2015 Belgian Grand Prix team radio transcript

2015 Belgian Grand Prix

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With 11 laps to go in the Belgian Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel was told on his team’s radio that his tyres were “good to go to the end” based on the data they had access to.

But on the penultimate lap of the race his right-rear tyre blew apart, ending his hopes of a podium finish, and sparked a public war of words between him and Pirelli.

Some claimed Vettel had inflicted the damage on himself by repeatedly running off-track around the Spa-Francorchamps course. The stewards warned drivers before the race they would monitor track limits abuse and another driver, Daniil Kvyat, was given an official warning shortly before Vettel’s tyre failed.

Vettel’s misfortune allowed Romain Grosjean to take what was clearly an emotional podium finish for him and his Lotus team.

After a difficult Hungarian Grand Prix it was back to business as usual for Lewis Hamilton, though he was perturbed when team mate Nico Rosberg gained around a second on him during the Virtual Safety Car period. It didn’t matter in the end, however.

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2015 Belgian Grand Prix team radio transcript

Lap* From To Message
PR Nico Hulkenberg Brad Joyce Definitely loss of power.
PR Brad Joyce Nico Hulkenberg Still loss of power. OK, we will pull you back into the garage.
PR Nico Hulkenberg Brad Joyce There’s no power at all. I’m flat out and nothing’s happening.
PR Unknown Nico Hulkenberg So Nico we’ve defaulted the sensor off, that we think may be a issue. We’ll need to try and get the pack charged up as soon as possible on the formation lap.
PR David Greenwood Kimi Raikkonen So one thing from me Kimi I’m sure you know but please remember this grid is sloping backwards. You’ll need a very small amount of brake pressure when you go down on the deck and when you return for the start.
PR Nico Rosberg Unknown Are you sure we shouldn’t just go for more disengaged anyway on the clutch already for the formation lap? It’s uphill, also, so we try it on the formation lap and see how it goes?
PR Unknown Nico Rosberg Only if you feel heavy wheelspin in your first start, please. If not, stay as you are.
FL Nico Hulkenberg Brad Joyce It happened again. Nothing, no power.
FL Brad Joyce Nico Hulkenberg Pit this lap, pit this lap.
FL Nico Hulkenberg Brad Joyce Yes understood.
FL Unknown Nico Hulkenberg Nico we will take the start, take the start, do not come into the pits. The boost has started to come back.
FL Brad Joyce Nico Hulkenberg OK stop there and we will pull you back into the pits.
FL Carlos Sainz Jnr Marco Matassa Something is wrong, I have no power.
FL Daniil Kvyat Gianpiero Lambiase Sainz has a problem. Looks like I have to overtake him. Yeah, he showed me the hand to overtake him.
FL Marco Matassa Carlos Sainz Jnr Come to the pit lane, come to the pit lane.
2 Pastor Maldonado Mark Slade I’ve lost the engine.
3 Mark Temple Fernando Alonso For info the only other cars on [medium] are Jenson and Nasr.
4 Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel Tyre temperature and pressure are OK. Look after them. Good lap, Sebastian.
4 Marco Matassa Carlos Sainz Jnr Now you can push, now you can push.
5 Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat Status update please Dani.
5 Daniil Kvyat Gianpiero Lambiase Fine but I’m being held up by a Williams big time.
5 Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat How much faster do you think you could go at this stage, Dani?
5 Daniil Kvyat Gianpiero Lambiase About three, four, five tenths.
6 Jenson Button Tom Stallard Can you see any damage to the left rear? Just in front of the rear wheel.
6 Tom Stallard Jenson Button Jenson we can’t see anything obvious, we’re looking in detail now.
6 Marcus Ericsson Erik Schuivens The tyres are not working very well. Low grip.
6 Erik Schuivens Marcus Ericsson Copy Marcus, keep going.
6 Sebastian Vettel Riccardo Adami Currently struggling mostly with understeer in the car and the rears are still too hot.
7 Kimi Raikkonen David Greenwood I think my tyres are in quite good shape. It looks like the cars in front of me are struggling more.
7 Jenson Button Tom Stallard It feels like we forgot to connect my batteries.
7 Tom Stallard Jenson Button Yes, we see that on the data. We’re investigating.
8 Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie Just used all my beans. Still can’t get it done. He’s starting to struggle quite a lot in the middle sector.
8 Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo Daniel box, opposite Perez.
8 Kimi Raikkonen David Greenwood The Williams seems to be slowing down more in front of him.
9 Felipe Massa Dave Robson OK I guess it’s box now, right?
9 Dave Robson Felipe Massa Yes box now.
10 Mark Temple Fernando Alonso Fernando there’s have been two retirements already. Sainz is a lap down. It’s going to be a long race but there’s good opportunities.
10 Julien Simon-Chautemps Romain Grosjean Nice job. Strat seven and keep pushing.
11 Kimi Raikkonen David Greenwood I am losing a bit the rear so who knows what we should do? I cannot hold them behind me I think for that time.
11 David Greenwood Kimi Raikkonen Copy.
11 Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel You are doing well. These are important laps, keep your head down.
12 David Greenwood Kimi Raikkonen So we will be box this lap.
12 Kimi Raikkonen David Greenwood OK, drop the front wing a little bit.
12 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Box, box, box. Push hard. We can beat Ricciardo with a hard in-lap.
12 Simon Rennie Daniel Ricciardo You need to push hard now to break Perez’s DRS.
13 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Box, box, box box.
