“We need to pull a gap. Don’t ask questions, just execute.”
Mercedes’ eye-opening radio message to Lewis Hamilton seven laps from home in the Italian Grand Prix was the first indication that the runaway race leader might be in trouble with the stewards.
It also showed that winning 25 of the previous 30 races hasn’t dulled the team’s competitive instincts. Mercedes told Hamilton to get on with it and not ask questions because they didn’t want their rivals to understand the true nature of their situation any sooner then they could prevent it.
At any rate, just a few minutes later the truth was out, and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was remarking to his drivers that the race finishing positions might not be final.
Hamilton, meanwhile, was not impressed at the sudden command nor the confusion that briefly ensued, which had shades of the team’s race-losing error at Monaco. “That was not cool, man,” he remarked to his race engineer before celebrating his victory.
Nico Hulkenberg also had some cause for complaint after taking the chequered flag: he was convinced his chassis had an as-yet-untraced problem. “What do you think, from Friday to today I lose like a second a lap?” he asked.
As the race came to an end the Williams pair were scrapping over the final podium position. “I’m too old for that!” joked Felipe Massa after crossing the line less than four-tenths of a second in front of Valtteri Bottas.
However his team mate believed he would have got passed had it not been for an engine problem on the final tour. “The power unit turned off in the last lap at the main straight,” reported a disappointed Bottas.
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2015 Italian Grand Prix team radio transcript
Lap* | From | To | Message |
---|---|---|---|
PR | Julien Simon-Chautemps | Romain Grosjean | So no burn-outs, torque three, strat six, start then go to the grid, charge lap and leave the car in P1. |
PR | Gianpiero Lambiase | Daniil Kvyat | OK so standard offset for the [medium]? |
PR | Daniil Kvyat | Gianpiero Lambiase | Yes, let’s do it. |
PR | Max Verstappen | Xevi Pujolar | My seat is moving again. |
PR | David Greenwood | Kimi Raikkonen | So in terms of what’s happening let me quickly just cover the track. So we’re up at 40 degrees on track, so another two degrees up. Wind-wise, very low level, but the direction is a tailwind into turn one. |
PR | Tim Wright | Sergio Perez | Just a reminder, we won’t be able to speak to you in the last minute before the commencement of the formation lap. |
PR | Daniil Kvyat | Gianpiero Lambiase | The water just keeps coming through the tube. The water is coming through all the time. |
3 | Nico Hulkenberg | Brad Joyce | I got hit on the front, think I have some damage on the front wing. For now it feels OK again. Just check the front wing when I come by. |
3 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | Will do, will do. |
4 | Tom Stallard | Jenson Button | Nice start. Sainz behind is on [medium] tyres. |
4 | Romain Grosjean | Julien Simon-Chautemps | I think there is something wrong in the rear. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Something’s broken. |
4 | Julien Simon-Chautemps | Romain Grosjean | OK, what’s happening? |
4 | Romain Grosjean | Julien Simon-Chautemps | I think it’s rear suspension. I don’t know if I can make it to the pits. |
4 | Julien Simon-Chautemps | Romain Grosjean | OK no problem. |
4 | Romain Grosjean | Julien Simon-Chautemps | No, retire the car. |
4 | Julien Simon-Chautemps | Romain Grosjean | OK, understood, retire the car. |
4 | Romain Grosjean | Julien Simon-Chautemps | I got hit at the first corner, I don’t know who was behind. |
4 | Julien Simon-Chautemps | Romain Grosjean | Alright Romain. |
5 | Marco Matassa | Carlos Sainz Jnr | OK Carlos try to catch Button in front. |
5 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Marco Matassa | Yeah he has the [soft], he’s quick on corners. |
5 | Marco Matassa | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Yes, understood, but they want you to overtake him. |
6 | Craig Gardiner | Felipe Nasr | Is there a puncture Felipe, question? |
6 | Felipe Nasr | Craig Gardiner | Guys I have a puncture. |
6 | Craig Gardiner | Felipe Nasr | Copy. Pre-load 12, pre-load one-two. Box, box. |
6 | Felipe Nasr | Craig Gardiner | It was a Lotus car crossed across me. |
6 | Pastor Maldonado | Mark Slade | Hulkenberg ran into me from behind. |
6 | Mark Slade | Pastor Maldonado | Can you describe the problem? |
6 | Pastor Maldonado | Mark Slade | The car is not turning so something in the steering wheel |
6 | Mark Slade | Pastor Maldonado | OK, understood. |
6 | Kimi Raikkonen | David Greenwood | Went to anti-stall when I let go of the first clutch plate. Nothing happened. |
6 | David Greenwood | Kimi Raikkonen | OK understood Kimi we’ve just got to get back on with it now.Try and make as much as you can now. |
7 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | Why does overtake not work? |
7 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | So looks like it is working, Nico, we can see it working on the start/finish straight. |
7 | David Greenwood | Kimi Raikkonen | Nice job. Bit of free air in front now to get to Ericsson. Keep going, you’re doing a good job. |
8 | Tim Wright | Sergio Perez | Pace is good, we are safe from undercut. Keep up the pace. |
9 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Just look after those front brakes for a bit. We’re getting quite high wear for the last laps when you’ve been close. |
9 | Jenson Button | Tom Stallard | The Toro Rosso gave me nowhere to go on the exit there. |
10 | Jonathan Eddolls | Valtteri Bottas | Rosberg behind looks to have issues with either engine temperatures or brake temperatures. He’s pulling to one side, so we’re looking good. Rosberg has high front wear, he’s struggling with his brakes. This is looking good. |
10 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | What are we doing strategy? Do I push or not push? |
10 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | So Nico most important thing at the moment is just looking after the brakes. |
10 | Marco Matassa | Carlos Sainz Jnr | How is the front axle, Carlos? |
10 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Marco Matassa | A bit lazy. |
10 | Marco Matassa | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Understood. |
