2017 Malaysian Grand Prix team radio transcript

The Malaysian Grand Prix revealed how much teams rely on radio communications from their drivers to prompt investigations from the stewards.

2017 Malaysian GP in pictures

During the race Esteban Ocon was reminded to make sure he stated on the radio he’d been hit by another driver, Carlos Sainz Jnr, to prompt the stewards into investigating the collision. A few laps later Ocon did exactly that.

Other drivers didn’t need reminding. Romain Grosjean was quick to point the finger when he dropped to the back of the field at the start.

The race began and ended with drama on the radio at Ferrari. First Kimi Raikkonen reported the problem which meant he didn’t even get to start the race. And after the chequered flag fell Sebastian Vettel collided with Lance Stroll. He blamed the Williams driver but the stewards cleared both drivers.

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2017 Malaysian Grand Prix team radio transcript

Lap*	Driver	Message
PR	From Kimi Raikkonen	Raikkonen’s troubles began on the reconnaissance lap. I have no power.
PR	To Kimi Raikkonen	Understood Kimi can you just get around to the grid, we’ll try and fix the issue on the grid.
PR	From Kimi Raikkonen	I have no battery it’s just empty.
PR	To Kimi Raikkonen	Understood Kimi. Unfortunately will be from the turbo. Can we have fail alpha 12 on, Kimi.
PR	To Marcus Ericsson	No rain expected in the next 30 minutes.
PR	To Kimi Raikkonen	OK Kimi we’re going to do a fire-up very shortly. And after the fire-up we’re going to decide what to do. We’ll try and engage the turbo and see if everything’s working. So we’ll very shortly do the fire-up, Kimi.
PR	To Kimi Raikkonen	OK Kimi we go to the garage and try to fix the problem.
PR	From Sebastian Vettel	Vettel reminded his race engineer not to bother letting him know when the grid had formed up at the start. Radio check Sebastian.
PR	To Sebastian Vettel	Loud and clear. Obviously as I’m the last car on the grid you don’t need to tell me.
PR	To Esteban Ocon	The right-hand side is quite slippery where there’s been some rubber laid down. You want to be positioning your car to the left.
PR	From Esteban Ocon	OK, understood.
PR	To Daniel Ricciardo	The track is drying a little bit, drying quickly.
FL	From Carlos Sainz Jnr	I can see some clouds coming at turn 11, just keep an eye.
2	From Romain Grosjean	Mate the Toro Rosso’s moving all over the [censored by FOM] place.
2	To Romain Grosjean	Yep, understood.
2	From Romain Grosjean	Those new guys need to learn they can’t move like this. I had to go out to avoid him.
2	To	Yep, understood we’ll report it.
3	To Max Verstappen	OK Max there is mud on the line at the exit of turn 15.
3	From Lewis Hamilton	Verstappen passed Hamilton for the lead. Hamilton I’ve got de-rates.
3	To Lewis Hamilton	Copy Lewis, it’s to be expected. Just coming to the top of the pack, it should take one more lap.
4	From Max Verstappen	That’s how we do it.
4	To Max Verstappen	Well done mate. Right let’s clear the DRS, think about your tyres now.
4	To Pierre Gasly	OK Pierre good job. Focus on rear slip management.
6	To Esteban Ocon	So you’ve got some front wing end plate damage but it’s OK to carry on.
6	From Esteban Ocon	Yeah well Checo pushed me into Stroll again, so…
6	To Esteban Ocon	OK. We could have had that as a report.
6	To Lewis Hamilton	At the top of the tyre temp window so we’re happy with tag two. Opportunities will come later.
7	From Nico Hulkenberg	There’s a funny feeling in the front axle on high-speed.
7	To Nico Hulkenberg	OK Nico we’ll have a look. OK Nico we see nothing in data here, we see nothing to suggest a problem.
7	From Nico Hulkenberg	Copy. Stuck in dirty air obviously.
7	To Nico Hulkenberg	Understood. Slip three please Nico, that’s at nine o’clock.
8	To Pierre Gasly	OK Pierre you need to watch the exit kerb in turn eight, you are too aggressive with the exit kerb, turn eight. How is the car?
8	From Pierre Gasly	A bit unstable at the rear at the moment.
10	To	OK Nico we need everything you’ve got on the out-lap.
11	From Nico Hulkenberg	Cool the car – I’ve lost power. ‘Cool the car’ message.
11	To Nico Hulkenberg	Understood Nico.
11	To Daniel Ricciardo	OK that last lap you took one second out of Hamilton. Nice job.
12	To Lewis Hamilton	To Hamilton Vettel in P9 at the moment, he’s 22 seconds behind. Just remember he may be a threat towards the end of the race.
