Radio messages played a vital role in the outcome of the British Grand Prix as Nico Rosberg was penalised for receiving assistance from his Mercedes team.
The extent of the messages Rosberg received went beyond what Formula One Management broadcast live on the main feed during the race. Mercedes were deemed to have given Rosberg driving assistance by explaining to him how to deal with not being able to use seventh gear.
As the messages from the end of the race show, Red Bull were very confident Rosberg would be penalised. Mercedes did not realise Rosberg was under investigation until hearing Verstappen being told he was on the television broadcast.
As has been the case all season long, very few messages were broadcast compared to the amount of discussion which was going on between the drivers and teams, even given the new team radio restrictions.
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2016 British Grand Prix team radio transcript
| Lap* | Driver | Message |
|---|---|---|
| PR | To Nico Hulkenberg | It’s whether we go all the way on these then go direct to dries or whether we have a stop on inters. |
| 1 | From Sebastian Vettel | OK there’s quite a bit of standing water around turn eight. Also on the Wellington Straight, after turn six. |
| 1 | From Lewis Hamilton | Safety Car’s too slow to get temperature. |
| 2 | From Lewis Hamilton | Big puddles of aquaplaning still. |
| 3 | From Lewis Hamilton | The Safety Car is just really slow so it’s not that easy for us to keep temperatures up. |
| 3 | From Lewis Hamilton | It’ll be inters pretty soon I would say. |
| 4 | From Lewis Hamilton | We can go, Charlie. |
| 4 | From Marcus Ericsson | I think it’s not too far from inters. Getting closer. |
| 4 | To Marcus Ericsson | Yeah OK Marcus. I think other teams are in agreement as well. |
| 5 | To Daniel Ricciardo | OK Daniel Safety Car is in this lap, what do you think about tyres at the moment. Inters or [full wets]? |
| 5 | From Daniel Ricciardo | If we can survive the aquaplaning I think the inters. |
| 5 | To Nico Hulkenberg | How far from dry tyres do you think it is? |
| 5 | From Nico Hulkenberg | Oh very far man. No chance. |
| 7 | From Pascal Wehrlein | Yeah I’m out. Aquaplaning first corner, No chance. |
| 10 | To Marcus Ericsson | Slow in Marcus. |
| 10 | From Marcus Ericsson | Something is wrong with this engine. |
| 10 | To Marcus Ericsson | Confirm. |
| 10 | From Marcus Ericsson | OK slow in, copy. |
| 10 | To Marcus Ericsson | Watch your mirrors behind. |
| 12 | To Daniel Ricciardo | We need to make this set last until dry so important to look after these tyres, important. |
| 14 | From Max Verstappen | OK it’s getting drier, I don’t think slicks yet but it’s getting closer. |
| 14 | To Max Verstappen | OK good info, Max. |
| 16 | To Kevin Magnussen | How’s the track Kev? Talk to us. |
| 16 | From Kevin Magnussen | Still wet. |
| 19 | From Fernando Alonso | We lost so many positions. We need to stop one of the two cars. He went off. We are behind everyone. There are two cars copying one each other in a state of racing against the others. |
| 22 | To Lewis Hamilton | Let’s just keep an open mind, people might be trying to go to the end. |
| 22 | From Lewis Hamilton | I want to go to the end on these. |
| 23 | To Jolyon Palmer | Blue flag for Kvyat. |
| 23 | From Jolyon Palmer | Oh this is a joke. |
| 26 | To Rio Haryanto | Can you get the car going, Rio? |
| 26 | From Rio Haryanto | No I’m in the barrier. |
| 26 | To Rio Haryanto | OK Rio then switch off if you can’t get going. |
| 26 | From Fernando Alonso | I don’t know if my car is OK. I guess so. But what a shame. |
| 26 | To Fernando Alonso | Yeah OK Fernando we’re checking the car. |
| 28 | To Sergio Perez | Track is clear turn one but still slippery. |
| 31 | From Max Verstappen | Come on, then. The blue flags are ridiculous. |
| 31 | To Max Verstappen | Copy, Max. |
| 35 | From Nico Rosberg | That‘s moving twice, that is not on. |
| 35 | To Nico Rosberg | Copy that message, Nico. |
| 36 | From Max Verstappen | I’m struggling quite a bit with the rears. |
| 36 | To Max Verstappen | Copy. |
| 38 | From Felipe Massa | He pushed me out of the track, he pushed me out of the track. |
| 42 | From Lewis Hamilton | Why is he not getting blue flags? |
| 42 | To Lewis Hamilton | He has had blue flags, he’s had them twice, we’re on to them. |
| 47 | From Nico Rosberg | Gearbox problem! |
| 47 | To Nico Rosberg | Driver default 101, chassis default 01. Chassis default 01. |
| 47 | To Nico Rosberg | Avoid seventh gear, Nico. |
| 47 | From Nico Rosberg | What‘s that mean? I have to shift through it. |
| 47 | To Nico Rosberg | Affirm Nico you need to shift through it, affirm. |
| 47 | To Nico Rosberg | So Nico if it gets stuck again it will downshift out of seventh. |
| 47 | From Nico Rosberg | What do I do if it gets stuck again? |
| 47 | To Nico Rosberg | So Nico just try and avoid seventh. If it happens downshift out of it. You’re doing a really good job. |
| 47 | From Nico Rosberg | I tried to downshift out of it last time but it didn‘t work |
| 47 | To Nico Rosberg | OK copy copy. |
| 49 | To Max Verstappen | OK Max Rosberg is under investigation for some of the comments made over the radio. |
| VL | To Lewis Hamilton | Awesome stuff, Lewis. Great job, man. British Grand Prix. |
| VL | From Lewis Hamilton | Great job this weekend guys. Thank you so much for your continued efforts. Everyone back in the factory. Really amazing. Right now I’m thinking about all the people. |
| VL | To Max Verstappen | OK Max that is P3 mate, mode one. Excellent job. 1.3 seconds behind Rosberg and he will be investigated after the race. Another excellent drive mate. |
| VL | From Max Verstappen | Well that was an interesting race guys. I think we challenged them and we had great pace. Thank you for a great car. |
| VL | To Max Verstappen | Well done Max that was a gerat drive. Entertaining, you were the highlight of the race. We loved your move around the outside of Becketts. Points mean prizes so well done. |
| VL | To Daniel Ricciardo | It was a good drive, Daniel. Could get better still. Let’s see what happens with Rosberg. They were a bit naughty what they’ve done on the radio with him it was very clear instruction, so… |
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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British Grand Prix data
2016 British Grand Prix
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PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
18th July 2016, 12:45
Interesting different approach from both engineers towards Ricciardo and Verstappen in the last two lines.
