2015 Spanish Grand Prix team radio transcript

2015 Spanish Grand Prix

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Lapped cars frustrated several drivers during the Spanish Grand Prix, none more so than Kimi Raikkonen who swore at them on the radio.

But Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas were also among those venting their frustration at the slower cars as the team radio transcript reveals. Vettel blamed them for him losing second place to Hamilton, and other drivers were heard asking for the lapped traffic to be shown more blue flags instructing them to move over.

The difficulty of overtaking was a theme of the race. However a late change of position between Carlos Sainz Jnr and Daniil Kvyat proved controversial. The pair made contact, and at the end of the race Kvyat’s engineer seemed confident the stewards would penalise Sainz. It didn’t work out that way, however.

Hamilton spent much of the race trying to find a strategic edge to get back in front of Vettel after a slow first pit stop scuppered his first attempt to jump ahead. Approaching his second pit stop he reminded his team the next one needed to be quick. However his switch to a three-stop strategy made that less crucial, particularly as rivals such as Valtteri Bottas were being told to make way for him.

The communications also shed light on how serious Jenson Button’s handling problems in the McLaren were and how Hamilton tried to close on Nico Rosberg in the closing stages before accepting he had too much time to make up and not enough laps to do it in.

Also at end of the race, Romain Grosjean apologised profusely for colliding with his front jack man during a pit stop. He wasn’t the only driver to have trouble hitting his marks – Fernando Alonso had a similar incident which forced him to retire from the race.

The transcript of every radio communication which featured in the coverage of Sunday’s race includes over 350 messages.

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2015 Spanish Grand Prix team radio transcript