12	To Sergio Perez	Checo if understeer five and six is a problem you could try open diff.
13	To Lance Stroll	How are the tyres now, Lance?
13	From Lance Stroll	The rear’s starting to go away a bit mid-corner.
13	To Lance Stroll	OK, understood.
14	From Lance Stroll	Stroll dropped behind Massa after the Williams drivers pitted. Come on, guys.
15	To Stoffel Vandoorne	Good job Stoff, that’s a Sauber in front let’s go straight through him.
15	From Romain Grosjean	Guys I can’t do anything with my front-left. I can’t do anything. There’s no grip. Simple as that.
16	From Daniel Ricciardo	Some understeer’s starting to build on throttle high speed. Low speed just got to watch the rear.
16	To Daniel Ricciardo	OK understood. So we will add front wing at the next pit stop.
17	To Stoffel Vandoorne	Stoffel the only threat right now are the two Williams, still behind Wehrlein.
19	From Max Verstappen	I think my left-front tyre is starting to give up a little bit in turns seven, eight.
19	To Max Verstappen	Yep, copy, understood.
20	To Sergio Perez	Checo we didn’t understand. Radio’s not good. Try again at low speed.
20	From Sergio Perez	Tyre is good, no rush to pit.
20	To Sergio Perez	Understood, Vettel behind.
20	To Sergio Perez	You can use everything from the tyre.
21	To Esteban Ocon	So when you come up to Sainz use both straights to go by. Use the first straight to catch him up, second straight to go by.
21	To Carlos Sainz Jnr	Keep pushing Carlos. You are doing a fantastic job. You are catching Fernando in front.
22	To Lewis Hamilton	And give us feedback on the tyres, let us know your tag level.
22	From Lewis Hamilton	Tag three, tyres are OK.
23	From Max Verstappen	Yeah left front is a limitation.
23	To Max Verstappen	OK the front-left tyre is in good shape. I understand the balance limitation mate but no concerns over the tyre itself at this stage. We’re happy.
24	To Valtteri Bottas	So biggest losses now minimum speed turn six and 14, then we’ll let you get on with it.
25	From Max Verstappen	Starting to get worse.
25	To Max Verstappen	OK copy.
25	From Lewis Hamilton	Tyres dropping off.
25	To Lewis Hamilton	OK copy that last message.
25	To Esteban Ocon	Ocon was knocked into a spin by Sainz. Quick as possible, quick as possible, get going.
26	From Nico Hulkenberg	We need to think about converting strategy. I don’t think we will make it to the end like this.
26	From Carlos Sainz Jnr	He closed on me. He didn’t leave me any space.
26	To Carlos Sainz Jnr	Any car damage?
26	From Carlos Sainz Jnr	No. No car damage.
26	To Carlos Sainz Jnr	OK.
27	To Daniel Ricciardo	OK mate so Hamilton is coming in, we’re staying out.
27	To Esteban Ocon	So did Sainz hit you?
27	From Esteban Ocon	Oh for sure, for sure he hit me.
27	To Esteban Ocon	Well that us know then
27	From Esteban Ocon	That’s not clear enough?
27	To Esteban Ocon	Yep, you need to get on the radio and let us know.
28	To Daniel Ricciardo	OK so Verstappen also pitted. We are going to extend. Keep us updated on your tyres.
28	To Pierre Gasly	Good job, Pierre. Keep focusing on the fuel, please.
30	To Romain Grosjean	Is the front-left any better at this lower temp?
30	From Romain Grosjean	Yeah a little bit.
30	From Carlos Sainz Jnr	Engine problem. No engine.
30	To Carlos Sainz Jnr	Understood. Nothing obvious from the data.
30	From Carlos Sainz Jnr	Yeah no engine. [Censored by FOM] no engine.
31	From Esteban Ocon	[Censored by FOM] hell. Pushed me off again!
32	To Nico Hulkenberg	OK Nico what are you thinking about the tyres now? Can we make it to the end?
32	From Nico Hulkenberg	I think it’s going to be difficult. Honestly.
33	From Fernando Alonso	Alonso was given a strong squeeze by Magnussen as he passed the Haas. What an idiot! Haha. Hulkenberg is right…
34	From Kevin Magnussen	What the hell is he doing that guy?
34	To Kevin Magnussen	OK we saw it. Pressures are fine at the moment.
34	To Pierre Gasly	Stop lifting off, maximum attack on Magnussen.
35	From Romain Grosjean	I can’t do anything guys, I can’t do anything.
35	To Romain Grosjean	Understood, just stay with them.
35	To Daniel Ricciardo	OK mate so even with that traffic you were quicker than Hamilton, you were a tenth quicker.
36	To Daniel Ricciardo	OK so that last lap you took six tenths out of Hamilton, he’s now 9.7 ahead, you are catching him.
37	To Sergio Perez	ACS off and run switch ‘race’.
