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In Hungary fans heard just 18% as much communication as they had at the same race 12 months previously, while in Italy that figure rose to 45%. This is still less than half as many messages as were played last year – over 100 fewer in real terms – but it’s a step in the right direction.
Some of that may be put down to the fact it was a very uneventful race and one which involved little variation in terms of strategy. However it’s clear from some of what was broadcast that teams were listening in on each other: Note Williams’ message to Valtteri Bottas telling him Daniel Ricciardo had been “told to do the opposite to us”.
Fernando Alonso’s trials at McLaren provided some of the most revealing moments. In particular, his amusement at how desperate their situation became following the traffic light failure which cost him time in the pits and his unusual decision to make a late-race bid for fastest lap.
Here’s what was broadcast by FOM during the Italian Grand Prix.
2016 Italian Grand Prix team radio transcript
Lap* | Driver | Message |
---|---|---|
6 | To Lewis Hamilton | So look for debris this area, look for debris. Left-hand side. So remember Lewis the three cars ahead are on super-soft tyres, they’ll be quick for a few laps then degrade. So just keep an eye on debris, cars are losing bits all round the track. |
6 | From Kimi Raikkonen | I have quite a big vibration under braking. |
7 | From Felipe Nasr | The handling feels funny, like I have something broke. |
7 | To Felipe Nasr | Copy, we’re checking the data now. |
7 | From Felipe Nasr | Ah the car is undrivable. It’s like I have no rear support. |
7 | To Felipe Nasr | Stay calm, Felipe, we’re checking the data. |
7 | From Felipe Nasr | The car is undrivable, guys. |
7 | To Kimi Raikkonen | And we still need you to cool the engine, I’ll let you know when we’re OK. |
7 | From Kimi Raikkonen | Yeah but I can’t slow down, I’ll lose the tow. |
7 | To Kimi Raikkonen | Understood Kimi, we just want you to do half a car that’s all, half a car width different. |
8 | To Lewis Hamilton | OK Lewis you’re doing a good job managing these tyres. Just keep looking after and avoid the locks. Just need to be in good shape, five laps’ time. |
9 | To Jolyon Palmer | OK Jo we will retire the car, I’m afraid. |
9 | From Jolyon Palmer | Yes. |
9 | To Max Verstappen | Give an idea of the balance when you can. |
9 | From Max Verstappen | I’m starting to struggle a bit low-speed. Throughout the whole corner losing a little bit the rear. |
10 | To Marcus Ericsson | How’s it going with the tyres, Marcus? |
10 | From Marcus Ericsson | Still OK. I think it’s possible. I have understeer in Lesmos. Otherwise rear-limited. |
10 | To Marcus Ericsson | OK, very good. |
10 | To Lewis Hamilton | Just make sure you keep these tyres in good shape. We can still get you up behind Nico with strategy. |
11 | To Daniel Ricciardo | OK Daniel so pick up the pace if you can. Bottas is going to drop back, here, he’s going to lose position. See if you can close up on Bottas. |
11 | From Daniel Ricciardo | Yep, I’ll do what I can. |
12 | From Lewis Hamilton | Rears are pretty wasted already. |
12 | To Kimi Raikkonen | OK it’s not going to be long now Kimi. If we can just get a bit more pace we can get a better emerge. |
13 | From Lewis Hamilton | Don’t worry about the start, it was my fault. |
14 | To Lewis Hamilton | OK Lewis so looks like other cars may be going for the two-stop. So we’re going to stick with plan A. Currently lap 14. And bite point six. |
14 | To Lewis Hamilton | Start picking up the pace as much as you can, three laps. |
18 | From Fernando Alonso | Yeah the traffic light didn’t work, man. The [censored by FOM] traffic light. [Censored by FOM] hell. |
19 | To Felipe Nasr | We will retire the car now. Remember switch-off procedure. |
20 | From Lewis Hamilton | Tyres are still good. |
20 | To Lewis Hamilton | OK, copy, good information. We’ll go target plus two, then. |
20 | To Kimi Raikkonen | OK so Hamilton is still out, he’s obviously very close to us on our emerge. He’s not emerging on us at the minute, so Hamilton is still out trying to get the emerge. |
23 | To Esteban Gutierrez | You are much quicker than Ocon in front of you, come on. |
24 | To Nico Rosberg | Two more laps after this one, just let us know. |