13 Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat OK Dani so we are close to breaking Massa’s DRS.
14 Tim Wright Sergio Perez Vettel is yet to stop. He does not have a window on us.
15 Tim Wright Sergio Perez Checo we are struggling for pace a little bit with Ricciardo and Grosjean behind him.
16 Jonathan Eddolls Valtteri Bottas We have a drive through penalty. Just drive through the pits and back out.
16 Valtteri Bottas Jonathan Eddolls Copy.
17 Valtteri Bottas Jonathan Eddolls What was the issue?
17 Jonathan Eddolls Valtteri Bottas Your right-rear is a [medium] tyre, all others are [soft]. Mix-up in pit stop. Crack on with the race, we can still gain some good points.
18 Julien Simon-Chautemps Romain Grosjean OK Romain strat seven, we have to pass Ricciardo.
18 Julien Simon-Chautemps Romain Grosjean Well done, we are P4 mate.
18 Tim Wright Sergio Perez Grosjean behind, his pace is good.
19 Daniil Kvyat Gianpiero Lambiase Traction is very poor.
20 Julien Simon-Chautemps Romain Grosjean OK Romain strat seven, have a go at Perez.
20 Julien Simon-Chautemps Romain Grosjean Well done mate, we are P3. Keep pushing.
22 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Nico has definitely closed since the VSC came out.
23 Tim Wright Sergio Perez Checo we need to try to make this tyre last to the end, 22 laps. Deg is good on this tyre.
23 Julien Simon-Chautemps Romain Grosjean OK Romain we are going to the end. Look after these tyres.
23 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington How did Nico get that second under the VSC?.
23 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton We are looking at it, Lewis, but everything appears OK at the moment. We’ll let you know.
24 Mark Temple Fernando Alonso Fernando the rain is still 100km away. There could be a shower before the end but we’ll keep monitoring it.
25 Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat Raikkonen and Massa pitted for new [medium] tyres. It is a long way for them to go on this tyre set to the end. We will be competitive at the end of the race.
26 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Balance good.
27 Julien Simon-Chautemps Romain Grosjean Just under four seconds to Vettel in front and you are still faster than him, five tenths.
28 Tim Wright Sergio Perez Checo, you have the energy button if you need it.
29 Sebastian Vettel Riccardo Adami Think about an extra stop if it makes sense.
29 Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel OK we are looking into it.
30 Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat OK well done Dani. All cars ahead on [medium] tyres, seemingly going to the end. You’re on a fresh set of [softs]. Take it steady for the moment, get into a rhythm.
30 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Track has changed, I think I need another half-hole back in.
30 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK box box, box box. Pit confirm.
30 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington My tyres are still good, can I do one more?
30 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Negative Lewis, this is the fastest race, Nico will take the stop otherwise.
31 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg So box box box. Push hard now.
32 Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel Tyres, from the data, looks pretty good to go to the end.
33 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Vettel behind is going to the end but you are pulling away comfortably.
33 Mark Temple Fernando Alonso For info a shower has developed about 40 [kilometres] from the cicuit. We’ll keep monitoring it and I’ll let you know.
35 Marco Matassa Carlos Sainz Jnr We are two laps down so we will box the car now to stop it.
36 Julien Simon-Chautemps Romain Grosjean OK Romain, keep pushing, you can get him.
37 Tom Stallard Jenson Button We will box this lap. Are you happy with the front wing?.
37 Jenson Button Tom Stallard Do we need to box? How many more laps left?
37 Tom Stallard Jenson Button Still nine more and this will avoid a lot of traffic.
37 Jenson Button Tom Stallard OK. Yeah, happy with the front wing.
37 Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat OK we need to try and make a move count on Kimi pretty quickly.
38 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington I lost a lot of time in power.
38 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton OK copy that, that’s the same for both cars.
39 Jenson Button Tom Stallard These cars are going slower in front if we’re catching them.
39 Tom Stallard Jenson Button Most of those cars are on [medium] tyres they fitted at the VSC.
39 Jenson Button Tom Stallard I think they are making a mistake not pitting, it’s so much quicker on new tyres.
39 Julien Simon-Chautemps Romain Grosjean OK Romain strat seven, have a go at Vettel.
40 Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat So official warnings at turn four, Dani, OK. So just watch the track limits. Keep pushing Massa. He may driver, well, he will drive defensively and may drop DRS to Perez, OK? Keep pushing him.
41 Daniil Kvyat Gianpiero Lambiase That’s how you [censored by FOM] do it!
41 Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat On to the next one.
41 Tim Wright Sergio Perez Kvyat is through on Massa.
42 Gianpiero Lambiase Daniil Kvyat Well done Dani.
42 Daniil Kvyat Gianpiero Lambiase Next car.
VL Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Top job Lewis.
VL Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Great job guys, great job!
VL Julien Simon-Chautemps Romain Grosjean Fantastic job, mate, fantastic job. P3, well done. That’s incredible, one of the best races of your career, mate. Incredible, I’m so proud.
VL Romain Grosjean Julien Simon-Chautemps Sobbing.
Well done, well done you superstar.
VL Julien Simon-Chautemps Romain Grosjean Fantastic, well done mate.

