2017 Australian Grand Prix team radio transcript

2017 Australian Grand Prix

31st March 2017, 12:23 | Written by Keith Collantine

Two “critical” radio messages to Lewis Hamilton demonstrated how his Australian Grand Prix victory chances slipped away.

The first was broadcast 18 laps into the race as Sebastian Vettel was bearing down on the race-leading Mercedes. Hamilton was urged to increase his gap over the Ferrari but replied there was “nothing left”.

Worried Ferrari could pit Vettel early and benefit from an ‘undercut’, Mercedes brought Hamilton in. He rejoined the track behind Max Verstappen, who had enough of a gap behind him that Mercedes might have expected him to pit soon. But the Red Bull stayed out, and that was a problem for Hamilton.

Go ad-free for just £1 per month

>> Find out more and sign up

Now Mercedes told him it was “critical” to overtake Verstappen. But Hamilton was suffering so much understeer from the disturbed air behind the Red Bull he wondered if his car was damaged.

Bottas said he was quicker than Hamilton

The time lost gave Ferrari a narrow window to make Vettel’s pit stop and bring him out ahead of both cars, and in position to grab the victory.

In the closing stages of the race Valtteri Bottas clsoed on his team mate and told the Mercedes pit wall “I feel like I have a little bit more pace”. Some reports have claimed Bottas was told to hold position behind Hamilton, but no such messages were heard during the race broadcast.

Not all messages between teams and their drivers are broadcast. According to Mercedes Bottas was reminded he needed to get his set of tyres to the end of the race with 18 laps to go, and shortly before he said he was potentially quicker Bottas was advised both cars were in the same engine mode. These messages aside, according to Mercedes the only other communications with Bottas were to communicate information such as yellow flags.

Toro Rosso did use team orders to manage their drivers. Carlos Sainz Jnr was told to let Daniil Kvyat past so he could attack Sergio Perez ahead, on the understanding that if he failed Sainz would be let back through again.

However Kvyat ended up having to pit due to a loss of air pressure in his Renault power unit, much to his disappointment. “It’s not cool,” he complained after the race.