39	From Kevin Magnussen	Magnussen was hit by Palmer who spun in front of him. What a [censored by FOM] lunatic.
39	To Jolyon Palmer	Everything OK with the car?
39	From Jolyon Palmer	Yeah there was some contact there.
39	From Jolyon Palmer	I’ve lost a lot of rear grip.
40	From Kevin Magnussen	I have damage on the car. I don’t know how long it’s going to last.
40	To Kevin Magnussen	OK we don’t see anything from our side at the moment. We’ll keep you posted.
41	To Pierre Gasly	MFB K power four.
42	To Nico Hulkenberg	OK Nico stopping is not an option, it’s a very poor option, we have to try to make this work.
42	From Nico Hulkenberg	What happened to Jo?
42	To Nico Hulkenberg	He had a spin.
43	To Daniel Ricciardo	Vettel doing 34.0s. He’s five seconds behind you now. He’ll be with you in four or five laps. Let’s keep pushing.
43	From Daniel Ricciardo	OK understood.
43	To Pierre Gasly	OK you will get blue flag for Ricciardo. Keep pushing, this is a good time to overtake Magnussen.
44	From Max Verstappen	Sometimes there’s some balance shift when I shift a little early.
44	To Max Verstappen	Copy Max I’ll get back to you. Ocon ahead, blue flags.
44	To Marcus Ericsson	OK good lap keep pushing.
45	To Sergio Perez	Checo Vandoorne is still 24 seconds behind. We may ask you to lean a bit more on the tyres a bit more in the high-speed just to maintain temperatures through the rest of the stint. You don’t need to push any more, pace is good, but just make sure we’re leaning on the tyres to keep temp.
45	To Pierre Gasly	Follow Vettel.
46	To Daniel Ricciardo	OK so next car behind is Vettel. We’re racing for the podium.
46	To Daniel Ricciardo	OK so battery is in a good place, use it if you need it.
46	From Daniel Ricciardo	Understood.
47	To Max Verstappen	OK so use your tools to help your balance as you need to mate.
47	From Max Verstappen	Yep it’s all OK.
47	To Max Verstappen	Understood.
47	To Lewis Hamilton	That last lap was good. If you can maintain that, that would be great.
48	From Sebastian Vettel	Vettel was held up by Alonso as he lapped the McLaren. Hey what a… Come on, Alonso. Really? I thought you were better than that.
49	To Sebastian Vettel	Attack now. Attack now.
49	From Sebastian Vettel	Too far, let me do it.
50	To Max Verstappen	Alright so we’ve got a bit of free air now that’s 15 seconds to Ericsson ahead.
51	From Pierre Gasly	I’m struggling with the rear.
51	To Pierre Gasly	Other people are struggling more than us. You are doing a good job keep pushing.
52	To Pierre Gasly	Go offset plus one to protect the rears. Hulkenberg has boxed.
52	To Pascal Wehrlein	Hulkenberg exiting pit lane, Hulkenberg coming out. SOC six we are racing Hulkenberg.
53	To Daniel Ricciardo	I think you’ve broken Vettel’s spirit. He’s having to look after his tyres, he’s run out of front tyres. Nico job mate.
54	To Sebastian Vettel	Engine temps are fine, attack now.
55	From Romain Grosjean	I can’t believe the front left is gone.
56	To Daniel Ricciardo	Vettel’s really backed off, he’s over seven seconds behind you now. Hamilton ten ahead.
VL	To Max Verstappen	Well done Max.
VL	From Max Verstappen	Yes! Woo! Hahaha!
VL	To Max Verstappen	Well done Max, well done mate. That was absolutely on merit. Flawless drive. And happy birthday, mate.
VL	To Max Verstappen	Super job Max that’s a really great job. Welcome to being a 20-year-old. Great start to a new decade for you, well done,
VL	From Max Verstappen	Thank you very much Christian, car was great.
VL	From Sebastian Vettel	Vettel and Stroll collided on the slow-down lap. Stroll is not looking where he’s going. He completely shunted into my car. I mean seriously. What a bunch of idiots. I’m stopped in turn five. Would you believe it, would you believe it?
VL	To Sebastian Vettel	Yeah we can see it, we can see it Seb.
VL	From Sebastian Vettel	Vettel Unbelievable.
VL	To Sebastian Vettel	Yeah we can see it Seb yeah.
VL	From Sebastian Vettel	Vettel What a [censored by FOM]. Sorry for that but he had no, he wasn’t looking. [Censored by FOM] me.
VL	From Lance Stroll	Vettel just ran right into the side of me.
VL	To Felipe Massa	Good job Felipe, thank you very much. Sorry about the mix-up with the stops but a great drive, good points, thank you.
VL	To Lewis Hamilton	OK Lewis well done mate. That was a good drive, well managed. Not exactly the result we wanted but still looking good.