Lap: Refers to lap message was broadcast on. There may be a delay between messages being said and being broadcast. PR = pre-race; FL = formation lap; VL = victory lap.
Message: Repetitive or irrelevant messages omitted. Notes in italics. Highlights in bold.

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Keith Collantine
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75 comments on “2015 Belgian Grand Prix team radio transcript”

  1. Profile Photo

    Retired (@jeff1s)
    26th August 2015, 12:51

    Lap 41 – Daniil Kvyat to Gianpiero Lambiase: “That’s how you [censored by FOM] do it!”

    Haha, Daniil seems to be a good bloke.

    1. Profile Photo

      PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
      26th August 2015, 13:26

      @jeff1s And I remember Ricciardo going ‘that’s how it’s done ladies’ at the Hungarian GP last year.

      They have fully gone back to party team it seems at times.

    2. paul
      26th August 2015, 13:46

      That was a good race for him. The move on Massa was heart stopping to watch.

    3. Profile Photo

      matiascasali (@matiascasali)
      26th August 2015, 20:35

      no radio on Max doing that balls-of-steel overtake on blanchimont?

      1. hamman
        26th August 2015, 21:43

        Wasn’t that off-track? Kvyat on Massa was more exciting and he kept in on track actually.

        1. Profile Photo

          Wais (@itswais77)
          26th August 2015, 22:09

          nope, just kept it on track

  2. Profile Photo

    Juzh (@juzh)
    26th August 2015, 13:10

    “Some claimed Vettel had inflicted the damage on himself by repeatedly running off-track around the Spa-Francorchamps course.”
    Pirelli apologists, vettel and/or ferrari haters, uninformed and selective memory people did.