2017 Australian Grand Prix team radio transcript

Lap*	Driver	Message
PR	To Felipe Massa	Track temperature is now 39 degrees. We’ve not run these tyres in this sort of temperatures before but my feeling is the rear is always going to be the weakening side. Maybe another half degree?
PR	From Felipe Massa	I think so, yeah, take away a half-degree.
PR	To Valtteri Bottas	Wind direction is the same. The track temperature is starting to drop.
PR	To Fernando Alonso	The following are on starting on prime: Ericsson and Stroll. The following are on back-up: It’s the Sauber [Giovinazzi], Magnussen and Palmer.
PR	To Nico Hulkenberg	Nobody told me that the gears are not synced any more.
PR	To Antonio Giovinazzi	The car is moving again in first gear.
PR	From Lewis Hamilton	Grip feels poor on the grid.
1	To Kevin Magnussen	Do you have damage? Oh, you have a puncture.
3	From Stoffel Vandoorne	My dash is not working.
3	To Stoffel Vandoorne	Understood Stoffel. Currently you’re doing well. Stoffel do you mean you have no display at all, or just fuel?
3	From Stoffel Vandoorne	It’s stuck on the out-lap dash.
4	To Daniil Kvyat	DRS should be enabled, try again.
4	From Daniil Kvyat	No, doesn’t work for me.
4	From Lewis Hamilton	Struggling for grip.
4	To Lewis Hamilton	OK, copy.
5	From Marcus Ericsson	Something is not right in the rear.
5	To Marcus Ericsson	Yes Marcus we can see some loss of downforce in the rear.
7	To Stoffel Vandoorne	Car behind is now Ricciardo. Don’t get tangled up with Ricciardo, he’s a lapped car.
7	From Nico Hulkenberg	Grip is super-poor both front and rear axle. Just struggling for grip at the moment.
7	To Max Verstappen	OK Max so we’ll have a balance update and a tyre phase rotary update when you can please.
7	From Max Verstappen	All good, a bit of oversteer, a bit of understeer but it’s just because I’m close to Kimi.
7	To Daniel Riccairdo	Alright Daniel, get stuck in, have fun.
8	From Stoffel Vandoorne	I’m low on power.
8	To Stoffel Vandoorne	Copy, we’re investigating.
8	From Stoffel Vandoorne	No power.
8	To Stoffel Vandoorne	Copy Stoffel, stay out.
9	From Lewis Hamilton	28.0 is not possible
9	To Lewis Hamilton	OK copy Lewis, just need to keep building that gap.
9	To Daniil Kvyat	Tyres are stabilising and track temperature is starting to drop.
9	To Lewis Hamilton	OK Lewis you’re doing a great job now, just keep it up.
9	From Valtteri Bottas	Tyres are holding on well.
9	To Lewis Hamilton	1.6, the gap’s at 1.6.
10	To Sebastian Vettel	You can push. Very good lap, Sebastian, keep pushing like this, you are doing well.
10	To Valtteri Bottas	Need to carry more speed turn 14 and turn one late entry.
10	From Daniil Kvyat	Overheating, at the moment I feel quite a bit of overheating.
10	To Daniil Kvyat	Copy, I’ll keep you posted.
10	To Stoffel Vandoorne	Vandoorne pitted to reset his car. OK Stoffel apply the brakes during the stop. You need to do the power cycle. Don’t try and restart the engine as normal.
11	From Lewis Hamilton	Tyres are overheating.
12	From Stoffel Vandoorne	The pack is not doing anything. The pack is just empty.
13	From Jolyon Palmer	Problem, problem.
13	To	OK, understood, talk to us.
13	To	No, anchored on the brakes.
13	To Jolyon Palmer	Anchored on the brakes, understood. Can you move at all?
13	From Jolyon Palmer	Yep, I’m moving.
13	To Jolyon Palmer	You’re moving. OK, carry on, we’ll see what it is and get back to you.
14	To Valtteri Bottas	That’s good pace there.
15	From Jolyon Palmer	Ah same problem!
15	To Jolyon Palmer	Understood Jo, we’ll get back to you, understood.
17	From Felipe Massa	I’m losing time behind this guy, so it’s a little bit different to last year. I’m very close to him, guys, sorry. How close do I need to be, one second?
17	To Felipe Massa	Yep we need one second.
17	From Felipe Massa	Unbelievable. For sure I am one second.
17	To Felipe Massa	Yep we think that’s one second now. OK he’s getting proper blue flags now, he has blues.
18	From Jolyon Palmer	Aaargh, same again.
18	To Jolyon Palmer	OK Jo we’re going to retire you this lap. Sorry about that. But you did a good job out there today. We’re going to retire you this lap.
18	To Lewis Hamilton	Lewis we’re going to need to get this gap, it’s critical. Gap 1.7.
18	From Lewis Hamilton	There’s nothing left.
18	From Romain Grosjean	I lost the power.
18	To Romain Grosjean	Lost power, OK, understood.
18	From Romain Grosjean	What’s going on? What do we do?
18	To Romain Grosjean	Box, box. I think we’re done Romain you have to switch it off, sorry mate.
20	To Sebastian Vettel	Tyres look very healthy. Keep pushing like this. You are doing very well. Keep your head down.