24 | From Nico Rosberg | I can do it, just check the lap times. |
26 | To Lewis Hamilton | Brake balance for turn one, 55. We’re going to come out behind the Ferraris, they’re on another super-soft tyre so they’re going to stop again. You just need to match their times. |
26 | From Lewis Hamilton | What tyre are they on? |
26 | To Lewis Hamilton | Both Ferraris have taken super-soft again, so they have to stop once more. |
27 | From Jenson Button | What sort of times is Fernando doing? |
27 | To Jenson Button | Fernando last lap 1’28.5. |
27 | To Sebastian Vettel | These are important laps, keep your head down. |
27 | To Max Verstappen | OK Max front wing update please mate. |
27 | From Max Verstappen | Balance of the car is not bad. I wouldn’t really change anything. |
27 | To Max Verstappen | Understood. |
28 | To Pascal Wehrlein | OK Pascal we need to stop the car please, stop the car where safe to do so, stop the car and switch off. We have a problem, we need to stop the car and switch off. |
28 | From Pascal Wehrlein | No! I need to stop immediately? |
28 | To Pascal Wehrlein | Stop immediately, stop the car and switch off, please. |
29 | To Nico Rosberg | So Nico just remember try and get through this traffic as well as you can, as quickly as you can. |
29 | From Nico Rosberg | Lewis is pushing quite hard at the moment. |
32 | From Esteban Ocon | Well you see how much I lose. I’m not losing too much time yet, we can keep going. But the rears are gone for sure. |
33 | To Valtteri Bottas | Ricciardo stayed out, he was told to do the opposite to us. So it’s going to be essential to get past Hulkenberg and then we’ve beaten Ricciardo. |
34 | To Fernando Alonso | Do you still prefer plan A? |
34 | From Fernando Alonso | Well I don’t know what you mean. We have blisters with these tyres, managing with the other one. The real question is to go to between plan B and plan C. |
35 | To Nico Rosberg | Gap to Lewis behind has stabilised to 10.5 seconds after traffic. Lewis running a couple of tenths slower than you at the moment. |
36 | To Daniel Ricciardo | OK mate we need good, clean laps now. |
38 | To Daniel Ricciardo | OK Daniel we’re going to go supers for the next stint, it’s going to be same length as stint one. |
38 | To Jenson Button | Jenson, cars on your pit window are about to be lapped by Rosberg and lose time. We need to stay out because they will lose time. Your pace is good. Keep going. |
40 | To Romain Grosjean | Very good laps. So next car behind is Rosberg, the leader, you’ll have him for blue in one or two laps. |
40 | From Nico Hulkenberg | Do you think I can push from now, all the way? |
40 | To Nico Hulkenberg | Yes, push from now, all the way. |
41 | To Daniel Ricciardo | OK so you’re one second quicker than Bottas that lap. Good job. Let’s have him. |
41 | To Lewis Hamilton | OK Lewis you are not in your Safety Car window. |
42 | To Lewis Hamilton | OK Lewis you know but just be careful with the lock-ups. |
42 | To Max Verstappen | Really good pace at the minute, Max. Try and keep it up. |
43 | To Max Verstappen | Max, make sure you keep a car width away from the left-hand side track edge on the main straight. A lot of marbles on the left-hand side of the straight, mate. |
44 | To Valtteri Bottas | So Ricciardo is slowly catching us however he’s got double the deg that we have on his quali tyre so we’re looking good. |
46 | To Marcus Ericsson | Let’s push, Marcus, we’ve got eight laps to go. The position is safe so let’s push on the tyre. |
47 | To Daniel Ricciardo | OK Daniel so battery is full. Use it when you can. Let’s do him. |
48 | To Daniel Ricciardo | Nice job mate. Excellent job. |
48 | To Fernando Alonso | OK Fernando let’s keep the pace going strong until the end. Grosjean is still out there on 18-lap-old options, he may come towards us. |
48 | From Fernando Alonso | Ha, ha, ha! |
49 | To Max Verstappen | Nice job mate. |
50 | To Fernando Alonso | Fernando, three laps to go after this one. We’re happy to make the stop if you wish. |
50 | From Fernando Alonso | Box. |
52 | To Daniel Ricciardo | OK so even with that traffic you’re still quicker than Bottas. Gap still 2.2 seconds and there’s three laps to go. |
52 | From Daniel Ricciardo | OK, understood. |
VL | To Nico Rosberg | A little name confusion at Mercedes. Woo! Excellent job, good job on that first stint Nicola. Just area under the curve, brilliant job. |