    1. ireni
      26th August 2015, 19:41

      +1

    2. Martin
      26th August 2015, 20:07

      What are you saying? That Vettel didn’t leave the track? Or that it is physically impossible to damage tyres by going off track? Because both positions seem pretty indefensible.

      Given the information we have to go on I don’t think it is an unreasonable theory. Of course it does have the downside of placing the blame for the incident at Vettel’s feet over Pirelli’s … is *that* why you don’t like it?

      1. ura
        26th August 2015, 20:17

        LOL Spot on. Thanks for giving a prime example for @juzh

      2. harry
        26th August 2015, 21:43

        Yeah you made his point :D

        1. Martin
          27th August 2015, 0:03

          Harry & Ura

          I’d love to know what point you think I’m proving. Given that I don’t have any great love for Pirelli (and if it is truly there fault then it won’t have any impact on me), Have no hatred for Ferrari or Vettel, that my post was not uninformed and that my memory is fine.

          I did notice there was no attempt to counter me, is that because you can’t? :)

          Seems to me people just love their scape goats.

          1. kanan
            27th August 2015, 7:03

            :D Man, if you wanna see the counter argument, read the previous posts countering your arguments all over the Internet and f1fanatic. Just because people don’t wanna spend their energy writing/arguing against you doesn’t mean they can’t. You must feel oh-so-wronged to consider yourself or Pirelli “scapegoats”. Are you the Martin who writes on SkyF1 website?

          2. Martin
            27th August 2015, 15:37

            “if you wanna see the counter argument, read the previous posts countering your arguments all over the Internet and f1fanatic”

            I’ve read other comments on f1f and elsewhere, I’ve seen nothing that explains why a driver repeatedly driving completely off the circuit is not a valid explanation for a tyre failure. Also no explanation for why, if it really is a case of Pirelli making substandard tyres why haven’t we seen any issues sooner, like at Silverstone for instance? This was the 11th race of the season you’d think if it was the tyres that we would have seen something by now.

            “Just because people don’t wanna spend their energy writing/arguing against you doesn’t mean they can’t.”

            They certainly found the energy to write unhelpful and ultimately fruitless attempts to offend a stranger on the internet. I’m not sure why having a resonable discussion would be so far out of their grasp.

            “You must feel oh-so-wronged”

            Nope! Not sure why you would jump to that conclusion. I don’t consider myself a scapegoat, and like I said I don’t have any great love for Pirelli.

            “Are you the Martin who writes on SkyF1 website?”

            Who? Martin Brundle? No of course not :S

    3. Profile Photo

      Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
      26th August 2015, 21:36

      Lewis Hamilton at the very least was also running over the kerbs, so I don’t accept it as a reasoned counterpoint to excuse Pirelli.

      1. Martin
        26th August 2015, 23:49

        According to post race reports lots of cars had damaged tyres at the end of the race. It seems likely however that Hamilton (since you singled him out) wasn’t really pushing for much of the race and he (like everyone else) made more pitstops than Vettel.

        Could it be that Vettel, due to his longer stint, just took running the damaged tyres far enough that they failed, whereas all the other drivers with damaged tyres from going off track didn’t push them as far and so got away with it?

        I’m not saying that that is what happened, I just don’t understand why people are so quick and eager to dismiss this explanation and go straight after Pirelli.

        1. Albert
          27th August 2015, 1:06

          Because drivers have been driving this way forever. This is not a case of Pirelli having such a bad luck that this was the very first time in the history of Spa that drivers decided to drive that aggressively.

          1. Martin
            27th August 2015, 15:53

            “Because drivers have been driving this way forever. This is not a case of Pirelli having such a bad luck that this was the very first time in the history of Spa that drivers decided to drive that aggressively.”

            This seemed odd to me because it is certainly not how I remember previous races at spa. I don’t profess to follow all racing categories but certainly in F1 I didn’t think this approach was standard practice.