22	From Lewis Hamilton	Still a lot of understeer, is the floor OK?
22	To Lewis Hamilton	Everything OK on the aero data, Lewis.
22	From Lewis Hamilton	Let me know where I stand so I can look after tyres if needed.
22	To Lewis Hamilton	This is race-critical, you need to get past Verstappen.
22	From Lewis Hamilton	Repeat, repeat, you’re quiet.
22	To Lewis Hamilton	You are still safe to Vettel, we need to get past Verstappen.
22	From Lewis Hamilton	I don’t know how you expect me to do that right now.
23	To Kimi Raikkonen	Hamilton currently stuck behind Verstappen behind, this is good for our race as well, Kimi.
23	From Marcus Ericsson	Hydraulic failure, red light.
23	To Marcus Ericsson	OK I’ll come back to you.
23	From Marcus Ericsson	I cannot shift. I’m losing steering assistance.
23	From Lewis Hamilton	There’s no way I can get past this guy.
23	To Lewis Hamilton	OK copy that Lewis, just keep the pressure on.
23	From Max Verstappen	I’m starting to struggle a little bit more with the rears.
25	To Daniel Ricciardo	OK Daniel Ericsson has stopped between turn 12 and turn 13. Remember we are in the Safety Car window. For your reference Daniel a lot of the leaders have swapped onto the soft tyre at their first stop.
25	From Lewis Hamilton	There’s nothing left in these tyres, guys, they’re already sliding.
25	To Max Verstappen	OK Max let’s push and box.
27	From Lewis Hamilton	OK Lewis so we’re thinking B now, plan B.
28	From Nico Hulkenberg	It’s unbelievable. [Censored by FOM] hell. This dirty air is incredible.
31	To Daniel Ricciardo	OK Daniel essential we’re turning down the engine a bit to try to save it, it’s a few tenths a lap, it’s not a disaster. The sad truth is that we’ll get points through Safety Car, not through pace today. Still worth hanging out because there are possibilities but let’s save the engine, not make our day any worse.
31	From Daniel Ricciardo	Understood
31	From Daniel Ricciardo	OK, I guess we didn’t save it. I’ll go to P0. I’ll wait for your call, but…
31	To Daniel Ricciardo	No P1, don’t go to P0 just yet mate. We can’t restart the car in P0. Just hang in there, we’ll check the data, we’ll let you know, OK.
31	To Daniel Ricciardo	OK Daniel, P0. Sorry mate. Car’s done. Don’t know what to tell you, mate.
31	From Daniel Ricciardo	Let’s get the [censored by FOM] out of here.
32	To Daniil Kvyat	We are looking very good on the strategy, Danny, keep going.
33	To Lewis Hamilton	OK Lewis Vettel 28.1. Just let us know what you can do, we need to close that gap. Looking for high 27s.
33	From Lewis Hamilton	Is fuel OK?
33	To Lewis Hamilton	Yeah, Fuel is good.
33	To Sebastian Vettel	Still a long way to go, keep your head down.
36	To Lewis Hamilton	Tyres look like they’re holding up so I don’t think people are going to struggle at the end. May have to stretch it out. Sticking on Plan A.
38	To Sergio Perez	Tyre is good. We can push on the tyre.
38	From Sergio Perez	Yeah but don’t get too excited, man. There might be Safety Cars or something, no?
39	To Kimi Raikkonen	It’s not over yet, Kimi. Hamilton is complaining he might not be able to make these tyres last until the end. At the minute if Hamilton had to stop he would come out behind Verstappen.
41	From Lewis Hamilton	The timing of this message is curious given Hamilton’s lap 36 message. Perhaps this message was delayed, or Ferrari had overlooked Hamilton’s ‘Plan A’ message, or they had heard something which was not broadcast, or they were trying to keep Raikkonen motivated by being economical with the truth. How much longer are my tyres competitive?
41	To Lewis Hamilton	Eight laps older for Valtteri, six laps for Vettel.
42	To Kimi Raikkonen	Hamilton still complaining a lot about tyres, Kimi. Just keep…
42	From Kimi Raikkonen	OK, OK.
43	To Carlos Sainz Jnr	OK Carlos. Swap position now.
43	From Carlos Sainz Jnr	It’s a little bit early.
43	To Carlos Sainz Jnr	Do it now, please. Vettel is coming behind and it will be a blue flag. I will explain later.
43	From Carlos Sainz Jnr	He will give me the position back if he doesn’t pass Perez, right?
43	To Carlos Sainz Jnr	Yes, Carlos, yes.
43	From Carlos Sainz Jnr	OK, I let him by.
43	To Carlos Sainz Jnr	Now, please, yes.
44	From Lance Stroll	I think I had brake failure. Yeah I think something broke. Tell me.
44	To Lance Stroll	OK. Box, box.
44	From Lance Stroll	Argh, I missed it, sorry, I didn’t know. Sorry.
44	To Lance Stroll	OK just take it easy.
44	From Lance Stroll	Think I got a [unclear] failure.
44	To Lance Stroll	OK copy. So we’re going to push you back into the garage, Lance.
44	From Lance Stroll	Shame.
45	From Lewis Hamilton	Power dropping in and out.
45	To Lewis Hamilton	OK copy we’ll get a look at it.
