full radio transcripts anymore?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
2nd April 2015, 8:08
(Also to @ifelix) We could, but the simple fact is at the moment a transcript of all the messages which were broadcast during the race would not add up to much of an article. At a guess I’d say we’d be looking at about 50 messages, whereas last year that number was consistently much higher. That’s why I’ve decided to expand it from just the race to the entire weekend, in order to give the article more substance. As I said, I don’t know why FOM have been broadcasting so much less radio traffic since the season began.
I also felt the previous articles got quite repetitive in terms of the messages that were in them – we’d regularly have the same stuff about start procedures and tyres going off which often wasn’t particularly enlightening.
I should also point out that we have previously had the problem that people assumed the previous articles contained every single radio message, rather then just those which were broadcast in the first place. This revised format makes it clearer that wasn’t the case to begin with and isn’t now either.
Home369852
8th April 2015, 12:34
Can anybody theoretically get access to all radio transcripts? I mean somebody not inside the F1 and not related to F1 anyhow, just ordinary people who watch F1 on TV.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
8th April 2015, 18:09
The transcripts were written by F1 Fanatic based on what was broadcast, they weren’t supplied by anyone.
Home369852
9th April 2015, 8:34
Yes, I know that. You doing great job, I like it, thank you very much.
I mean whether it is possible to get all radio transcripts for people like you and me? If you will receive it, you can add it here in full and it will be very interesting.
(sorry for my bad english, it is not my native language)
RV (@zenren)
2nd April 2015, 4:30
Looking at the race section, it would appear as if there was a radio ban for the race! Again, the first entry within the race section actually belongs to qualifying I guess: “Nice work Lewis, P1 mate, you did it with that first lap.”
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
2nd April 2015, 8:10
@zenren Thanks, have moved it.