Lap* From To Message
PR Tony Ross Nico Rosberg We need more fuel saving, need level two fuel saving please for this lap.
PR Felipe Massa Dave Robson For information the engine deployment is quite low I have no power in the engine so… That’s normal, or…
PR Dave Robson Felipe Massa OK Felipe understood we’ll have a look into it. And RS [unclear].
PR Dave Robson Felipe Massa Everything looks good on the power unit cycles.
PR Felipe Massa Dave Robson OK. Yeah is normal this lap, is better this lap.
PR Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Feedback on the start.
PR Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington It generally felt quite good. The last two starts were in the exact same spot. RPM dropped quite low but generally felt good. Potentially not enough ‘G’ as I pulled away.
PR Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK copy that. Cool the car, go to the back of the grid.
PR Unknown Nico Rosberg OK understood Nico, thank you.
PR Nico Rosberg Unknown Ivan the starts were all in the same place but they were not in the same place as free practice ’cause it was just completely off the rubber, not much grip at all, whereas in practice the rubber was like three metres or ten metres after the start.
PR Marco Matassa Carlos Sainz Jnr Flap consideration?
PR Carlos Sainz Jnr Marco Matassa I think it’s fine. The only place I have a bit of oversteer is exit of turn nine, because of the wind. The rest is fine.
PR Unknown Dave Greenwood On Raikkonen’s radio.
I confirm the direction of the wind, so headwind on the pit straight, intensity a bit lower than Q but gusty.
PR Brad Joyce Nico Hulkenberg Latest temperatures: 29, 46.
PR Unknown Julien
Simon-Chautemps
On Grosjean’s radio.
Hello Julien, it will be torque four, clutch eight. No problems.
PR Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Radio check from the garage, Lewis.
PR Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Radio check loud and clear.
PR Unknown Lewis Hamilton Hi Lewis, discussing the brake balance for turn one, Jock, and we reckon 57% and B-mig 2. Might want to open a bit the diff entry as well for lap one.
PR Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Is it hotter than it was? Same temperature? OK. It feels, as I said out there I had quite a lot of understeer, initially, over those first two laps. I’m tempted to keep what we’ve put in on. So then you’ve got to take your normal amount out for the next tyres.
PR Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK. So if we were to go with the normal adjust, that would put us two-to-two-and-a-half turns more than the other car I think.
PR Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Just have to remember that I was kind of behind so I do need to have the front end. Still that leaves me, even if I take out half a hole from what I’ve just driven, that still means I’m two holes ahead, right? My diff is quite locked so I’ve got scope to come down but as I said when I went out there I had masses of understeer.
PR Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Yeah I think that is the temperature thing, the [hard] tyre we know it does need a little bit of time to wake up. All settings should be at our maximum which is two turns more than the other car. And then think about maybe coming down half if you haven’t got scope on your diff to tighten that bit more.
PR Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo OK Daniel further news: everybody on the grid is on [medium] tyres.
PR Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo Track temperature, wind direction and strength all very similar to qualifying. You know what we’ve done with the front wing compared to the laps to the grid? Shortly after the start, once you’ve got past the start/finish line, we can turn the limiter off. You can try to sync all gears on the way to turn one, sync all the way up to gear eight please.
FL Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Cancel RS and feedback on the start, please.
FL Nico Rosberg Tony Ross Good start, little bit of wheel slip at some point.
FL Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Roger that. All gears are currently learnt. We will need to cool the engine on this lap, please. Going to need some work on the brakes to bring those up. Tyre temps are currently ten all round. Need a little bit of charge on the battery and two burn-outs, please.
FL Lewis Hamilton Unknown I had wheelspin initially.
FL Unknown Lewis Hamilton OK tyre temps are 104 front, 100 rear. All the cars have left the grid. Keep working the brakes, we need more energy in the brakes, and cool the car when you can.
FL Jonathan Eddolls Valtteri Bottas OK Valtteri no change to the clutch, stay in clutch six.
FL Mark Temple Fernando Alonso The only gear left to learn is eighth, please.
FL Unknown Romain Grosjean So clutch six, torque three after the burn-outs. The burn-outs will be from the exit of the last curves after turn 16. And please make sure they’re long burn-outs.
FL Unknown Lewis Hamilton Go for five burn-outs. Cancel brake magic.
FL Unknown Lewis Hamilton So check brake balance and B-mig for turn one. Go for a three-stop bite-point.
1 Mark Temple Fernando Alonso Launch map off.
1 Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel Start switch up when you can.
1 David Greenwood Kimi Raikkonen Start switch up when you can.
1 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton And manage your ERS.
2 Felipe Nasr Craig Gardiner I don’t know why but I have a lot of vibration on my front-right.
2 Xevi Pujolar Max Verstappen Tyres are hot so we’ll need to manage.
2 Craig Gardiner Felipe Nasr So with the vibration, Felipe, we see it, we just have to keep on going towards our first target.
3 Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel Fronts and rear on target. Pressure a bit too low, still, but we’ll be fine.
3 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Gap to Vettel 1.6, just think about the tyres.
3 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton DRS has been enabled.
3 Fernando Alonso Mark Temple Which position we are?
3 Mark Temple Fernando Alonso Fernando we are P12.
3 Jenson Button Tom Stallard Are the pressures OK? Really struggling with the rear end. Traction very poor, high and low-speed.
3 Tom Stallard Jenson Button Jenson, pressures are OK.
4 Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat Charge 12, fuel 10 to pass Fernando.
4 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington It’s impossible to get close.
4 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK, copy that.