47	To Max Verstappen	So Max just be sensible. You saw how difficult it was, Lewis was unable to pass you on fresh tyres. So make sure you’ve got good grip to the end of the race. Obviously if the opportunity presents itself don’t be shy.
48	From Valtteri Bottas	Tyres will be OK to the end, no problem.
48	To Valtteri Bottas	Copy that.
48	From Valtteri Bottas	I feel like I have a little bit more pace but struggling to get closer.
48	To Valtteri Bottas	Copy that.
51	To Daniil Kvyat	OK Dany we will have to box soon, we have a problem with the engine air. Don’t worry we still have…
51	From Daniil Kvyat	No, let’s stay out guys.
51	To Daniil Kvyat	Box Danny, we can still stay in front of Alonso. You cannot stay out. Box, box.
51	From Daniil Kvyat	Is there anything I can do? I can drive slower.
51	To Daniil Kvyat	No, engine air refill. We will go to ultra. Box, box.
52	From Kevin Magnussen	Suspension failure. Do you want me to bring it home or stop the car?
52	To Kevin Magnussen	Stop the car where you are.
53	From Fernando Alonso	[Censored by FOM] there is something wrong with the car. We lost something. It is pulling to the left. There is something on the suspension, maybe.
53	To Fernando Alonso	OK Fernando we need to retire. Box this lap, cool the car on the way back.
54	To Carlos Sainz Jnr	OK Carlos four laps to go. I will leave you alone. Push like animal. We can reach Perez. Push like a mad animal.
55	To Daniil Kvyat	OK Danny just bring it to the flag, OK? Situation is very calm for us. Just bring it to the flag.
55	From Daniil Kvyat	OK. Should I get the fastest lap or not?
55	To Daniil Kvyat	No, Vettel does.
55	From Daniil Kvyat	OK, how much off?
55	To Daniil Kvyat	One-tenth. Danny, bring it to the flag, we have some points on the table, just bring it to the flag.
55	From Daniil Kvyat	Calm, OK.
56	From Max Verstappen	How much faster is the fastest lap?
56	To Max Verstappen	Too fast. Two laps remaining. We just want to bring it home.
VL	To Sebastian Vettel	P1 Sebastian. Awesome drive, that’s the way to do it.
VL	To Sebastian Vettel	Grande Sebastian, bravissimo.
VL	From Sebastian Vettel	Woohoo! Forza Ferrari, regazzai. Questa e per noi. Tutti noi. Grazie tutti. Grande lavoro. Grande macchina. Thank you everyone. Woo-hoo!
VL	To Lewis Hamilton	OK Lewis, well done mate, sorry about that. P2 still, not a bad result, plenty to learn from this race. Good drive.
VL	To Antonio Giovinazzi	OK Antonio that was a very good race from your side, P12. Congratulations, very good race for your first Formula One race.
VL	To Valtteri Bottas	So a good job Valtteri. P3. Good job.
VL	From Valtteri Bottas	Thanks guys. The reds were definitely too quick.
VL	To Max Verstappen	Well done. As expected. You did a really solid job.
VL	From Max Verstappen	Yep it was not bad. Think the balance of the car was quite good.
VL	To Max Verstappen	Well done Max it was a very good drive. You were on the right tyre in the second stint. Good afternoon’s work, well done.
VL	To Stoffel Vandoorne	I think you drove really well. Well done Stoffel. I’m sorry about the problem we had with the car which was a shame. But I think your pace was good, it was a good job.
VL	From Stoffel Vandoorne	Yeah thanks guys. Difficult weekend. I think we knew that before coming here. But I think it’s already an achievement to go to the finish. I think we didn’t expect this after Barcelona. Even though the pace wasn’t so good we made it to the end. Still a lot of work to do.
VL	To Carlos Sainz Jnr	P8 Carlos.
VL	From Carlos Sainz Jnr	Yeah, thank you. A shame on Perez after the pit stop, couldn’t hold on to him because of the top speed. So that’s it.
VL	To Carlos Sainz Jnr	Yep we saw that on the TV.
VL	To Sergio Perez	Great job Checo, well done, P7.
VL	From Sergio Perez	Good job, guys. Good start. We are obviously lacking a lot of pace at the moment. So let’s really focus and try to get those updates soon. But good job man I think we maximised the day. Well doen to everyone.
VL	To Esteban Ocon	Chequered flag, well done mate, that’s tenth place. A point.
VL	From Esteban Ocon	Awesome guys thank you. Good strategy, very good. Such a shame with Alonso in front, he blocked me all race. But first points of a lot of them.
VL	To Daniil Kvyat	OK Danny sorry for that. P7 was clearly on the table for us.
VL	From Daniil Kvyat	Cheers guys. Did a good job. But this engine fuss cost us more points. It’s not cool.
VL	To Daniil Kvyat	Yeah, hard luck, no worries. You’ve done very well mate. Very good weekend. Very strong.
VL	From Daniil Kvyat	Thank you sunshine!
VL	To Daniil Kvyat	No, please!
VL	To Nico Hulkenberg	Tough race, mate. Well done for hanging in there.