            So I started investigating. The first 5 onboards in the search results all seemed to go against what you said, None of these show drivers going completely off the track at the top of eau rouge like we were seeing last weekend.
            https://youtu.be/SdIvrOgBuj8?t=34 : Vettel, Spa lap record 2009
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vstWEvjW18&feature=youtu.be&t=160 : Alonso 2013
            https://youtu.be/stS_mDVwBVY?t=42 : Rosberg 2011 (looks like its wet, hard to tell)
            https://youtu.be/1GAa2aen47Q?t=58 : Schumacher 2005
            https://youtu.be/6EEkMBROgCY?t=155 : Raikkonen 2012

            And only after going through those did I find someone had already helpfully made a compilation of onboards : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myy4K9B9zT0 Again, basically 3 minutes of drivers not going fully of track at the top of Eau rouge.

            So yeah, I dont really agree that drivers were taking this corner the same as they have always done. To me this year it seemed far more excessive that previous years. Maybe a combination of reduced downforce over previous years and the higher acceleration of the new engines making it harder to make the corner at the top of the hill?

        2. kanan
          27th August 2015, 7:04

          Pirelli said going over the curbs were not an issue. Are you saying they are lying?

          1. Martin
            27th August 2015, 15:18

            “Are you saying they are lying?”

            Where did I say the problem was going over the curbs?

        3. anon
          27th August 2015, 18:11

          Charlie Whiting has done a Q&A with Auto Motor und Sport

          The drivers ran over the kerbs at the exit of Eau Rouge more than ever before. Could it be possible, this contributed to the tyre issues and are there any solutions for next year in order to force the drivers to stay on track?

          Whiting: We don’t think the drivers used the kerb any more than before and it is very benign anyway. From what we saw in qualifying it wasn’t quicker to use the kerb anyway so it was desirable to stay on the track. It should also be noted that the kerb on the exit of Blanchimont is much more aggressive (similar to many other tracks on high speed corners). We doubt this was a contributing factor.

          Here is the link, the article is in english:

          1. anon
            27th August 2015, 18:13

            I will try the link again:

    4. Profile Photo

      Ian Bond (@ianbond001)
      27th August 2015, 15:38

      he was leaving the track with his left rear; it was the right rear that exploded; same as Rosberg’s.
      we were so lucky both these happened on straights.

      we have enough strange weird incidents that killed Jules and Justin.

      tire explosions should no happen!

  3. Ago
    26th August 2015, 13:49

    Hi Keith! …long time!…
    It looks like a “strange” radio exchange between Seb and R. Adami is missing here….
    lap 28
    Riccardo Adami-Sebastian Vettel: – try default B17,B, 17 , off, please
    Sebastian Vettel-Riccardo Adami: – it doesn’t react, doesn’t react
    and that’s just before lap 29 msg about a 2nd stop…???
    not absolutely sure of the beginning of the Adami->Vettel communication…

    1. Profile Photo

      Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
      26th August 2015, 14:38

      Where’s that from?

      1. paul
        26th August 2015, 14:43

        I also heard it during the race.

      2. Profile Photo

        Mayank (@mjf1fan)
        26th August 2015, 15:09

        I too heard this message while watching sky feed.

      3. Ago
        26th August 2015, 15:33

        I missed it when watching O/L SkyF1 but I got it when watching again the french TV Canal+ recording.
        it’s starts exactly 59s before the next msg (Vettel asking for “2 stops” on lap 29)

    2. Profile Photo

      Sven (@crammond)
      26th August 2015, 16:04

      Heard that too. Wurz on ORF claimed he invented that system (I´m not sure about how much he really invented, as he already claimed to have invented the “beep” some races ago) and was explaining it (it was about turning of sensor number 17, there´s about 80 sensors on a car, ordered by importance, and if a sensor starts giving bad info you have to turn it off before the system reacts badly to that info), while Brundle just said “no idea what that means, but something is not working”.

      1. merabella
        26th August 2015, 16:22

        It’s very interesting. I realized when drivers commentate, the younger they are, the more correct info they give and the more they are insightful.