4 Romain Grosjean Julien
Simon-Chautemps
Pastor touched me, just check my front wing.
4 Julien
Simon-Chautemps
Romain Grosjean OK we are having a look.
4 Unknown Romain Grosjean All OK Romain, keep pushing.
4 Romain Grosjean Julien
Simon-Chautemps
No there is a problem with rear end [unclear].
5 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Gap to Vettel: 2.8.
5 Tim Wright Sergio Perez Be careful with surface temperatures.
5 Dave Robson Felipe Massa So we see the vibrations, Felipe. You’ll have to just stick with the pack, you’re doing a good job right now, and then we can keep an eye on it.
6 Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel Hamilton reported it was impossible to get close to you. Brakes are OK, brake temps OK. Tyre a bit too high, ten degrees too high.
6 Brad Joyce Nico Hulkenberg Nico if you’re stuck in traffic go to mix four and save some engine mode.
6 Brad Joyce Nico Hulkenberg How is the car at the moment, Nico?
6 Nico Hulkenberg Brad Joyce Well it’s OK considering it’s so heavy traffic. I’m looking after my tyres.
7 Tom Stallard Jenson Button Jenson how are the tyres now? Any improvement on the tyres?
7 Jenson Button Tom Stallard No. Massively struggling with the rear. I still have understeer but as soon as I touch the throttle, the rear’s gone. Very, very different form Friday.
7 Tom Stallard Jenson Button Understood, Jenson. But similar feeling from the lap to the grid?
7 Jenson Button Tom Stallard Yes.
9 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington What is the gap ahead of Vettel?
9 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Currently 4.7 seconds. Nico’s doing 31.5. Give us a balance check – we’re thinking of Plan B.
9 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Needs to be – I can’t get close. Balance is generally good. Rears are beginning to slide a bit.
9 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK copy that.
9 Nico Rosberg Tony Ross Good balance.
9 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Copy. So if we can just pick up the pace by a couple of tenths, that’s all.
9 Jonathan Eddolls Valtteri Bottas Give me some feedback on tyres. Do you think Plan C is possible?
9 Valtteri Bottas Jonathan Eddolls Can be possible but difficult to expect what’s going to happen later. But so far it’s consistent.
9 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg So you’re doing a good job there Nico, gap is 6.7. We’re going stint or stint plus one.
9 Brad Joyce Nico Hulkenberg Pits this lap pit confirm.
9 Nico Hulkenberg Brad Joyce Copy, box.
10 Mark Temple Fernando Alonso And last lap same pace as Sainz.
11 Tom Stallard Jenson Button Jenson we think Plan B and we think target minus five, let’s go.
11 Jenson Button Tom Stallard Yeah, agree.
11 David Greenwood Kimi Raikkonen OK grip position eight on the dash, grip eight, tyre temps are in the window, surface well under control, surface looks good.
11 Fernando Alonso Mark Temple The rear end is terrible. But I don’t know, may be the same for everybody I guess.
11 Mark Temple Fernando Alonso Yes Fernando I think it’s similar for others. Our degradation looks good, similar to the cars around us, maybe a little better.
12 Tom Stallard Jenson Button Jenson box to overtake, confirm.
12 Jenson Button Tom Stallard Confirm.
12 Tom Stallard Jenson Button Launch map on, apply the brakes during the stop.
12 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK Lewis let’s close that gap up, you’re doing a great job.
13 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg And let us know if you need a flap adjust for the next stint.
13 Nico Rosberg Tony Ross No change.
13 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Copy, copy.
13 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK let’s go. Bite point four, It’s hammer time.
13 Brad Joyce Nico Hulkenberg Kvyat in front of you, used medium, he stopped a lap later than you, same strategy.
13 Jonathan Eddolls Valtteri Bottas Tyres are looking good from our side, it’s looking like Plan C.
13 Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel Hamilton in the pits.
13 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Box, box, do the opposite to Vettel.
13 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton So cancel RS and we’re pushing hard from the out-lap.
14 Sebastian Vettel Riccardo Adami Are you sure front wing plus 25? Plus one click?
14 Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel Yeah confirm, box now. Hamilton’s stop was very slow. Grip seven, start switch down.
15 Kimi Raikkonen David Greenwood OK at my pit stop a little bit less front wing.
15 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Guys please tell me the time, OK?
15 Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo Maldonado has damaged his rear wing, he may struggle. Let’s get into him.
15 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Box, box, box.
16 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Check your brake balance. Nice and easy into the box.
16 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Is it best I eke these tyres out now for as long as possible?
16 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg And just thinking about the tyres for these first few laps. Really important.
17 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg So remember stint plus eight on this stint. We would like you to pass Kimi, don’t take any risks, don’t damage the tyres.
17 David Greenwood Kimi Raikkonen Box this lap, Kimi.
17 Kimi Raikkonen David Greenwood OK.
17 David Greenwood Kimi Raikkonen And start switch down. OK, concentrate on position.
17 Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat We need to do everything we can to pass Sainz. Use your switches as you need to.
17 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton We’re going to need to push and attack Vettel. We’re going to need to do this on-track, mate?
17 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Well I can assure you that’s pretty much impossible, Bono, so we need to come up with another solution.
17 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK Lewis we are on Plan B. So it’ll be a battle at the end of the race and we’ll be on inverted tyres.
18 David Greenwood Kimi Raikkonen OK Kimi so could be a long stint.
18 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Coming up on traffic, you can use these opportunities.
18 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Please Bono, try not to speak to me during the corners, please.