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.

Follow F1 Fanatic Live on Twitter for team radio highlights during all live F1 sessions.

Australian Grand Prix data

2017 Australian Grand Prix

Browse all 2017 Australian Grand Prix articles

Team radio transcripts

Browse all team radio transcripts

Author information

Keith Collantine

Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...
Read more about Keith Collantine, find all their articles and get in touch with them

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

49 comments on “2017 Australian Grand Prix team radio transcript”

Scepter (@scepter)
31st March 2017, 13:13
I wish Liberty would publish all the transcripts, the meaning is lost without the context.
1. Anatoli68 (@anatoli68)
  31st March 2017, 13:36
  Whole transcripts would nice but this is already much better than what we had last year.
  1. Dewald Nel (@ho3n3r)
    3rd April 2017, 9:26
    @anatoli68 We already had this last year…
    1. Anatoli68 (@anatoli68)
      3rd April 2017, 14:16
      @ho3n3r Ok maybe I should have been more specific. What I meant was that due to team radio restriction in the beginning of the last year, the transcripts were also quite a bit shorter. Sometimes we had something like this for the race transcript: https://www.racefans.net/2016/07/07/2016-austrian-grand-prix-team-radio-transcript/
CoasterJunkie
31st March 2017, 13:13
Bottas looked so grumpy on the podium I kind of took it as read that he had been told to hold position and not press Hamilton….
1. David Bell
  31st March 2017, 15:04
  Find facts to back up claims. Just like the evidence has come out with Toto saying once they realised (quite early on in the race) that Hamilton wasn’t going to win they turned his engine down and therefore allowed Bottas to close up.
  1. ThisNoNameID2 (@patienceandtime)
    31st March 2017, 15:45
    @David Bell Well said mate. These same people whining about it did not mind it when Massa had to move over for Alonso, was not aloud to attack Alonso and even took a penalty for Alonso (USGP2012) smh.
    1. Dewald Nel (@ho3n3r)
      3rd April 2017, 9:30
      @patienceandtime struggling to find the correlation between Merc ensuring a formation finish, and fans being selectively judgemental about team orders.
      It’s like comparing apples and… motor oil?
2. pking008 (@pking008)
  31st March 2017, 21:44
  you sir are a 1st class clown . you’re reading the transcript yet conjuring up ghost to claim Bottas was ordered to not attack just because its Hamilton? what did Hamilton ever do to some of yous?
3. OOliver
  31st March 2017, 22:30
  Valtteri Bottas: I feel like I have a little bit more pace but struggling to get closer.
Bio
31st March 2017, 13:35
Toto Wolff admitted at the end of the race that they freezed the positions…
1. Tom
  31st March 2017, 13:57
  No he didn’t. You can even see in the transcript Bottas says he has more pace but can’t get close to Hamilton. Why do you feel the need to make lies ?
  1. kanan
    31st March 2017, 14:06
    How do you know he’s lying or making things up? What are you overcompensating for with the way you are attacking without questioning in a kind manner? The Internet does not give anyone any rights to lie or to be rude at all.
    Is this how you people behave in real life….
2. Kraven83
  31st March 2017, 14:17
  http://www.formulapassion.it/2017/03/f1-wolff-ordini-scuderia-bottas/
  The last sentence of the article, by Toto (translated from Italian): “Lewis had older tyres, we told him to manage [them] to try and finish the race without attacking too much. Then, we asked Bottas to do the same”.
  1. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
    31st March 2017, 14:56
    I asked Mercedes about that article before writing this piece and was told what Wolff is quoted as saying in it is not what he said. Note that the quote in question was not given to that website, it’s from an interview Wolff gave to Sky F1 Italia.
    1. pking008 (@pking008)
      31st March 2017, 21:58
      Exactly! the anyone but Hamilton would conjure up even the remotest unlikely piece to try to discredit him
      1. ThisNoNameID2 (@patienceandtime)
        1st April 2017, 3:31
        @pking008 It’s getting out of control with the Hamilton hate, seriously smh.
Neil (@neilosjames)
31st March 2017, 13:56