11 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Nico brakes are improving with that management. We’ll just keep you advised the next lap or so. |
11 | Marco Matassa | Carlos Sainz Jnr | We have a five seconds penalty pit stop. |
11 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Marco Matassa | Why, why? |
11 | Marco Matassa | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Gaining an advantage. |
13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Brad Joyce | There’s like… I hear a strange noise. Think there’s something on the exhaust. |
13 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | Copy that Nico. Safety Car window open now. We’ll have a look for you. |
14 | Sergio Perez | Tim Wright | How is the pace compared to Nico? |
14 | Tim Wright | Sergio Perez | Checo it’s good, it’s three-tenths. We are trying to clear the Red Bulls from our pit window. |
18 | Sebastian Vettel | Riccardo Adami | Starting to lose the rears a little bit. |
18 | Simon Rennie | Daniel Ricciardo | Doing a good job. Consistency and pace is looking good, let’s keep it up, good job. |
20 | Marco Matassa | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Well done Carlos. Now Nasr. Battery medium to high. |
20 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | After Hamilton was todl he’d be pitting soon he suggested he could go longer, but was told Rosberg had already pitted, meaning Hamilton would have to pit soon to avoid being jumped. It’s all starting to happen now. You may be target minus one. |
20 | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | Tyres feel good, though, I can go longer. |
20 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Race information: Nico’s now stopped, he’s trying to undercut the Williams. |
22 | Mark Temple | Fernando Alonso | We’ve got clear air now so let’s try and get the pace back down to 31.2s. Last lap Jenson did a 31.0. |
22 | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | Feel some deg in my front-left. Car starts to understeer a little bit. |
23 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | So this pace is good enough to get Raikkonen at the moment. |
24 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | So just information: You are matching Nico’s time on the other tyre. Suggest diff high-speed six. It won’t be long now. |
24 | Tim Wright | Sergio Perez | Start mode on. Might be tight stop. |
25 | Tom Stallard | Jenson Button | Push to try and stay ahead. We’ll pit when the tyres degrade, when the tyres go. |
25 | Jenson Button | Tom Stallard | Just so you know this isn’t slowing me down massively because I get the tow. |
25 | Tim Wright | Sergio Perez | OK Checo you’ve done a great job with the tyres so far. So strategy A. |
26 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Box, box. Your pit window is clear. Just need a nice, clean stop. |
26 | Nico Hulkenberg | Brad Joyce | Guys the back end just doesn’t feel good. I’m just sliding. |
26 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | Copy that Nico. Rear-left tyre temperature high at the moment. |
26 | Riccardo Adami | Sebastian Vettel | Box, Sebastian, box. |
27 | David Greenwood | Kimi Raikkonen | Hulkenberg is doing 29.6 lap time. I need to gain one-and-a-half seconds on Hulkenberg. We need to push now, Kimi. |
28 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Important to get past Kimi. |
28 | Nico Hulkenberg | Brad Joyce | Just prepare yourselves to change strategy, I don’t think we’ll last. It’s just my feeling right now. |
28 | Kimi Raikkonen | David Greenwood | Come on guys it’s time to stop. |
28 | David Greenwood | Kimi Raikkonen | Copy, we’re in this lap. |
29 | Marco Matassa | Carlos Sainz Jnr | OK, two or three good laps, mate. Keep pushing, push hard. |
30 | Tim Wright | Sergio Perez | Really good job, Checo. Now it’s going to be about managing the tyre until the end. We may have soft cars behind towards the end so look after the tyre. |
30 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Gap to Vettel 18.6. We want to open that out to a pit stop gap so we’ll just eke it out a little bit. |
31 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Marco Matassa | Tyres dying. |
31 | Marco Matassa | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Copy, copy. Get ready. |
32 | Mark Temple | Fernando Alonso | To catch Jenson we need to be at least six-tenths of a lap faster. Last lap was exactly six-tenths. Let’s try and find a couple more tenths if we can. |
33 | Daniel Ricciardo | Simon Rennie | Are we likely to be racing anyone else at the end? |
33 | Simon Rennie | Daniel Ricciardo | Yes we will. Force Indias and Sauber ahead. |
34 | Nico Hulkenberg | Brad Joyce | Just 11 laps after being told he could beat Raikkonen, Hulkenberg was advised not to bother fighting him for position. Don’t waste time with Raikkonen. At the moment lap times, tyre deg are all pointing to the one stop. |
35 | Jonathan Eddolls | Valtteri Bottas | Just give me some feedback on the tyre when you can. |
35 | Valtteri Bottas | Jonathan Eddolls | All consistent so far. I think we can stick to the plan but in the end will be difficult. |
35 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Just be aware Vettel’s tyres went off earlier than anybody else on the [soft], so we’re expecting the same on the [medium]. We think P2 is still possible. Just need to close the gap, looking after the brakes, and then attack when his tyres go off. |
36 | Gianpiero Lambiase | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull thought Kvyat could catch Hulkenberg and Ericsson, though he didn’t manage to. So Dany as expected we can see some racing towards the end. Looking at a Sauber and Hulkenberg at this stage. So points possible. |
36 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | 18 laps to go. If we did changes tyres which would you prefer. |
36 | Nico Hulkenberg | Brad Joyce | I think [soft]. Used [soft]. |
37 | Tom Stallard | Jenson Button | Jenson the lap time gain from DRS is not that large. |
37 | Jenson Button | Tom Stallard | Roger. |
37 | Kimi Raikkonen | David Greenwood | What tyres is Perez on and how old are they. |
37 | David Greenwood | Kimi Raikkonen | Perez in on [medium] tyres and they’re five laps older than yours. |