        1. Profile Photo

          spoutnik (@spoutnik)
          26th August 2015, 18:49

          Absolutely, in Belgium Stoffel Vandoorne backs the presentator and it’s a real pleasure. Before him it was Charles Pic and before that it was Jérôme d’Ambrosio.
          Those racers immediately notice hidden things or understand some behavior, a great addition to the commentary!

  4. Dan
    26th August 2015, 14:04

    How come Rosberg escaped a penalty for getting outside help with his start?

    1. Profile Photo

      Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
      26th August 2015, 15:06

      Seems to me nothing was said which was outside the scope of the restrictions (see here).

      1. Martin
        26th August 2015, 15:45

        I was under the impression that the restrictions were any message that is
        A) Transmitted between the car leaving the garage and the race start
        and
        B) Not specifically allowed for in new regulations

        was banned, meaning that both the Rosberg/Unknown and Raikkonen/Greenwood exchanges were illegal under the new rules.

    2. Profile Photo

      Bolide (@mim5)
      26th August 2015, 16:28

      I read somewhere that it was precautionary because I think Ocon in GP3 received a penalty for not adhering to the VSC and maybe Lewis was just a little bit cautious compared to Nico.

  5. Profile Photo

    Simon (@weeniebeenie)
    26th August 2015, 14:13

    Two strange things about the Bottas incident.

    Firstly despite what was said on commentary he seemingly had no idea one tyre was a different compound and was not feeling anything different. Secondly, I was amazed he was allowed to continue driving like that. Surely he was constantly breaking the rule lap after lap, why wasn’t he forced to change it?

    1. pal
      26th August 2015, 14:46

      Maybe they wanted to go for 1 stop, but didn’t want the tyre to blow out.

    2. OOliver
      26th August 2015, 15:17

      But he wasn’t given a penalty for each of the previous laps he had driven with the tyres prior to being investigated.
      The penalty negated any potential advantage gained by running with is such a tyre combination.

  6. Profile Photo

    moshwan (@moshwan)
    26th August 2015, 14:28

    Can anyone shed any light on how Rosberg was able to close the gap to Hamilton under the VSC? I’ve seen Gary Anderson raise the same question in his Autosport article and obviously Hamilton found it weird, but none of the pundits on the coverage I was watching seemed to find it strange enough to give much thought. Rosberg seemed to gain about 1-2 seconds under the VSC, how was this possible?

    Given that no penalty was given to Rosberg, I’m guessing Hamilton drove too slowly compared to the target lap time.

    1. Profile Photo

      Simon (@weeniebeenie)
      26th August 2015, 14:33

      You just answered your own question in the last sentence. Since as you say he wasn’t penalised the only other logical answer is Hamilton drove slightly under the limit, as he did in Monaco.

    2. Alex Ward
      26th August 2015, 14:43

      maybe Hamilton was in a higher speed area when the VSC engaged, he may have had to drop from a potential 300kph for several seconds whereas Nico dropped from a potential 150kph for several seconds, just a theory….

    3. Martin
      26th August 2015, 15:18

      I agree the logical conclusion is that Hamilton was travelling slower than he could have legally gone. Just goes to show that even with VSC the drivers primary focus is to be driving as fast as they (legally) can and not of safety. I wonder what happens when we have the first accident under a VSC because a driver was concentrating too much on maximizing his pace as close to the set limit as possible, instead of whatever incident is occurring on the track.

      What I am confused about is how Rosberg escaped punishment for overtaking Bottas by going off track at the final chicane. As far as I am aware he wasn’t even investigated for it.

    4. Ahmad Al-Bashrawi
      26th August 2015, 16:03

      It depends on where were you exactly when the VSC was declared I think.

      If driver A was in the middle of a straight while driver B was in the middle of a corner, I guess there will always be a slight difference in the spacing between them before and after the deployment of VSC.

    5. Profile Photo

      TdM (@tdm)
      26th August 2015, 22:23

      I’m wondering if it’s something to do with where you are when the vsc kicks in… The vs timing benchmarks are taken between ‘marshelling points’ I presume sectors. If you are in the middle of a sector when it kicks in where someone else is at the end of a sector, you gain an advantage managing to run at a higher speed for a few more seconds.