Looking at the rest of the race, one Mercedes wouldn’t have had a fireball on Pluto’s chance of passing another Mercedes on that circuit anyway, unless one of them broke down… so I don’t suppose it matters whether the request was made or not.
1. kpcart
  31st March 2017, 14:48
  It matters for pride and context.. Bottas in his first race at Mercedes, paid probably only 1/4 of what Hamilton is being paid, driving faster than Hamilton, dirty air of new cars saved Hamilton the embarrassment it seems.
  1. Lums (@lums)
    31st March 2017, 15:14
    “dirty air of new cars saved Hamilton the embarrassment it seems”
    Really?
  2. Ed
    31st March 2017, 16:01
    Driving faster than Hamilton.. lol
    While Hamilton had problems with his tyres at the end because of his early pit that he did TRYING TO WIN the race, Bottas was in better shape cuz he was cruising alone and much behind. He didn t need to change his cuz he was already behind.
    He never offered Mercedes a chance to win. So saying he was faster or that Hamilton was saved from the embarrasment is an absolute joke.
  3. Philip (@philipgb)
    31st March 2017, 19:42
    The way people will twist events to suit their narrative is what’s embarrassing.
    Hamilton drove the Mercedes to the best possible result it could achieve that day with the tactics used. Bottas going easier and longer on his first stint didn’t magic him ahead of Vettel, so Hamiltons driving early on was justified to give them a chance.
  4. Samouri (@samouri)
    31st March 2017, 20:11
    kpcart….At the start of the race, Bottas never kept pace with Vettel in order to challenge him for second place, and was 10 seconds behind Lewis when he made his first pit stop.
    Faster than Hamilton…..not really.
2. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
  31st March 2017, 19:39
  @neilosjames
  one Mercedes wouldn’t have had a fireball on Pluto’s chance
  Oh that’s good, I’m nicking that one :-)
  1. Neil (@neilosjames)
    1st April 2017, 1:08
    @keithcollantine It was going to be the more common ‘snowball in hell’, but I occasionally get caught by the ‘post is awaiting moderation’ thing (and usually have no idea why), so decided to go creative in case ‘hell’ set it off!
Jay
31st March 2017, 14:28
Merc apologized to Lewis for making another dumb pit call.
1. ThisNoNameID2 (@patienceandtime)
  31st March 2017, 15:48
  @Jay How many times did Ferrari apologized for Alonso ?..
2. Kgn11
  31st March 2017, 16:34
  It seems like no matter what you guys read, you’ve already made up your mind to blame Hamilton for something which was not his decision alone.
  Before the race both drivers were asked to give frequent feedback on the tires, he did that. Yes he asked to come in, but that wasn’t just his decision, Mercedes had all the info, they could’ve easily said to stay out as his pace was still better than those behind him and Seb, they made the decision assuming that Max would’ve stopped on the same lap. Had Max done so, Lewis would’ve walked off with another easy win and everyone would be screaming their heads off that it’s going to be another boring season of Mercedes dominance.
  1. Jay
    31st March 2017, 17:12
    I blame Mercedes for them making the call to come in too early. Hamilton would not have wanted to be pitted into 5th place traffic. The team panicked just lke Malaysia/Monaco 2015. This should have been an easy win for HAM.
    1. Kgn11
      31st March 2017, 17:43
      At first I did, but when I reviewed the entire thing, it wasn’t that bad a call. If I blame them for anything, it was to assume that Max/RB would’ve stopped on the same or Lewis’ first flying lap. Had Max stopped early, Lewis/MB would’ve won the race.
3. Ronald (@mosquito)
  31st March 2017, 16:50
  Well, at least this time he asked for it himself.
4. kanan
  1st April 2017, 7:07
  Hamilton fans have even started to attack each other preemptively it seems, just in case one of them might be criticizing the driver…
Ru Chern (@)
31st March 2017, 15:41
It seemed awkwardly quiet in the Ferrari pit wall.
1. Dewald Nel (@ho3n3r)
  3rd April 2017, 9:41
  More like “comfortably”, since everything was under control.
Maciek (@maciek)
31st March 2017, 15:46
Logic would dictate that if Bottas was able to catch Hamilton he was told overtly or not that third was good enough on that day. Further aggravating their star driver is not something these guys, who are smart guys, would want to do.
1. Kgn11
  31st March 2017, 16:35