38 | Marco Matassa | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Gap at 13.6, one second faster. Come on mate, keep psuhing. |
38 | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | Hamilton was initially given a conservative lap time target. Should I turn down the engine? |
38 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | OK copy that last message, Lewis. Target 27.2, we’ll be happy with that. |
38 | Sebastian Vettel | Riccardo Adami | Come on now, blue flag. |
38 | Riccardo Adami | Sebastian Vettel | Copy that. |
39 | Dave Robson | Felipe Massa | This is really good, just keep this up. There are 15 laps to go. |
40 | Marco Matassa | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 12 seconds. Keep pushing mate and we will enjoy the end of the race. |
41 | Nico Hulkenberg | Brad Joyce | Oh man I’m telling you something is not working on the back. It just reminds me of last year. No traction, no rear grip, nothing. |
41 | Sebastian Vettel | Riccardo Adami | Yeah need to get him out of the way. Come on, we’re like one or two tenths quicker and he’s only going a bit slower. |
41 | Riccardo Adami | Sebastian Vettel | Copy, we try that. |
42 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | 13 laps remaining. You’re doing a god job with Vettel, just continue to close him down. |
42 | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | Front brakes OK? I can’t see the oxidation. |
42 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Everything looks OK from our side. |
44 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Try diff mid five, currently showing you in a strange position. |
44 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | So ten laps remaining, you’re doing a good job, just keep closing him down. |
46 | Xevi Pujolar | Max Verstappen | Blue flag now for Vettel, we need to let him go and get into the DRS. |
46 | Max Verstappen | Xevi Pujolar | But he’s not catching me. |
46 | Xevi Pujolar | Max Verstappen | We got instructions to do it, we must do it. Vettel is fighting with Rosberg behind, let him go. |
47 | Tim Wright | Sergio Perez | Checo if you need it to defend you have one lap of white mix one. |
48 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | After Mercedes learned they were under investigation over their tyre pressures, Hamilton was urged to speed up to increase the gap over his pursuers, but Mercedes didn’t want to make the reason public to tip off their rivals. So we need to open this gap right up. Do what we can you’ve got seven laps remaining. OK Lewis we can go strat mode three, we need to pull a gap. Don’t ask questions, just execute. |
48 | Xevi Pujolar | Max Verstappen | Let Rosberg go and stay behind. |
48 | Max Verstappen | Xevi Pujolar | [Unclear] |
49 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | OK Lewis let’s just have some ‘Hammertime’ lap times. We just need some good lap times now. No need to ask questions, we’ll just explain it at the end. |
50 | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | I’ve not got a lot of pace in me. |
50 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | OK copy that. Just five laps to go. That pace is good, don’t take any risks. |
50 | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | What do I need to do? I can’t get much quicker. |
50 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | What you’re doing is great, Lewis. That’s all we need. Just stabilise on pace. |
51 | Fernando Alonso | Mark Temple | Alonso retired. No power. Pit in. We cannot race like this. |
51 | Mark Temple | Fernando Alonso | Carry on, default zero five should help. Stay out. OK Fernando you should have power again let’s stay out for the moment. |
51 | Fernando Alonso | Mark Temple | I don’t have power. |
51 | Mark Temple | Fernando Alonso | OK, retire the car. |
52 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | You can have HPP six to two when you can, no rush. So just maintain a comfortable pace, Lewis. |
52 | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | What did you say? 62? What are you talking about? |
52 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Don’t worry about it. Yellow, yellow turn four/five. Don’t worry about the last message. |
53 | Dave Robson | Felipe Massa | OK Felipe that’s us in P3 now. Keep pushing, we’re racing Valtteri but it has to be a clean race to the end. |
53 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | Lost power, lost power, what do I do? |
53 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Engine default 21. |
VL | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | OK Lewis thanks for that. HPP eight to position eleven. I’ll explain everything when I see you. |
VL | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | I have to say Bono those last few laps were not cool, man. |
VL | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Yeah, just torque mode zero. OK Lewis copy that I’ll see you in a bit. |
VL | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | Fantastic job guys all weekend. Absolutely faultless. Thank you so much for all the effort, and to the guys back in the factory. I really do appreciate it. Car was fantastic to drive. Thank you. |
VL | Paddy Lowe | Lewis Hamilton | Great job Lewis, absolutely amazing drive, really well done, thank you. |
VL | Riccardo Adami | Sebastian Vettel | Yes, yes, well doen Seb! You deserve this podium. Best of the season, enjoy it, our podium. |
VL | Sebastian Vettel | Riccardo Adami | Woohoo! Grazie ragazzi. Forza Ferrari, Forza Monza, sempre. Grazie. I got a bit hot in the end so la bella strategia. Grande amoro a tutti. Grazie. Now enjoy. |
VL | Dave Robson | Felipe Massa | Briliant Felipe. Fantastic effort. Excellent one-stop race. Well done mate. P3. |
VL | Felipe Massa | Dave Robson | Yeah guys. Oh my God! I’m too old for that. Too old! Haha. Thank you guys, brilliant race. |
VL | Dave Robson | Felipe Massa | Rubbish, not too old. We’re just starting out mate! |
VL | Felipe Massa | Dave Robson | Yeah guys, thank you, very good job. Forgot to say that. Very good job to the team. I’m so happy to be here in the podium as you know. So let’s celebrate everybody! |
VL | Dave Robson | Felipe Massa | Absolutely, we will. |
VL | Jonathan Eddolls | Valtteri Bottas | Great effort at the end. Good race. Nice drive. |