      I’m not sure if that’s how it really works but it would explain why Roserg caught up… It could work the other way around also so it would just be luck, it would be an inherent flaw though

      1. Profile Photo

        TdM (@tdm)
        26th August 2015, 22:33

        To clarify, my guess, if you are in the middle of a sector when vsc kicks in you don’t get a ‘sector target’ for the sector you are currently in (calculating the target would be complex)

  7. Profile Photo

    AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
    26th August 2015, 14:49

    Any idea what Hamilton’s message “I lost a lot of time in power.” was about? I noticed in the lap times chart that both Mercedes slowed down a lot around form around that lap. Did Mercedes tune down the engines from the pit wall?

    1. Profile Photo

      Mashiat (@mashiat)
      26th August 2015, 14:57

      The VSC maybe?

      1. Profile Photo

        Mayank (@mjf1fan)
        26th August 2015, 15:07

        There was no VSC on lap 38. It would seem odd to discuss about loss of power after some 17 laps when VSC was initially engaged. Seems like they tuned down the engine from pitwall.

    2. Profile Photo

      Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
      26th August 2015, 15:07

      @adrianmorse Based on the reply and what we’ve heard before, I suspect both Mercedes drivers were given a message around the same time to turn their engines down to save them for later.

      1. pal
        26th August 2015, 15:13

        But it sounds like Hamilton was taken by surprise, like he didn’t know what happened.

        1. Martin
          26th August 2015, 15:20

          “I lost a lot of time in power.”

          It doesn’t sound like surprise to me :/ more like concern in case he is being left vulnerable to an attack from behind.

        2. Profile Photo

          Woody (@woodyd91)
          26th August 2015, 16:04

          @keithcollantine @pal

          I don’t think he was surprised at the engine power but rather just at how much time he lost when doing so. I think it’s more of a “look guys I lost a lot of time on that lap because of an engine setting change you made me make, is Rosberg in the same mode?” Normally the team will say change engine mode to X, this is for both cars, but given they said this after Hamilton’s message one would assume they didn’t pre warn him of that.

          Something that I was thinking about during the race, because it’s happened on a few occasions this season already. When Hamilton is leading and Rosberg can’t match the pace or get close he seems to quite often drop into the close but mostly safe clutches of the car behind and because Mercedes want a 1-2 they will pit Rosberg first, I’m wondering if this could be a tactic from Rosberg in order to attempt to close a larger gap than he could on track or even undercut Hamilton. Surely there would be a few words spoken if by giving the slower car the preferential treatment that he managed to get ahead of the guy who was doing everything right, simply by being allowed to be on a much faster tyre than your team mate for a lap or 2.

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            Frieda (@friedatwo)
            28th August 2015, 9:48

            @woodyd91 As far as I know Merc give the lead driver first option, maybe Rosberg chose a different option?

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            Woody (@woodyd91)
            28th August 2015, 10:32

            @friedatwo Rosberg wasn’t in the lead at any of these points though. Its possible that Hamilton said I want to stay out but then he wouldn’t be surprised if he was being caught under pit stops. For example in Spa the team said box, lewis said his tyres are fine could he do another lap, team said no this is fastest race strategy and if he didn’t take the pit Nico would. Lewis came in. Nico pitting before lewis at any point in the season would be teams decision.

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    uan (@uan)
    26th August 2015, 15:09

    After the race Lotus said they felt they’d catch Vettel at the end because they were cleared to go to full power, but Grojean couldn’t do it at Lap 39 with Strat 7 which is the Mercs top mode iirc (and is implied in the radio message). I don’t think RG would have caught Vettel on the last lap if SV tire doesn’t fail.

    1. xylon
      26th August 2015, 15:22

      He was dropping back actually. It didn’t look like he was gonna get ahead. That was very surprising as Grosjean was a lot faster, even without the start 7.
      It’s like what happened with Vettel-Rosberg in Hungary after safety car, or Vettel-Hamilton in Monaco and Spain, or Massa-Hamilton/Bottas at Silverstone. Very interesting to see an unrelenting defensive driving nowadays. Drivers don’t bother much with these melting tyres and DRS. Especially if the guy in front has such a tyre disadvantage.