18 David Greenwood Kimi Raikkonen OK check your PT position. Bottas ahead, used [medium], Massa behind, used [medium].
18 Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat OK so it’s a better pace at this stage, this stint. Catching Verstappen at one second per lap.
19 Tim Wright Sergio Perez Box this lap, pit confirm.
20 Mark Temple Fernando Alonso And box this lap, confirm.
20 Fernando Alonso Mark Temple OK.
20 Mark Temple Fernando Alonso Correction, stay out.
20 Fernando Alonso Mark Temple OK, out.
20 David Greenwood Kimi Raikkonen Pace is very, very good – matching the Williams. Give me a stint like Bahrain middle stint, it can get a lot better.
20 Romain Grosjean Julien
Simon-Chautemps
Problem with fourth gear.
20 Julien
Simon-Chautemps
Romain Grosjean OK, we are having a look.
20 Kimi Raikkonen David Greenwood What the [censored by FOM] is this Marussia doing? He has been three corners now in the middle of the road.
21 Erik Schuivens Marcus Ericsson Perez behind he is on new [hard]. Hulkenberg ahead is on [medium] lapping 33.9.
21 Carlos Sainz Jnr Marco Matassa OK guys this is clearly not a race tyre.
22 Julien
Simon-Chautemps
Romain Grosjean OK Romain you need to lift when you use the bad gear.
22 Romain Grosjean Julien
Simon-Chautemps
I can’t.
22 Alan Permane Romain Grosjean Romain, if you don’t do that, you will blow the engine up, right? You have to.
22 Brad Joyce Nico Hulkenberg Copy that Nico. The only plus point is the hard is looking poor at the moment.
22 Nico Hulkenberg Brad Joyce No, don’t speak on the straight.
22 Brad Joyce Nico Hulkenberg Well you’ll have to wait for your answer, then. The hard is looking poor at the moment.
22 Nico Hulkenberg Brad Joyce Fair enough having the new now but should have had the new now, I would have gone through these guys.
22 Brad Joyce Nico Hulkenberg Right, this is what you’ve got, so let’s make the best of it now mate.
22 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg So fuel now very safe so continue tyre saving but you can burn more fuel.
22 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK Lewis go strat six, we’re going to save the engine for later on.
22 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Please use first gear at one point in the next three laps just to keep sync.
23 Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat Good job, Dany.
23 Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat Really crucial part of the race here, Dany. Really critical part for us. Need to get past Verstappen.
23 Nico Rosberg Tony Ross This set is worse than the previous one. More oversteer.
23 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Copy.
23 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Lewis you’re doing a great job. Many engine modes are available if you find an opportunity. You are in your Safety Car window.
23 Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel Rosberg reported he is tyre saving. Rosberg lap time 1.5, Hamilton 1.7 behind you, he is reporting he will save some good engine for later.
25 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Just have a think about the balance, going to the other tyre next stint.
25 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Balance OK.
25 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Nico we didn’t manage to keep the sync in first so please go down to first again, it’s still synced at the moment.
26 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Bite point two. First has re-synced, thank you.
26 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg So Nico if you can do just pick up the pace back to where it was. Two cars in front are lapped cars but racing, so caution.
26 Jenson Button Tom Stallard As soon as I touch the throttle I have wheelspin. Is there anything we can do, maybe diff or something, I don’t know. But it’s not normal.
26 Tom Stallard Jenson Button Try purple C3 position three, exit diff locking.
27 Romain Grosjean Julien
Simon-Chautemps
Battery’s very low.
27 Julien
Simon-Chautemps
Romain Grosjean OK it will be strat eight, strat eight on the start/finish line. You are doing well, Romain…
27 Romain Grosjean Julien
Simon-Chautemps
No more power, no more power.
27 Julien
Simon-Chautemps
Romain Grosjean OK, standby. It’s alright, Romain, it will come back. It was the strat change, all OK.
28 Fernando Alonso Mark Temple I have problems with brake. Do you see anything on trace?
28 Mark Temple Fernando Alonso OK Fernando box this lap, we want to have a look at the rear of the car.
28 Fernando Alonso Mark Temple OK, box.
28 Mark Temple Fernando Alonso And limiter, stop on your marks, we’ll change the tyres but we want to have a look at the rear so we’ll be slow.
28 Tom Stallard Jenson Button Jenson we need to box this lap.
28 Jenson Button Tom Stallard Box this lap.
28 Mark Temple Fernando Alonso Alonso was unable to stop in his pit box and almost sent his front jack man flying.
OK Fernando let’s switch the car off, we’re going to retire.
28 Tim Wright Sergio Perez Alonso is out of the race. If we can keep close to Ericsson it’s good for us.
28 Tom Stallard Jenson Button Box, box.
28 Jenson Button Tom Stallard Box.
29 Tom Stallard Jenson Button Launch map on, apply the brakes during the stop.
29 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg So that’s good Nico we’d just like you to keep that up just to avoid any interaction at the end of the race, we’re just looking to perfect your strategy.
29 Julien
Simon-Chautemps
Romain Grosjean OK Romain, Ricciardo in front is not very quick, try to close the gap if you can.
29 Tom Stallard Jenson Button Jenson you’ve been doing fuel three, we need fuel one now, fuel one is enough.
30 Valtteri Bottas Jonathan Eddolls Slightly more rear deg now.
30 Jonathan Eddolls Valtteri Bottas Copy. How many laps left?
30 Valtteri Bottas Jonathan Eddolls Could be around 20.
31 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington We need a fast stop, guys.
31 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton No worries Lewis, we’re going to go for it. Bite point three, won’t be long now.
32 Erik Schuivens Marcus Ericsson OK Marcus lap times are looking good, keep it up. We might stretch the stint.
32 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK Lewis let’s try and close that gap, it won’t be long now.
32 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Trying to, Bono.
32 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK mate.
32 Felipe Massa Dave Robson Yeah I’m struggling right now.
32 Julien
Simon-Chautemps