VL | Valtteri Bottas | Jonathan Eddolls | The power unit turned off in the last lap at the main straight. I was just going to do the move but lost the power. |
VL | Kimi Raikkonen | David Greenwood | OK can you now tell me what happened to the start? Because as long as I know, before you say anything, I was in the right positions in the start switch and everything but just want to understand. |
VL | David Greenwood | Kimi Raikkonen | We’ll talk about it out of the car, Kimi, if that’s OK. |
VL | Tim Wright | Sergio Perez | Great drive, Checo. Really, really good job. Well done. |
VL | Sergio Perez | Tim Wright | Good job guys. Nice weekend. |
VL | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | Well done Nico that’s P7. |
VL | Nico Hulkenberg | Brad Joyce | So upset. What’s happening? Each year in Monza. It’s just something’s not right with this car. What do you think, from Friday to today I lose like a second a lap? |
VL | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | OK Nico, yep, we’ll have a good look at it. |
VL | Simon Rennie | Daniel Ricciardo | Ricciardo passed Ericsson at the last corner on the final lap. Nice job, mate. That’s the chequered flag. And mode one, please. Nice job. |
VL | Daniel Ricciardo | Simon Rennie | Haha! Yoo! That was good, good times. |
VL | Simon Rennie | Daniel Ricciardo | Good effort so we finished P8. P8 from the back. Excellent job, mate. |
VL | Daniel Ricciardo | Simon Rennie | Cheers boys. Car felt pretty good. Thanks guys. |
VL | Simon Rennie | Daniel Ricciardo | Nice job mate. Did a very good job looking after the tyres as well. No drama from our side. Excellent. |
VL | Erik Schuivens | Marcus Ericsson | OK Marcus that’s P9. Good drive, good fight buddy. |
VL | Gianpiero Lambiase | Daniil Kvyat | OK P10 Dany. Snuck a point. Not a bad effort. |
VL | Daniil Kvyat | Gianpiero Lambiase | Oof, I don’t know. Was so hard to drive this car today. We have to look into our degradation anyway. |
VL | Gianpiero Lambiase | Daniil Kvyat | Yep we’ll have a look as normal Dany. |
VL | Christian Horner | Daniil Kvyat | Nice job Dany that was a pretty solid drive there. Your tyres were three laps older than Ricciardo’s but you pretty much matched him for pace most of that last stint. |
VL | Daniil Kvyat | Christian Horner | Thanks Christian, thanks. It was a tough track for us anyway. Thanks. |
VL | Christian Horner | Daniil Kvyat | Horner had presumably learned by this time that Hamilton was under investigation. At least we got at least one point at the moment, maybe another one, you never know. |
VL | Marco Matassa | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Bit of a shame for that penalty. I think that you did a really good stint, two good stints, on [soft]. |
VL | Xevi Pujolar | Max Verstappen | OK Max good job for your side, P12. |
VL | Max Verstappen | Xevi Pujolar | Thank you. I think the pace was not too bad. Just a shame with the drive-through. |
VL | Xevi Pujolar | Max Verstappen | Yeah I think the pace was good. The overtakins were very good. It’s just that we started too far back. |
VL | Craig Gardiner | Felipe Nasr | That’s P13 in the end. A good effort but just unfortunate on the first lap, of course. In the end the [medium] was the best tyre, that’s why we ran it again. |
VL | Felipe Nasr | Craig Gardiner | Yeah, for sure. Who did hit me on the rear tyre? |
VL | Craig Gardiner | Felipe Nasr | I don’t know. We’ll have to… Apparently Verstappen. We’ll take a look afterwards. |
VL | Felipe Nasr | Craig Gardiner | There was a Lotus car that cut me across in the start and I had nowhere to go. |
VL | Craig Gardiner | Felipe Nasr | Understood. These things happen. |
VL | Tom Stallard | Jenson Button | Button was told he lost more time than Alonso letting faster cars past while being lapped. That was P14. Unfortunate that the failure on Fernando’s car cost you the opportunity to race him because that was just getting exciting. |
VL | Jenson Button | Tom Stallard | Yeah I don’t think the pace was massive when you take the tow into account the difference but… Yeah, good fun. Just the traffic cost me a lot, whether it was myself or just unlucky I don’t think but it cost me about five seconds I guess. |
VL | Tom Stallard | Jenson Button | Yeah we’ll have a look at that because it did cost you a lot more than it cost Fernando. |
VL | Jenson Button | Tom Stallard | Well hopefully I won’t get good at it. I don’t want to be good at it. |
VL | Josh Peckett | Will Stevens | Excellent job, well done. So we finished P15, 13 seconds ahead of Roberto. And a completely clean weekend so excellent job, really well done. |
VL | Will Stevens | Josh Peckett | Thanks mate. Can’t do any better weekend so back to where we should be really. |
VL | Nicholas Perrinn | Roberto Merhi | Well done mate that is P16. |
VL | Roberto Merhi | Nicholas Perrinn | OK thank you. |
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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Italian Grand Prix data
- 2015 Italian Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops
- 2015 Italian Grand Prix lap charts
- 2015 Italian Grand Prix lap times and fastest laps
2015 Italian Grand Prix
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- Little action in 2015 but Monza remains a favourite
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- 2015 Italian Grand Prix team radio transcript
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BrawnGP (@brawngp)
9th September 2015, 12:06
I cant imagine Shumacher saying-
or
Craig Wilson (@mbdxecw2)
9th September 2015, 23:34
Yes, but he didn’t have to drive on 2015-spec Pirellis either.
Overwatch (@overwatch)
11th September 2015, 17:07
I think 2012 spec was enough for him. And especially with him driving in W03, internally called “The Tyre Shredder”.
Steve Hopkinson
10th September 2015, 13:18
And I can’t imagine Hamilton intentionally ramming a rival off the road or parking in the middle of the track to ruin his opponent’s qualifying lap. Swings and roundabouts.
altitude2k
9th September 2015, 12:26
I don’t think Button would take a 2016 McLaren contract, even with a pay rise, at this point.
Nase (@)
9th September 2015, 13:36
@ altitude2k
He’d gladly do so, and ask for a second helping. He has zero options other than McLaren or quitting the sport.
dbHenry
9th September 2015, 16:46
Rumor has it that Haas is looking to hire an experienced driver, not a rookie, in one of their seats.