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      SatchelCharge (@satchelcharge)
      26th August 2015, 19:58

      Agree. It was Vettel’s podium imo.

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    uan (@uan)
    26th August 2015, 15:27

    Lewis’s second stop shows how Rosberg (or Hamilton, on the rare occasion when the situations are reversed) suffer from being on the same team – imagine if they said “sure Lewis, stay out” and Nico pits and gets the under cut and Hamilton would be like “how’d that happen????”. I don’t think if one is doing better on fuel savings or tire management that they would allowed to use that towards the end of race to fight for the win.

    At least the team told him about the best reason why he should pit on that lap lol.

    1. xylon
      26th August 2015, 15:40

      Completely agreed.

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      Xusen (@xusen)
      26th August 2015, 17:02

      Thats why one aspect is qualy and Rosberg has let himself down badly on this part.

      Last year Hamilton fought and pushed Rosberg when didn’t get pole, Rosberg seems to hit the wall and stay outside DRS for most of the race.

      Unfortunately like you said, the team can’t help one driver relinquish the lead without giving him the full picture especially if it’s his team mate.

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    Patrick (@paeschli)
    26th August 2015, 18:09

    If both Grosjean and his engineer speak French, why don’t they communicate with each other in that language?

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      George (@george)
      26th August 2015, 18:20

      @paeschli Probably so that other people on the radio know what they’re talking about. I guess it’s different at Ferrari as the majority of the team speak both English and Italian.

    2. Moolander
      26th August 2015, 18:43

      They are mandated to do so.

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        Patrick (@paeschli)
        26th August 2015, 19:57

        Since when? I remember quite a lot of Italian radio messages between Alonso and his engineer.

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          SatchelCharge (@satchelcharge)
          26th August 2015, 19:59

          It’s not really enforced but Moolander is right, there is a rule against it.

          1. ura
            26th August 2015, 20:18

            +1

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        Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
        27th August 2015, 0:07

        They are mandated to do so.

        There’s nothing in the rules that says they have to communicate in English (this seems to be a common misconception, I don’t know why).

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      verstappen (@verstappen)
      26th August 2015, 20:17

      Sportmanship. English is nu gentlemen’s agreement.

      And then you have Ferrari and Alonso.

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        Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
        26th August 2015, 21:44

        Ferrari tend to get exemptions for a lot of things. I wouldn’t be surprised if we start hearing more Italian from Vettel and Adami in the coming years.

  11. Mathew Cocksey
    26th August 2015, 21:34

    Repetitive or Irrelevant messages omitted… I dont believe SV didnt say anything after the tyre bow out… that could be quite relevant and interesting…?

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      Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
      27th August 2015, 0:08

      I’d be very surprised if neither he nor the team had anything to say after the slow-out, but whatever there might have been it wasn’t broadcast. Perhaps we’ll hear some in the highlights video when it appears…

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        Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
        27th August 2015, 16:57

        …or perhaps not.

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    Patrickl (@patrickl)
    26th August 2015, 21:56

    I really don’t get why the stewards weren’t more forceful on the track limits. Pirelli did in fact warn up front about the dangers of going off-track and the FIA stated that the stewards would monitor track limits.

    I barely saw a single car stay entirely on track going through Eau Rouge/Radillion or on the other side of the track going towards Blanchimont. Yet indeed they only warned Kvyat once.

    1. anon
      27th August 2015, 9:41

      The stewards only look at exceeding track limits if an advantage was gained. Apart from the obvious case of overtaking off circuit, the usual procedure seems to be to only monitor certain corners were it is judged that this might apply. Before qualifying turn 4 was mentioned and one other which I can’t remember so it is probably significant that Kvyat’s warning was for turn 4, we also don’t know if any other drivers received warnings that were not broadcast

  13. Theo
    20th May 2017, 13:10

    Do you guys still do social bookmarking for your personal blog?
    Many people told me not to do that nowadays
    Bookmarked your site, I have to keep up to date with regular posts!

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