  However there’s no evidence to support that logic. Lewis was substantially faster than Max and couldn’t get by, you really think Bottas was just going to cruise up behind Lewis and breeze by him? Really?
2. SurferMark
  31st March 2017, 22:37
  If the team bosses had given any instruction detrimental to Bottas during the race it would have caused terrible negativitiy on Bottas’s side of the garage right at the beggining of the season. Smart bosses don’t neg out their team!
  1. Robbie (@robbie)
    1st April 2017, 0:15
    I doubt that VB would have been considering trying to catch and pass LH, and I doubt that TW needed to order VB to stand pat, and if TW had told VB to stand pat I would understand that as it would have simply risked an issue for no gain as all that would have happened would have been a driver swap in position but no change in points for the team. Early days, they’re learning the cars and tires still, and there’s everything to play for yet.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
31st March 2017, 16:35
It now transpires the suspension problem Magnussen reported wasn’t actually a suspension problem and he needn’t have retired:
https://www.racefans.net/2017/03/31/magnussen-retired-unnecessarily-in-australia/
Friederike (@rike)
31st March 2017, 17:01
Curious that vettel seemed to be the only one without a problem in following, and by doing so keeping tires and temperatures in check…. Kimi complained very few too, considering he seemed way off in the race (except the last laps where he pushed for fasted lap), but that would fit his narrative that they knew what was going wrong the week end
1. Kgn11
  31st March 2017, 17:32
  Yes he had problems following, said as much after the race. The reason why it looked like he didn’t have a problem was simply because of the issues with Hamilton’s car. Look at Kimi, he wasn’t able to follow closely to Bottas who wasn’t having the same problems.
mmertens (@mmertens)
31st March 2017, 17:41
Keith, I have a question: does the coaching drivers rule was “relaxed”? I thought the drivers weren’t allowed to get driving tips like this one to Bottas:
“Need to carry more speed turn 14 and turn one late entry.”
It looks they’re clearly helping him, not?
Thanks
1. Patrick (@paeschli)
  31st March 2017, 17:53
  @mmertens They reversed that rule at the end of last year.
2. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
  31st March 2017, 19:35
  @mmertens Yer as @paeschli points out that was reversed last year as of the German Grand Prix and the only such restriction which still applies is the ban on radio messages to the driver between then start of the formation lap and the start of the race, to limit the assistance they receive with optimising their starts.
mmertens (@mmertens)
31st March 2017, 23:27
Thanks a lot for the reply Patrick and Keith! It’s appreciated! It’s kind of silly to restore this driver assistance rule in my opinion!
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
1st April 2017, 10:48
Lewis Hamilton lost the race because he couldn’t manage the tyres/get the right feel in the tyres. Let’s not make this more complicated than need be.
AndrewW
2nd April 2017, 22:47
Outlets such as BBC suggest HAM’s engine was turned down when Merc realised the couldn’t catch VET. How does this fit into the narrative? Anyone proffer some Merc sources on this? I also thought it curious that BOT, who struggled more for pace in the first stint, ran significantly longer than HAM. My take is that HAM panicked and pushed Merc into a premature pitstop despite still-healthy laptimes. 2-3 more laps out and HAM would likely not have lost track position and the Merc, being what it was on mediums, would have had a very good chance of remaining P1 through the chequered flag.
BOT is a better racer (wet racing, overtaking etc.) than ROS and Australia suggests he is a better qualifier that, I for one, thought. HAM appears complacent, so I expect him to be shocked into an attitudinal shift fairly soon.
1. Buffy
  3rd April 2017, 22:39
  http://www.planetf1.com/news/wolff-very-impressed-with-bottas-first-race/
  “Wolff, though, did conceded that Bottas was aided in his efforts to catch Hamilton when Mercedes dialled back the Brit’s car.
  He added: “Having said that we had taken pace out of Lewis quite early when it became apparent we wouldn’t win under normal circumstances.
  “But I am very happy with his performance.”
zimkazimka (@zimkazimka)
3rd April 2017, 8:00
Who’s the Sunshine?