Nase (@)
9th September 2015, 20:58
@ dbhenry
Would you consider Haas an option? I don’t think I would, except if I were in Vergne’s or Gutiérrez’s situation, or as a young driver. I don’t think Haas has a realistic chance of being competitive within a couple of years.
omarr-pepper
10th September 2015, 21:07
@nase Well, is not as if McLaren will suddenly turn into poidum material anyway!
He can reallistically:
1. Retire and have fun with his triathlons
2. Stay in McLaren and wither there.
3. Go to has and maybe decay as well, but without the PR nonsense McLaren wants him to say.
Nase (@)
10th September 2015, 22:19
@ omarr-pepper:
I think the chances of McLaren returning to a more competitive state are clearly higher than Haas’s. The last teams who went from backmarkers to regular point-scorers are Force India and Toro Rosso. If Haas were to achieve a similar ascension, it would be a miracle. But even then, that’s hardly the kind of results a former race winner would find satisfying.
I also can’t imagine that you have to talk less PR nonsense as a Haas driver. Ever listen to the Marussia boys? Cringeworthy.
Nase (@)
1st October 2015, 12:49
So that’s settled, then.
ColdFly F1 (@)
9th September 2015, 12:30
Max probably said something in Dutch which would have to be beeped out ;)
terry
9th September 2015, 12:54
38 Sebastian Vettel Riccardo Adami Come on now, blue flag.
38 Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel Copy that.
41 Sebastian Vettel Riccardo Adami Yeah need to get him out of the way. Come on, we’re like one or two tenths quicker and he’s only going a bit slower.
41 Riccardo Adami Sebastian Vettel Copy, we try that.
46 Xevi Pujolar Max Verstappen Blue flag now for Vettel, we need to let him go and get into the DRS.
46 Max Verstappen Xevi Pujolar But he’s not catching me.
46 Xevi Pujolar Max Verstappen We got instructions to do it, we must do it. Vettel is fighting with Rosberg behind, let him go.
I think Vettel got behind Verstappen sometime after lap 38, but lap 41st he was talking about him, right? Verstappen was on softs at that point and their lap times were similar, but Vettel was a lap ahead of him. Between lap 44 and 46, Max loses 4 seconds! That’s compared to Hamilton and Vettel who were on similar pace to each other at that point. But I think Verstappen was faster than both. It’s like what happened in Monaco. Different strategies and slower cars on pace with faster cars at weird points during the race. And Rosberg was waiting for Vettel’s tyres to go off in the meantime.
35 Tony Ross Nico Rosberg Just be aware Vettel’s tyres went off earlier than anybody else on the [soft], so we’re expecting the same on the [medium]. We think P2 is still possible. Just need to close the gap, looking after the brakes, and then attack when his tyres go off.
Of course, their ambition got the better of them later on. They blew up the engine, unfortunately for Nico….
Retired (@jeff1s)
9th September 2015, 12:42
Haha! That’s why I love the team radios.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
9th September 2015, 13:02
Is this text the wrong way round or have Lotus finally given up on Maldonado and put his engineer in the car instead?
Joao (@johnmilk)
9th September 2015, 13:32
@keithcollantine
Jonas Overgaard (@)
9th September 2015, 14:32
That would be awesome and hopefully result in fewer crashes. Unless Maldonado is as bad at being an engineer as he is at being a driver…
speedAddict78 (@speedaddict78)
10th September 2015, 22:04
Yeah, Maldonado is “soo bad” that he managed to win a race in equal conditions with no more than Fernando Alonso, in his home race, in a year that Hulkenberg and Perez had a chance to win a race and they failed.
In 2015 almost all Maldonado’s retirements are due mechanical problems or because people crashed into him (like Nasr) but people keep saying these retirements are his fault and he is the worst driver of the world.
Talk about bias.
Strontium (@strontium)
9th September 2015, 22:37
More importantly, if he was hit from behind, how was his steering affected? I’m not saying he is wrong, I am genuinely curious to find out.
Josh
10th September 2015, 3:33
Maldonado’s floor broke after he went over the sleeping policeman
Nase (@)
9th September 2015, 13:34
Fascinating to see how quickly Hamilton switches from “not cool man” and obviously being upset to “Fantastic job guys all weekend. Absolutely faultless.”
Reminds me of those “spontaneous” comments Vettel made when he won all the races. Honestly, I could live very happily if these post-race P.R. blah blah messages weren’t broadcast. Except for those that sound like they’re spontaneous. Massa complaining about being too old, for instance. That one was actually enjoyable.
But back to the post-race P.R. blah blah white lies: With the new podium ceremony (an abomination, if you ask me) and the post-race press conference, there’s already more than enough (read: way too much) room for dishonest compliments that might just as well be read by robots. Wouldn’t it be lovely if the production team simply cut off messages as soon as they start tasting of artificial sweetener?
Albert
9th September 2015, 13:50
@nase
I think a person has a very different mindset, emotional state and sensibility when he’s racing at 300+ km/h and when he’s slowing down after winning. I find very understandable for a driver to be very aggressive on the radio while racing, and then being able to congratulate the team when he’s calmed down.
I find that understandable because those “sudden” mood changes are also very common in day-to-day human interaction. Hamilton is genuinely happy in Mercedes, as Vettel was in RBR in his winning days, so the congratulations and thanks are pretty much to be expected from any person.
There are a lot of charades and PR-stuff in F1, but there’s no need to be that pedantic to believe that a driver thanking the team is fake.
lexlut
9th September 2015, 14:12
I don’t think a driver thanking his team has to be fake. But that was a prett-ty big turn around in a reall-ly short time.