Romain Grosjean OK Romain we are on Plan B and remember to lift off on the bad gear.
32 Romain Grosjean Julien
Simon-Chautemps
(Unclear)
33 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Box, box.
33 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Box, box. Do the opposite to Vettel.
33 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK Lewis cancel RS. We’re on Plan B so you can push these tyres. We’re going to come out with Raikkonen and Button, we need to get past Raikkonen as soon as possible, Button is traffic.
34 Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo OK Daniel still doing a good job, mate. Pace is good, you are pulling away from Grosjean.
34 Dave Robson Felipe Massa Both clicks off and you’ll be out on a clear track.
34 David Greenwood Kimi Raikkonen Massa has stopped, we think he’s doing three stops. Hamilton behind, we are racing him.
34 Kimi Raikkonen David Greenwood Yeah fine but I’m losing the tyres, really.
34 David Greenwood Kimi Raikkonen Understood.
34 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Give it all you’ve got, Lewis. Raikkonen 15-lap-old [hard] tyres.
34 Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo Still doing a good job, mate, pace is good, you are pulling away from Grosjean.
34 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton We are on Plan B, you know what you’ve got to do, keep pushing.
35 Tom Stallard Jenson Button This is fuel zero, fuel zero OK. Fernando’s car had to retire, the problem does not affect us.
36 Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel We’re thinking Hamilton is on three stops. Should go three stops. Try to do good laps now, I know it’s difficult.
36 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton So Vettel’s doing 33.1.
36 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg So push hard now, Nico, won’t be long.
36 Daniil Kvyat Gianpiero Lambiase Felt like tyre came back a little bit this last lap.
36 Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat OK copy, keep going.
36 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Keep me up to date with my fuelling. Doesn’t look good at the moment.
36 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton You are safe to plan, just ignore the Lars (?) bar.
36 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton So Bottas car ahead, he’s in P3, currently doing 32.7, we’re going to have to get past him.
36 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Bottas 22 lap [mediums].
36 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Just still trying to extend that stint, Nico, just keep pushing.
37 Jonathan Eddolls Valtteri Bottas OK so you might be feeling some deg but it looks like Plan C.
37 Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat Try to keep it consistent. This lap is looking better again. Just control the tyre temps.
38 David Greenwood Kimi Raikkonen Seems like Bottas’s tyres are dropping off, we are gradually catching him.
39 Jonathan Eddolls Valtteri Bottas So I think Hamilton will get us. Just let him through, do a lift-and-cost. We’re not really racing him today,
39 Kimi Raikkonen David Greenwood Get that Marussia out of the way as soon as we catch him.
39 David Greenwood Kimi Raikkonen Copy, copy, we’re on it.
40 Marcus Ericsson Erik Schuivens Ericsson was briefly held up by team mate Nasr.
We’re being compromised.
40 Erik Schuivens Marcus Ericsson One lap, one lap, patience.
40 Jonathan Eddolls Valtteri Bottas The traffic in front is slowing me down so, you think we need to stop?
40 Jonathan Eddolls Valtteri Bottas We’re watching the gap to Raikkonen behind, it’s stable, so stay out.
40 Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel OK box Sebastian, box. Start switch down.
40 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg You’re doing a good job Nico just keep pushing, Keep us advised how the tyres are.
40 Nico Rosberg Tony Ross Tyres OK for now.
40 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg OK just keep pushing then, we’re looking for a good gap.
40 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington These tyres are not liking traffic.
40 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton There’ll be some flags
40 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington How much time am I losing behind all these guys?
40 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton So Vettel’s in the pits now, you’re doing a good job, if we just clear them as soon as we can we can push on.
40 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Blue flags!
40 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Copy
41 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington This guy in front, he’s got half his rear wing hanging off.
42 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Keep us advised on the tyres, we’re looking to minimise the stint length on the [hard].
42 Nico Rosberg Tony Ross Starting to go a little bit more now.
42 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Copy.
42 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Nico let us know if you’re OK to do two more.
42 Nico Rosberg Tony Ross OK.
42 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Copy.
43 Jonathan Eddolls Valtteri Bottas RS mode, first gear, easy into the box, brakes.
43 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Now we’ve got free air let’s target 30.7.
43 Jenson Button Tom Stallard Losing rear grip but seems reasonably stable.
44 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg We’re looking to do one more lap after this again just tell us on the tyres, keep us advised, we can see lap times.
44 Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat Use your energy to defend as you need to.
45 Julien
Simon-Chautemps
Romain Grosjean Well done mate, great move.
45 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton This pace is very good, still pulling gap to Vettel.
45 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton We’re going to extend this stint while you’re pulling a gap.
45 Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat Settle down behind Grosjean at this stage, we still think he may have a gearbox issue. And Sainz has pitted for [medium] tyres. So we need to keep our tyres in good condition.
45 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Box, box, box. Going to [hard] tyres, standard flap adjust. And RS.
46 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Lewis in front is racing Vettel, he is on a different strategy, he has one more stop to make.