VL | From Nico Rosberg | Thank you very much, Thomas, thank you very much. Awesome guys thank you very much. Great to win here in Italy. |
VL | To Sebastian Vettel | P3, Sebastian. Solid drive and enjoy the podium, well done. |
VL | From Sebastian Vettel | In Italian: Thanks boys, thanks everyone. It was the maximum. |
VL | To Daniel Ricciardo | I know you like coming from a long way back but that might be a new record. |
VL | From Daniel Ricciardo | That was good fun. Cheers guys. |
VL | From Sebastian Vettel | I couldn’t perform the optimum at the start because I had [cut off]. |
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
2016 Italian Grand Prix
- 2016 Italian Grand Prix team radio transcript
- Fourth Driver of the Weekend win for Ricciardo
- Second-lowest rating this year for Italian GP
- 2016 Italian Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
- Top ten pictures from the 2016 Italian GP
Team radio transcripts
- “Don’t give me too much now”: Hamilton’s search for speed at Ferrari continues
- “What the hell have you done?” Leclerc shocked by his DRS opening at turn 12
- “Oh my God that was difficult”: Full radio from Verstappen’s luckless Bahrain GP
- “I’d really like info where I’m slow”: Hamilton’s struggles with his car at Suzuka
- “I think the pace was there”: Did Tsunoda’s race justify Red Bull’s Lawson swap?
Sravan Krishnan (@sravan-pe)
13th September 2016, 12:13
“Ha, ha, ha!”
Gotta love Alonso!
ColdFly F1 (@)
13th September 2016, 13:35
Or
34 To Fernando Alonso: Do you still prefer plan A?
34 From Fernando Alonso : Well I don’t know what you mean.
and then opting for plan C (during race day I though he just made that one up.)
maarten.f1 (@)
13th September 2016, 12:15
So the real question here is, who’s Nicola??
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
13th September 2016, 12:50
Well as I remember he didn’t like Webber calling him Britney. Hopefully he’s happier with Nicola ;)
AndrewW
13th September 2016, 13:55
Would have been useful to have the HAM exchange around his botched start…
Philip (@philipgb)
13th September 2016, 15:00
Talent or not I wouldn’t want to work with Alonso. I know we at home find his snipey comments amusing but could you imagine having a colleague that constantly made very public demoralising comments?
The McLaren radio comment about Grosjean coming towards them was highly optimistic, but things happen in races. Cars have reliability problems, back markers hold drivers up and tyres drop off a cliff. Laughing in the face of someone like that is obnoxious and unprofessional.
Again great tv and it brought a smile to my face, but this isn’t keeping up with the Cardassians or what ever and the man just lacks class.
Patrickl (@patrickl)
13th September 2016, 17:10
At least he stopped complaining about his “GP2 engine aaaaargh”.
Olivier
13th September 2016, 19:33
I’ve always thought that the comedian is actually his engineer and Alonso is just following his lead
milkboy
13th September 2016, 20:10
The thing is, he is a position where he can get away with it. Mclaren have always been seen as the most strict with regards to following the company line and not stepping out. They used to forbid their drivers to wear beards. Alonso is now in a position where he knows he is better than the car. He is going to retire soon anyway, so does not need to worry about burning bridges. And finally, if they want to get rid of him, they would have to pay him a tidy sum. So withing measures, he can get away with these comments. His engineer knows what is up and probably at times is as frustrated as him, but he is not in a position to voice it. I doubt he has any complaints.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
13th September 2016, 20:47
@philipgb Similar things get said from time to time about other drivers when they’v got a bit heated on the radio, I doubt the teams care in the slightest as long as they’re getting the job done at the wheel.
Matthijs (@matthijs)
13th September 2016, 15:11
“7 To Felipe Nasr Stay calm, Felipe”
What’s in the name! :) (Felipe baby stay cool!)
JC
13th September 2016, 16:55
The most cringeworthy word that’s made it into F1 lingo is “emerge”. What was wrong with undercut/etc?
All I can think of is Harry Hill and “Bush Push!” …. “Verge Emerge!”