Nick (@nick101)
11th September 2015, 3:16
Because it’s all fake. The engineers tell the drivers that they are going ‘live’ on the air for post race radio broadcast. They know full well when they are being listened to post race. That’s why the big difference in mood. Go to YouTube and you can find plenty of examples of engineers telling the drivers that the next transmission will be broadcast.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
11th September 2015, 7:55
@nick101
They’re being listened to throughout the race as well, there’s no difference. Anything they say during the race can be broadcast.
I’ve been doing these transcripts for a couple of years now can can’t think of what type of message I’ve heard that you’re referring to here. Like I say any of the messages during the race could be broadcast, there’s nothing special about the post-race ones.
Patrickl (@patrickl)
11th September 2015, 19:08
I remember a few years back the engineer warning Raikkonen that his next words would be transmitted on-air because he was swearing a lot.
Think it started with Vettel swearing and then FOM told drivers to tone it down. They stopped doing that after a while though.
KevR
15th September 2015, 7:28
Where do these transcripts come from? If none of the radio broadcasts are fake then why isn’t all of what was said on the broadcasts transcripted?
[Lap51]
Mark Temple – “Carry on, default zero five should help. Stay out. OK Fernando you should have power again let’s stay out for the moment.”
Fernando Alonso – “I don’t have power”.
Mark Temple – “OK, retire the car.”
——–
When told to “stay out for the moment” Alonso’s reply was a little more than is transcripted here, he actually said “No no no, I don’t want to” after which the team then agreed and allowed him to retire.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
15th September 2015, 9:00
I listen to all of the radio messages that are broadcast in the coverage and I transcribe them.
Gabriel (@rethla)
9th September 2015, 14:29
The fake cheering and praising on radio and podiums is just laughable but there isnt much else to hear and people wanna hear something.
Gabriel (@rethla)
9th September 2015, 14:34
On a similar note i bought the official program for the Monza GP. I opened and skimmied through the first pages and got to an interview with Hamilton.
Q: What is your favourite car?
LH: Pagani Huayra with the just perfect Mercedes AMG engine.
… i never open the program again.
Albert
9th September 2015, 14:38
@rethla In all fairness, the Huayra is absolutely beautiful, and that AMG engine is a beast.
ura
9th September 2015, 14:44
Ooh wow. That’s bad.
Russ
9th September 2015, 17:22
Of all the things about Hamilton in the news …THAT is what tweaks you??
OK now we need to get a real life and move on.
George (@george)
9th September 2015, 18:04
To be fair, he does seem to like Paganis a lot, he owns(ed?) a Zonda too. And as Albert said, those big AMG engines are pretty legendary.
Bobby (@f1bobby)
9th September 2015, 18:20
Equally, did it bother you that in the same interviews Button’s favourite car was declared to be a McLaren P1 or that Vettel’s was an F40?
jale
9th September 2015, 19:11
Which one was written first?
Gabriel (@rethla)
9th September 2015, 23:50
Yeh that would bother me equally but as i said i never opened the program again.
Aaron
10th September 2015, 3:56
Ricciardo stating his dream car was a Renault scenic was the worst :p
jale
10th September 2015, 10:18
@Aaron You’re making that up, right??
Patrickl (@patrickl)
11th September 2015, 19:09
Ah, I was wondering why he got a Pagani, but that explains it I guess. Good that you opened the program …
kpcart
9th September 2015, 13:39
i dont like Hamilton’s entitled attitude, previous he said about the tyres when he wasnt good enough in 2012 and 2013 that he wants tyres that he can race at 100% for the whole race. now he is told to drive fast at the end of the race by his team, and suddenly it is “not cool” and “hairy” – did he forget 19 drivers behind him are also driving as fast as they can????? – he has too much of a car advantage and it has got to his head. this is the sorry state of f1, one driver can cruise, while others behind are racing harder to no avail. the reward for effort is not there with this stupid engine formula.
leyla
9th September 2015, 23:31
+1
Gabriel (@rethla)
9th September 2015, 23:56
Unless you count the effort of the hundreds that buildt the engine.
Selbbin (@selbbin)
10th September 2015, 2:41
Exactly. So many people forget this is a team sport. That’s why I support a team and whatever drivers they have, and not a driver and whatever team they drive for.
EF1
10th September 2015, 0:09
Exactly. Speaking of the engine formula, another pet hate of mine at the moment is how everyone keeps saying how good a job Mercedes have done. Sure, compared to the others they have done the best job within the rules, but remove the testing and engine development restrictions (as F1 should be) and who’s to know if everyone wouldn’t be praising Honda’s epic development rate and Renault’s ability to turn their woes around in such short time and produce an engine that is competitive with the Mercedes and the Ferrari. The law of diminishing returns says that if this were allowed they would all close up, not to mention, we could see whom actually can build the BEST engine, not whom can guess a better engine configuration than their 3 competitors (and then be stuck running it for a year, lucky for some, not for others). It would also spice up the races with the F1 of old i.e reliability v horsepower in the engine, with more retirements and different results. And lets face it, F1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of development, whereas at the moment its more like denying albert Einstein any books, writing instruments or anything to even write on and then asking him to develop relativity.
mystic one (@mysticus)
10th September 2015, 0:46
and while others developing their engines, mercedes would go out and about for cherry picking? lol nice analogy…
F1 is still pinnacle, think of an exam/test, under pressure within a time period you gotta answer some questions… if you know what you are doing and confident and done your homeworks, you get along fine… otherwise give enough time, everyone can answer questions, but how long will it take for everyone to answer will depend on how much you studied until the moment…
everyone are given same amount of time and opportunity! einstein has nothing to do with a competition…. noone asked einstein to find/develop relativity within certain period of time… fyi: it took him about 7-8 yrs, so lets wait for everyone until everyone catches up? not gonna happen… like brown, like rbr last time, they got something others couldnt within the same period of time… now it is merc turn, before it was renault, ferrari and many others… someone will always over achieve, resource/time limitation is one part of the competition…
EF1
11th September 2015, 1:02
@mystic one – so you just chose to ignore my point about diminishing returns on development levelling out the playing field. I never said Mercedes wouldn’t continue to develop, what I did say was that with all manufacturers able to develop as they please eventually they will all be able to show their best product (some will get it correct earlier than others), rather than what we have now, where if you don’t quite get it perfect straight away then you are going to have a bad year, end of story. On the basis of this it is not fair to say Mercedes can develop a better F1 Power unit than any other manufacturer, as we just don’t know. All we see it that their initial engines were a better start than the others and no due to a ban on engine testing & development etc (silly tokens this year not withstanding, manufcturers are still severly limited and remember this year with tokens etc was simply a mistake by FIA and won’t be allowed next year) they will have this advantage until the next season begins. At the start of 2016, the same will happen again etc…. Hardly the pinnacle of development, as I said previously.
