2016 Malaysian Grand Prix team radio transcript

19 comments on “2016 Malaysian Grand Prix team radio transcript”

1. 

   Baron (@baron)
   5th October 2016, 19:25

   I’m quite surprised some drivers think they have a private line to the Race Director (“Charlie are you listening?”) or is that just out of frustration, but I’ve not heard that before..Usually those kind of remarks are addressed to the team are they not?
   1. 

      Cyber
      5th October 2016, 20:08

      Charlie/FIA Race Control are also listening in to all the radio communication, so as also to ensure compliance with regulations. As are all other teams. Now many messages are exchanged every minute, so not all individually will be picked up by Charlie himself, but Race Control and the other teams clearly are taking notice, so e.g. per Hamilton’s message to his team on why blue flags are not shown, will subsequently raise the attention to this in central race control who will dispatch the message out to the marshals not doing their job. As well as the team with the driver in question might radio a message to the driver to yield to avoid penalty. There is also a big difference in the usage of radio from one driver to the next… E.g. Hamilton appear more chatty and wanting updates versus e.g. a Raikkonen.
   2. 

      Phylyp
      5th October 2016, 20:15

      Race control used to previously monitor radio communications, maybe they still do?

      That said, I think blue-flag requests would be assessed by a more level-headed race engineer before being routed to Charlie.
      1. 

         erikje
         5th October 2016, 20:28

         Yep a recent program about charlie and his team showed that all communication is followed by a team of stewards in race control. Important ones are directly relayed to Charlie.
   3. 

      Ed
      5th October 2016, 20:27

      But they know this is being broadcast. That Charlie IS listening.

      There was another race a couple of years back that was delayed because of rain, Japan 2014, maybe, when Hamilton said the same thing “Charlie the rain is fine, we’re good to go” or something like that.
   4. 

      Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
      5th October 2016, 21:32

      @baron

      Usually those kind of remarks are addressed to the team are they not?

      I had a quick look back through some of the past transcripts and I’d say it’s not unheard of for other drivers to refer to ‘Charlie’, although they do tend to use phrasing along the lines of ‘can you tell Charlie such-and-such’, rather than directly addressing him as Hamilton tends to. Though I seem to recall drivers besides Hamilton doing that, such as Vettel, I don’t have an example to hand right now:

      https://www.racefans.net/2015/09/30/2015-japanese-grand-prix-team-radio-transcript/#34
      https://www.racefans.net/2014/04/02/2014-malaysian-grand-prix-team-radio-transcript/#43

      But I think the principal of drivers saying things purely for Whiting’s benefit is pretty well established, especially in wet conditions behind the Safety Car.
      1. 

         Baron (@baron)
         5th October 2016, 21:47

         Thanks for the replies. Yes, I am aware that the drivers are monitored by Race Control and that drivers deliberately make statements to attract Whiting’s attention, but I found it unusual for a driver to address the Race Director directly. I think it possibly sets an unwelcome precedent and seems a breach of professional protocol. It’s no biggie, and something I may have missed in the past.
         1. 

            Dan
            6th October 2016, 11:20

            Professional protocol? Lol. Maybe he should have put something in writing …
         2. 

            Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
            6th October 2016, 14:46

            Perhaps you are reading too much into this @baron
            Each driver has unique style (some shout…and one even sing Blue Flag…Blue Flag). There is no breach of professional protocol here.
            1. 

               Baron (@baron)
               6th October 2016, 15:09

               The Race Director is supposed to be completely impartial (now there’s a whole can of worms!), and I would not have expected that a driver would have direct access to him on first name terms, attempting to influence a decision which may (or not) affect the outcome of a potential maneuver for position. In points terms, you are potentially talking substantial remuneration, and therefore a clear conflict of interest.
2. 

   Richard (@rick1984)
   5th October 2016, 23:56

   Red bull could have tried multi three hundred and thirty three but that might just confuse the issue!
3. 

   Adhyra
   6th October 2016, 5:19

   Considering that Kimi had to contend with problems with the power unit plus all the action his Ferrari saw on track it’s a bit of a miracle that he still got P4 for all his troubles.

   A bit of debris from the chaos at T1 affected his rear wing, then Nico damaged part of his floor and front wing and on top of that he had to avoid Gutierrez and his flying wheel, all the while managing the PU, a pretty eventful Sunday ;)
   1. 

      JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
      6th October 2016, 9:37

      It also appears from the transcript that there was a delay of 5 laps before Kimi was given the information about the penalty to Rosberg by which point the gap was too big. Unless this was just a delay in broadcasting the message and the laps indicated above show the lap it was broadcast not when it originally occurred?
4. 

   hollus
   6th October 2016, 6:42

   Hi Keith,

   Great to have the radio transcript as usual, it really adds perspective to what happened the weekend before.
   That said, I am missing the bolding you used to use to highlight the most important bits. Sometimes one has time to read it all, but sometimes not, especially not now that they are becoming a small wall of text again (which is positive!).
   With bolding, I always found myself reading all the bolded parts, and by extension often the comments immediately before and after, for context, and then you pick that important buzzword a bit further down and you keep on reading. A plain, unbroken wall of text like this… I find it difficult to focus on, and sometimes I end up ignoring it altogether beyond your intro.
   Just my opinion ho how to turn great into awesome.
   1. 

      Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
      6th October 2016, 9:15

      Thanks for the feedback. I stopped highlighting sections of the text earlier this year because the number of messages FOM was broadcasting had become so low it wasn’t necessary. However it’s risen again lately so it might be worth bringing it back.
5. 

   JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
   6th October 2016, 9:35

   MGU-K, MGU-K start

   Is this an instruction to allow Sainz to restart his engine? Is this something the cars can all do using electrical power?

   I recall in the early draft of the current engine regulations it was intended that cars would run entirely on electical power through the pits but this was later deferred. I’ve not heard further on that development, is it still something which could be in the pipeline or was it ruled out due to a fundamental problem with the concept?
   1. 

      Victor_RO
      6th October 2016, 13:02

      The fundamental concept (in technical terms) is sound, Toyota’s LMP1 cars have been departing from pitstops on electric power and bump-starting the engine before exiting the pits since 2012.
6. 

   Dan
   6th October 2016, 11:26

   I’m baffled as to why the teams are allowed to hear all their rivals’ messages. I get that they can tune in to what the fans are allowed to hear, but everything else as well??? Can you imagine Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola’s half-time team talks being broadcast?? Seems a very odd thing to do and ends up neutralising strategies in the end, which is not good for fans.
7. 

   Maj
   6th October 2016, 19:47

   Charlie got annoyed with the direct approach so he pressed the red button!

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