BasCB (@bascb)
18th July 2016, 13:11
They were clearly happy with Verstappens race and not quite so much with the way how it went for Ricciardo – not unreasonable, I would say.
GeeMac (@geemac)
18th July 2016, 15:22
Ricciardo was clearly compromised by the VSC (as were many others, such as Hulkenburg), I don’t think there is much to those comments.
BasCB (@bascb)
19th July 2016, 7:22
Exactly. @geemac
ColdFly F1 (@)
19th July 2016, 6:09
Not sure what you’re reading into that, @xtwl.
‘Good Drive’ for RIC and ‘Great Drive’ for VES.
Actually these comments could have been made by anyone; I saw similar comments when we reviewed the race and the DOTW.
IJW (@)
18th July 2016, 13:16
I am sure the following were from Vettel;
1 From Lewis Hamilton OK there’s quite a bit of standing water around turn eight. Also on the Wellington Straight, after turn six.
2 From Lewis Hamilton Big puddles of aquaplaning still.
The ones about the slowness of the Safety cars were definitely Hamilton. :-)
Maddme
18th July 2016, 13:47
They were definitely Hamilton…
MattDS (@mattds)
18th July 2016, 13:54
No, I’m sure the first line (with turn eight, Wellington Straight) was Vettel’s. The second one was Hamilton’s indeed.
The first line even features on the official F1 site as being Vettel’s: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/features/2016/7/f1-great-britain-best-race-radio-say-what.html
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
18th July 2016, 20:09
@ijw1 There was a mislabelled message there – have changed it now, thanks.
MattDS (@mattds)
18th July 2016, 13:56
Anyone else noticed the striking difference of quality in driver feedback? Look at Verstappen vs Magnussen on the wet track:
14 From Max Verstappen OK it’s getting drier, I don’t think slicks yet but it’s getting closer.
14 To Max Verstappen OK good info, Max.
16 To Kevin Magnussen How’s the track Kev? Talk to us.
16 From Kevin Magnussen Still wet.
Of course we don’t get to hear everything they say, but still…
Andy Mail (@amail)
18th July 2016, 15:27
If the pit wall can’t coach the drivers, then the drivers shouldn’t be allowed to coach the pit wall. Let the pit wall figure it out for themselves if they should ready inters or slicks!
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
19th July 2016, 6:17
@amail You might think that’s funny but exactly that happened in MotoGP past sunday.
TribalTalker (@tribaltalker)
18th July 2016, 17:25
Once again we see how well connected Red Bull are! They knew that Rosberg’s radio messages were being investigated within a few minutes. How could Mercedes not have known until the post-race driver interviews on TV?
Patrickl (@patrickl)
18th July 2016, 19:58
Because Red Bull would have complained about it to the stewards and got confirmation that it would be investigated.
TribalTalker (@tribaltalker)
19th July 2016, 19:24
@patrickl – thanks, makes sense. Still, I find it worrying that Mercedes didn’t seem to know what was going on.
George
18th July 2016, 21:47
Redbull telling Daniel to save his tires wasn’t driver coaching? They should have a full penalty, certainly after complaining about Mercedes informing Rosberg on how to keep his car running.
MattDS (@mattds)
19th July 2016, 8:33
They should not have a “full” penalty (what does that even mean?) if said message is within the rules. Apparently it is.
Martin
18th July 2016, 17:26
“Mercedes did not realise Rosberg was under investigation until hearing Verstappen being told he was on the television broadcast.”
I must have missed this in the post race coverage, does anyone know where it was reported?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
18th July 2016, 20:09
I’m not aware if it has been reported anywhere else, I do have a source for the information.
BasCB (@bascb)
19th July 2016, 7:25
I guess Mercedes would not really want to talk about the penalty at all now and the FIA has never been known for their open and full communication, so I guess most involved would rather not mention it if not specifically asked!