Jay
9th September 2015, 23:53
Really. Lewis has a 20 second lead with 5 laps to go and is being asked to speed up for an unknown reason at the time. Any LOGICAL driver would question that as well. Hamilton made a calculated move away from McLaren when everyone thought he was crazy. He deserves every moment of this.
Peter (@boylep6)
10th September 2015, 2:50
Exactly.
L48 told to speed up to max pace.
L49 told to speed up even more, no specific target given.
Ham queries for specifically how much faster is required, as already presumably at 100%.
Told ok don’t bother, don’t crash, you’re ok after all. But put the
engine into that mode we were frightened of using.
Sounds like he’s being asked for 140%, not 100% and the team
are a bit panicky.
In the end, 25.042 > 25 so worth the gamble.
Wouldn’t it have been so cool if there was a 25s penalty?
Nick (@nick101)
11th September 2015, 3:21
A calculated move? Do me a favour!
Hamilton simply spit the dummy with McLaren and jumped ship to the ONLY team that would have him. It was pure luck that he ended up in the cars he did.
Clearly it was the right decision, but please don’t insult our intelligence by suggesting that Hamilton knew how it would turn out.
AndrewW1
11th September 2015, 14:01
No need for this much emotion and claim to psychic insight.
You should only feel insulted if you were privy to the case presented to HAM by Ross Brawn and Niki Lauda. I would be inclined to think they presented a compelling case. You appear to suggest that HAM’s decision was made without his participation in it.
Selbbin (@selbbin)
10th September 2015, 2:39
He wasn’t good enough in 2012? He was leading several races until his car died under him. Without those mechanical failures he would have been champion. Not only would he have scored many more points, but Vettel far less, and it would have been Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel in the final standings.
jale
10th September 2015, 10:21
Very ignorant comment. If you gave points back to drivers for the unreliability they’ve suffered in 2012, both Hamilton AND Vettel would have scored more points.
Jon (@johns23)
10th September 2015, 7:13
Unfortunately for yourself, Mercedes did a better job than the others. Its not the first time in history a team has been dominant
LH44
10th September 2015, 10:06
@Kpcart It’s unbelievable that you always want to have a dig at Hamilton. In 2012, we can probably say that Mclaren wasn’t as good as it needed to be and unlike many of you suggest, it was very inconsistent. When we look at retirements that year they had 7 retirements compared to only 5 for the Red Bull and Ferrari combined. Hamilton that year lost the equivalent of 110 points through no fault of his own because of reliability issues, pit stops and team screw ups.
In 2013, the Mercedes wasn’t top drawer – although it was quick at times especially over one lap but it didn’t have sufficient “race pace” to be a title contender and also they struggled massively when it came to tyre management.
Patrickl (@patrickl)
11th September 2015, 19:13
You must not have been watching F1 very long. Drivers have been cruising during the final laps for decennia. Even short shifting to preserve the engine. They need to bring the car home and when you already have a lead you consolidate that lead or even let it decrease a little.
Making a driver panic about doing “hammertime” laps on worn tyres for no clear reason is … “not cool”.
pastaman (@)
9th September 2015, 13:48
Jenson’s last comment made me laugh!
Albert
9th September 2015, 13:51
@pastaman It made me a little sad =(
wert
9th September 2015, 14:14
It’s tragicomic. So, Fernando is better at getting lapped than you, Jenson.
Gabriel (@rethla)
9th September 2015, 17:07
Well Fernando is just a better driver than Jenson no matter what car or situation they are in.
jale
9th September 2015, 17:18
It didn’t look like that in Monza. Except for getting lapped.
hoshino (@hoshino)
9th September 2015, 14:46
This ≪Why does overtake not work?≫ phrase symbolizes current F1 in the best way. Today overtake is not the action. It’s the function. Thanks to DRS, ERS…
Nase (@)
9th September 2015, 15:04
It’s an engine setting (or rather: a setting that uses the MGU-K energy not to optimise lap time, but to achieve the best acceleration on a part of the circuit where an overtake is the most likely). No need to get your panties in a twist. Rosberg was just reporting that he didn’t feel an improved acceleration despite having changed his settings, and used the jargon for it, noth thinking about the possibility that somewhere someone would misunderstand it.
AldoH
9th September 2015, 15:24
Jargon or not, the situation is depressing as hell: a F1 driver asking the mechanics or engineers why the button/setting/whatever to overtake another driver is not working. But the worst is that the folks at the box responded that the thingy IS working… Very, very sad. The whole “torque three, strat six”, “Pre-load 12”, “HPP six to two” is just silly.
Albert
9th September 2015, 15:34
The situation is a normal consequence of technology development. Compare any common piece of technology in the past 10 years and you’ll see an massive increase in complexity (cellphones make for a beautiful example). Those that appear simpler is because automation and computer-assistance has played it’s role.
Nase (@)
9th September 2015, 21:01
You could try not paying attention to the radio calls, then. I tend to find them quite interesting and consider them a proof of the nigh-unimaginable complexity of the task of milking every bit of pace out of these space machines.