46 Felipe Massa Dave Robson Who is this guy in front?
46 Dave Robson Felipe Massa It’s Maldonado, he’s just come out of the pits.
46 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg So you will be coming out behind Lewis, he has one more stop to make, so look after the tyres. Traffic, you have Ericsson coming alongside, you should be clear of him.
46 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg 21 laps remaining. Vettel has stopped again also on [hard] tyres, he is at least ten seconds behind, I’ll give you an update. Lewis is racing Vettel, he is on a different strategy and has one more stop to make. Nico just make sure you are working the tyres hard enough, though, so that they do work.
47 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Bite point two when you can, pace is really strong, Lewis.
47 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Strat mode three, you’re doing a great job, we’re pushing Vettel out of the pit window, just a couple of seconds to do it.
47 Mark Slade Pastor Maldonado OK Pastor I’m afraid we’re going to have to box to retire the car at the end of this lap.
47 Mark Slade Pastor Maldonado OK and just stop in the box gently.
48 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg So just keep this gap to Lewis, look after those tyres.
48 Dave Robson Felipe Massa You’ll be coming out onto an empty track, track will be clear. And Felipe both clicks off.
49 Marco Matassa Carlos Sainz Jnr You’re half a second faster than Max in front. We need rear tyres on the high side in temperature.
49 Craig Gardiner Felipe Nasr You are one second per lap quicker than Hulkenberg in front.
49 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Vettel now on our pit window.
50 Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo Watch your mirrors. Rosberg now two seconds behind you.
51 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Fuel is good, just ignore that Lars (?) bar.
51 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Tyres are still good.
51 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Box, box.
51 Jonathan Eddolls Valtteri Bottas So for info from data it’s that front tyre that’ll be limit at the end of the race.
51 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Cancel RS. Should be coming out ahead of Vettel. Diff magic on.
52 Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel Hamilton out of the pits now. Can see Hamilton in front of you.
52 Sebastian Vettel Riccardo Adami Yeah, he’s gone.
52 Sebastian Vettel Riccardo Adami We lost too much time in traffic. I know they are doing their own race but still, we are losing a lot in traffic.
52 Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel OK, understood, I agree.
53 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK Lewis so you’re in P2, Nico 20 seconds ahead.
53 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Keep me up to date with his pace.
53 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Will do, Lewis.
54 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Pace of the car in front?
54 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Strat mode ten. Nico doing 29.1.
54 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Are we on the same tyres?
54 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Strat mode ten. Negative, Nico on eight-lap-old [hards].
54 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg OK so 11 laps remaining. Gap to Lewis is 19 seconds.
54 Sebastian Vettel Riccardo Adami Flag.
54 Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel OK, copy.
55 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Am I OK to keep pushing?
55 Sebastian Vettel Riccardo Adami Come on, blue flag! Otherwise I get stuck.
55 Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel OK he has blue flags.
55 Sebastian Vettel Riccardo Adami Yeah he had blue flags for three laps,
55 Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat Keep on his tail.
56 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg 11 laps remaining, gap to Lewis is 19 seconds.
57 Valtteri Bottas Jonathan Eddolls They are not giving space.
57 Jonathan Eddolls Valtteri Bottas Copy, we’re getting into Charlie. Use DRS when you’re close, battery full.
57 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Bono, information, lap times please.
57 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton So Nico 29.5, 11 laps remaining. Looks like it may be a big ask to do it so may be best to consolidate the position.
57 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Are you telling me it’s not possible? Let me know.
57 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton I don’t think it will be possible with the remaining laps, Lewis, probably just better looking after this one, let him have it.
57 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Is it impossible? That’s the question.
57 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton He’s going to respond if we pick the pace up. So I think we just need to consolidate the position. Seems to be impossible.
57 Jonathan Eddolls Valtteri Bottas Mode two when you can for (unclear), mode two.
57 Dave Robson Felipe Massa Nine more laps to go. Cars in front still struggling so let’s keep pushing on, let’s make sure we get everything out of these tyres.
58 Kimi Raikkonen David Greenwood Blue flags for this guy.
58 David Greenwood Kimi Raikkonen Copy, they’re not being good at all.
59 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Eight laps remaining, gap to Lewis 15 seconds, he’s about a second a lap quicker at the moment.
59 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Nico 30.1, gap 15.0.
59 Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat Grosjean’s gearbox issue means he will be weak exit turn five, turn twelve and turn fifteen, final chicane.
59 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton So gap down to 13.6.
59 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington How many laps?
59 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Seven remaining.
60 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Pace ahead?
60 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton 30.0.
60 Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel Good lap Sebastian. Rosberg last time 30.3.
60 Kimi Raikkonen David Greenwood How many laps we have?
60 David Greenwood Kimi Raikkonen Six after this, Kimi.
61 Tim Wright Sergio Perez Massa may be lapping Nico and Ericsson then you within three laps.
61 Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel Good lap Sebastian, good lap. Rosberg last time 30.3.