AldoH
9th September 2015, 22:33
I also find the transcripts *very* interesting, as they let us have a peek into the internal workings of a F1 race from a driver’s perspective. After every race I count the hours until Keith puts the transcripts here, an awesome addition to the site.
But to read of a driver asking why the “overtake” option is not working is quite sad. “They want you to overtake him”, said other engineer to a driver. So, it’s NOT the the own driver wants to overtake a competitor, but that “they” want it. Unlucky him, who didn’t have an overtake mapping/button/lever/pedal/whatever.
zekeri
9th September 2015, 15:25
No actually. I understand what you mean, but I still agree with @hoshino
lockup (@)
9th September 2015, 16:44
I thought it was a bit ridiculous how secretive Mercedes were, especially after the race.
Once Ferrari heard them telling Lewis to speed up and ‘build a gap’ it was 100% obvious that they should try to prevent it! It didn’t make any difference what the exact reason was.
Then in the pitlane it just got worse, with Toto and Paddy sounding a bit devious and guilty when it was all going to come out anyway.
Adam Hardwick (@fluxsource)
9th September 2015, 21:11
I think it was just a case of not wanting to implicate themselves. Once they knew there was an investigation, it was prudent to be careful about what they said. The didn’t understand what had happened, and until they did they wanted to control what was communicated.
lockup (@)
9th September 2015, 22:52
I think Merc must have known exactly what had happened @fluxsource. They’ll have known when the tyres were measured by Pirelli, and when they were checked on the grid, and Jo Bauer’s note. The whole issue arising from that time gap must have been obvious to them.
And it must have been equally obvious that it was all going to come out.
Likewise tellling Lewis to ‘build a gap’ – it was a gap to Vettel, so obviously Ferrari would try to prevent the gap being built, if they could. Bono might just as well have told Lewis one of his tyres had been measured 0.3 psi under pressure, and us too.
I think it was just instinct, to try and hide everything, and that’s typical of F1, but not good for F1.
Adam Hardwick (@fluxsource)
9th September 2015, 23:09
@lockup What you think is contrary to the narrative that’s been published by everyone. Mercedes were not informed about the results of the test until towards the end of the race. I’m not sure how they would have known. The implication has been that the FIA pressure tests on the grid were not normal, and were as a direct response to the recent rise in mandated pressure.
@lockup The pressure was not normally taken on the grid. It was set and checked by a Pirelli representative in the garage, before being taken to the grid and fitted to the car. The reason the pressures are not taken on the grid are obvious: the pressure is a totally irrelevant measurement with taking the temperature with it. This what not done: the temperature was just noted as being not in excess of 110 degrees, and even in the clarifying document published after Mercedes were cleared simply referred to the temperature as being “significantly below”. i.e. they didn’t record the temperature.
Mercedes haven’t “gotten away” with setting lower pressures on a technicality. They set the correct pressure, and the overzealous FIA took an inappropriate test.
At the point that Lewis was told to speed up, Mercedes were only told that they were being investigated for low pressures. As far as Mercedes were concerned they had set them correctly. They had no idea where this anomaly was coming from, so prudently kept their own council and told Lewis to speed up.
I would have done exactly the same thing.
lockup (@)
9th September 2015, 23:35
I agree with everything you say @fluxsource except I reckon that when Merc were told there was a low pressure they’ll have worked out instantly how it happened. They knew the tyres had been measured on the grid, having cooled.
Then there’s the message to Lewis, which doesn’t achieve anything, when you think about it. Except some drama I suppose. Perhaps Bernie had a hand in it :)
stefano (@alfa145)
9th September 2015, 19:33
5 Marco Matassa Carlos Sainz Jnr Yes, understood, but they want you to overtake him.
Oh God am I the only one who is horrified by this “they want”?
Baron (@baron)
9th September 2015, 20:13
@keithcollantine
Radio message on the VL appears to be wrongly assigned:
” Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie OK Marcus that’s P9. Good drive, go od fight buddy. “
Billys (@bilarxos)
9th September 2015, 20:43
“VL Daniel Ricciardo Simon Rennie OK Marcus that’s P9. Good drive, good fight buddy.”
something is wrong here !
benny
9th September 2015, 21:37
Maybe Dan likes to be called “Marcus” during race. Nothing wrong with that. As long as it is consensual.
But yeah, he didn’t finish 9th.
mystic one (@mysticus)
10th September 2015, 0:54
maybe marcus is his nick/race name :)
Selbbin (@selbbin)
10th September 2015, 2:36
Gotta love Sainz about Button: “he’s quick on corners.”
That chassis is being wasted.
Excuse me :D (@square-route)
10th September 2015, 7:29
ColdFly F1 (@)
10th September 2015, 9:25
@square-route – probably because most teams say ‘primes’ and ‘options’.
Keith changes them all to the same descriptors (tyre type), and it is good practise to put any change/clarification in brackets when quoting!
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
10th September 2015, 10:31
@square-route @coldfly Exactly, it’s just to avoid confusion. Sometimes you also hear the engineers or drivers referring to the ‘prime’ as the ‘hard’ tyre when it’s actually the soft or medium.
Luke
10th September 2015, 12:59
VL Valtteri Bottas: The power unit turned off in the last lap at the main straight. I was just going to do the move but lost the power.
We’ve got ourselves a conspiracy!
EF1
11th September 2015, 1:07
Maybe he was he the 1st to run out of fuel in this new silly fuel saving formula? :-) Or to be more technically correct, the 1st to run so low on fuel that his fuel pressure was unable to provide any sort of major power to the engine, yes yes yes I know they need to keep a bit on board for samples blah blah blah.
erix
11th September 2015, 17:46
It reminded me of French GP 2002 when Schumi tried to beat the record of fastest WDC and the only person able to deny him was Barichello..but then Rubens stalled on the grid..what a Ferrari!