61 Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel Kimi lap time 32.1, fighting with Bottas.
62 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Five laps remaining. Lewis has backed off his pace slightly, gap still around 13 seconds.
62 Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat Bottas and Raikkonen behind will be lapping us soon. Obviously Verstappen and Sainz behind the two of them currently two seconds behind Raikkonen.
63 Kimi Raikkonen David Greenwood This [censored by FOM] Toro Rosso it just came in front of me.
63 Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat OK we do have blues now for Bottas and Raikkonen. Sainz will be behind him.
64 Felipe Massa Dave Robson He’s not letting me by.
64 Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat For info Sainz behind similar pace to Bottas.
64 Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel Three laps to go, three until the end.
65 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Two more laps, Nico.
65 Dave Robson Felipe Massa Let’s just get past Perez and then the trio ahead.
66 Tim Wright Sergio Perez Keep aware of the front-left tyre.
66 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg And last lap now.
66 Jonathan Eddolls Valtteri Bottas Before the last corner, go mode one. Wait until then.
VL Nico Rosberg Tony Ross Woohoo! Yes! Go on!
VL Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Good job, Nico, excellent race, well managed, really good job. So strat one. Just pick up rubber and just enjoy that in-lap.
VL Paddy Lowe Nico Rosberg Well done, Nico. Absolutely fantastic pole position and fantastic race, well done.
VL Nico Rosberg Paddy Lowe Thank you Paddy, also from you guys thank you, really perfect weekend.
VL Paddy Lowe Nico Rosberg A good day at the office.
VL Nico Rosberg Paddy Lowe Indeed!
VL Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Good work Nico, well done.
VL Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Well done Lewis, great job there mate, that’s P2. Fantastic job making that three-stop work.
VL Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel Yes, P3, well done. Back to the podium.
VL Sebastian Vettel Riccardo Adami Woohoo! Grazie ragazzi, grande l’amoro. [Thanks boys, big love.] Shame we couldn’t stay ahead, we tried everything, guess we had a bit too much traffic coming out of the pits.
VL Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel Switch down. Yes, understood, copy that.
VL Sebastian Vettel Riccardo Adami Yeah. And then they were able to jump us, they were quicker. Anyway, grazie mille.
VL Jonathan Eddolls Valtteri Bottas Yes, nice one! P4. Really good job, made the strategy work. Go mode ten please. Fantastic drive. P4.
VL Valtteri Bottas Jonathan Eddolls Thanks guys, really well done. Again we beat one of the red ones with a little bit slower car so bit of a repeat from last race. Thanks guys, let’s keep pushing.
VL Jonathan Eddolls Valtteri Bottas Copy that. Just remember to pick up lots of rubber. So finishing order in the end: Rosberg won from Hamilton, Vettel – you were only 13 seconds behind him so that’s the closest we’ve been – Raikkonen, Massa got six, Ricciardo, Grosjean, Sainz, Kvyat.
VL Valtteri Bottas Jonathan Eddolls Copy that. The podium will come, let’s just keep going.
VL Jonathan Eddolls Valtteri Bottas Copy that. It’s getting closer.
VL Rob Smedley Valtteri Bottas Well done Valtteri, that was a really excellent drive. P4, you deserve it, as you said the podium’s on its way.
VL Valtteri Bottas Rob Smedley Thanks Rob.
VL Tom Stallard Jenson Button JB I still don’t fully understand what happened in the first two stints there. But pace in the last two stints was OK, more or less where we expected it to be.
VL Jenson Button Tom Stallard Yeah I mean it was pretty horrific. I don’t know why but [unclear] immediately snap to oversteer. There might be something broken. Something to look at because it was terrible, I mean I haven’t driven a car like that for a long… well, ever! Very weird. A little bit of a set-up mistake, maybe, you would expect. Did not have the maximum from the car, but not like that. That was a different level.
VL Tom Stallard Jenson Button Yep, OK. We’ll have a proper investigation, try to understand what’s going on.
VL David Greenwood Kimi Raikkonen Good race, you drove really well sorry for all the problems during the weekend. Just remember to pick up rubber.
VL Kimi Raikkonen David Greenwood Yeah wasn’t a very good weekend but at least we got something out.
VL David Greenwood Kimi Raikkonen Copy, copy.
VL Maurizio Arrivabene Kimi Raikkonen Well done Kimi. More than that was impossible today.
VL Julien
Simon-Chautemps
Romain Grosjean Grosjean knocked his front jack man over during a pit stop.
That’s it, P8, well dome mate. Good points, well deserve. Strat two, torque 12.
VL Romain Grosjean Julien
Simon-Chautemps
Good job, guys. I’m very, very, very, very sorry for the pit stop. I hope no one is hurt.
VL Julien
Simon-Chautemps
Romain Grosjean No that’s fine Romain, they are solid, don’t worry.
VL Romain Grosjean Julien
Simon-Chautemps
OK, sorry but well done. Tough, tough race.
VL Julien
Simon-Chautemps
Romain Grosjean It was a tough race but you did everything right. It’s nice to bring back some points. Well done again.
VL Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo Nico job today mate. Good pace, I know it’s a bit of a quiet race for you last two stints but pace was good, good management. So we finished P7.
VL Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie OK, understood. Thanks guys.
VL Dave Robson Felipe Massa That’s a good drive, really nice drive. Made some good progress at the beginning and P6 from where we were is a good result. So in fact everybody got lapped up to us, we were the last car not to be lapped, that’s good.
VL Felipe Massa Dave Robson OK, yep, that’s good. Thank you guys.
VL Marco Matassa Carlos Sainz Jnr P9 mate. Two points in the bag. Well done.
VL Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat Sainz passed Kvyat on the final lap, the pair made contact but the stewards did not improve a penalty, leaving Kvyat tenth.
So as it stands P10. Hopefully it’ll be back to P9.
VL Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat Dany for your information Charlie was made aware and I think his stance was unless Sainz gave you the position back he would be reported to the stewards. OK? That’s where we’re at.
VL Xevi Pujolar Max Verstappen P11. Shame we couldn’t get that point.

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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Spanish Grand Prix data

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33 comments on “2015 Spanish Grand Prix team radio transcript”

  1. I think what Vettel said at the end was “grande lavoro” – “great work”.

    Not many surprises in this transcript, but still a good read. I was amused by Hamilton’s matter-of-fact statement about Maldonado’s wing.

    1. … and by “great work” I mean “great job” …

  2. good observation by hamilton alright lol

  3. Why do they “need to pick up rubber” at the end?

    For weight? it doesn’t seem that much… hight? isn’t hight measured having the plank board as reference?

    1. @lucien_todutz Weight not height, every little helps and they can pick up a few kilos I think!

    2. Yeah confused about that term. What exactly does “pick up rubber” mean?

      1. Tires are hot and sticky. If they drive off the line into the marbles (little balls of worn off rubber) they’ll get those to stick to the tires thus adding a little bit of weight. Just a precautionary measure to make sure the car isn’t found to be underweight at the end of the race. Watch when the P1-3 cars park at the end – their tires are covered with rubber warts.

        1. Ahhh ok, thanks for the explanation!

          1. Kubica in his debut race for the BMW Sauber team was disqualified post-race from seventh due to his car being underweight in a post-race weight check.
            he didnt pick up rubber , rookie mistake ( or team mistake for not telling him)

  4. Oh I get so annoyed by these constant moaning about blue flags from the Ferrari drivers.
    It makes me wonder if drivers feel that the track marshalls aren’t doing their jobs properly.

    1. And the Mercedes drivers as well!

      40 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington How much time am I losing behind all these guys?
      40 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton So Vettel’s in the pits now, you’re doing a good job, if we just clear them as soon as we can we can push on.
      40 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Blue flags!
      40 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Copy

    2. Calling out “blue flags” is not a shot at the marshals, it’s a complaint about lapped drivers not getting out of the way despite being shown the blue flag. They are basically saying “get on the horn and tell these guys to stop racing and give way – they’re under blue flags!”

  5. As soon as I touch the throttle I have wheelspin.

    So basically confirmation that Maclaren’s real problem lies with the chassis.

    1. how so?

    2. Not at all…

      You need to do some research on power delivery from not only turbo engines but turbo engines with ERS instead of waste gate excess pressure.

      Jensons issue was purely a problem with the engine and its power delivery.

  6. Where is the line about what you can tell a driver about the status of other drivers? Lewis seemed to be getting a lot of info about Nico. However, I remember a few races ago, Nico asked about Lewis and they said they weren’t allowed to give him information…

    1. Laptime updates are OK, sector time is not.

      1. they can let the drivers know the pace around them but they can’t tell the drivers where they should drive differently i.e. use 5th in turn 10, carry more speed through 4th …

  7. Well I can assure you that’s pretty much impossible, Bono, so we need to come up with another solution.

    I had never heard Hamilton saying overtaking is impossible. Seems though he forgot it as later on he wanted to close a 14 sec gap to Rosberg AND overtake him :)

    1. he was on the faster and fresher tire, but still way to far behind; i think he knew it and he should have listen to the engineer but in the moment he got a bit frustrated.
      Looks like they extended Nico’s middle stint to switch him to a 2 stop but either way, even without Vettel ahead, i don’t think Lewis could have done anything about Nico in this race.

    2. He did spend 2010 and 2011 tucked up behind a Red bull for 50 laps. So he has experience in getting nowhere in Spain

  8. I love the insight we get from the radio. I think FOM should make better use of it, with commentators knowing what the Magic and everything means.

    In fact generally I think FOM do a tragic job of presenting F1. I was just reading on motorsport.com that Ron Walker has written to Jean Todt asking for a new engine in 2017, saying the current ones are too complex for fans to understand.

    But FOM don’t even display ES use for fans to appreciate! Formula1.com doesn’t even have a driver tracker. We only get occasional fuel updates. We don’t get tyre temperatures. The F1Access product has a bar chart using GPS, supposedly, that is absolutely meaningless and has no explanation.

    There should be a whole suite of detailed information, with commentators properly trained, so we can appreciate the complexity.

    At the moment it’s like we’re watching ducks swimming on the surface, while underneath there’s all kinds of action that FOM are too clueless to present. Then everyone’s in a panic that ‘the show’ is failing.

    1. You are absolutely right!

  9. Why is Hulkenberg criticising his race engineer for talking to him on the *straight*

    The reply from the engineer sounded like there was some tension between the two

    1. I know, right? Isn’t the straight the BEST time to talk to them? Hamilton hates when Bonno talks to him in the corners which I can understand but, the straight? Race engineer is a thankless job.

    2. I’m not surprised there is tension – Hulkenburg has snapped at his engineer plenty of times during 2014 and to-date in 2015.

      It’s the first time I’ve seen Brad Joyce snap back though. Good on him.

      1. +1 I’ve been thinking the same, You can understand a driver getting a little hot headed in some situations, talking in corners, bad pit stops etc but Hulkenberg has had some mouth on him for a while now..maybe since he didn’t get the drive for Ferrari in ’14, something tells me Hulkenberg wont be around in F1 much longer, missed his shot at a top team and I think he will be off to LMP1 more permanently.

        Can’t say I’ll miss him either to be honest.

  10. I need to know what “brake magic” is. Mercedes now has “magic body control” on its pricier models. But I hope it is more interesting than that.

    1. Pretty sure Alonso didn’t have it.

  11. PR Tony Ross Nico Rosberg We need more fuel saving, need level two fuel saving please for this lap.
    I mean… wow. Before the first lap they are already talking about “more fuel saving…”? Really?

    1. They can’t top up the tanks on the grid so they won’t want to waste anything on the reconnaissance lap.

  12. I watch the Sky coverage and have F1 Access and still don’t hear nearly as much of radio communication as i would like. Is there a place where you can hear these live during the race?

Comments are closed.