Note: Only includes messages which were broadcast in the race coverage.
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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Malaysian Grand Prix data

2017 Malaysian Grand Prix

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7 comments on “2017 Malaysian Grand Prix team radio transcript”

bosyber (@bosyber)
4th October 2017, 12:27

With the knowledge Vettel was going far into the minus with his fuel as he approached Ricciardo, this line:

54 To Sebastian Vettel – Engine temps are fine, attack now.

takes on some extra meaning; at the time it seemed a bit odd to tell a 4-time champion he has to attack, but now we know they were really meaning ‘attack now, before you are forced to give up’.
RntM
4th October 2017, 13:01

And does anyone know what this Mercedes’ TAG level is? I guess maybe something related to tyre degradation?
Baron (@baron)
4th October 2017, 14:48

I have a question for all you knowledgeable F1 Fanatics out there. I thought that pit wall to car telemetry was forbidden. Obviously car to pit wall is not (transmission of data). The reason I ask is that Kimi’s pit wall inferred that “they would try and start the turbo” (in itself a fascinating technical reveal, like how, what?), thus inferring that they could alter the car parameters from the pit wall. Of course, I may have this completely wrong, and it is permitted. If I have, please correct me gently.. :)
1. Vince Duggan (@vince-dugganvirginactive-co-za)
  4th October 2017, 17:00
  
  This was before he got to his grid slot, so I assume they meant they would try fix it when he got to the grid.
2. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
  4th October 2017, 17:16
  
  @baron Yep @vince-dugganvirginactive-co-za has it right – that message is from when he was on his reconnaissance lap and heading to the grid.
  1. Baron (@baron)
    5th October 2017, 15:54
    
    @keithcollantine @vince-dugganvirginactive-co-za Cool, thanks guys but (by inference) you are confirming that pit-wall to car telemetry is not permitted after the flag drops?
    
    I would be really interested in the tech involved in remote starting of the turbo. Any chance of a piece on that Keith?
ILuvSoundtracks (@)
4th October 2017, 17:29

“Hey what a… Come on, Alonso. Really? I thought you were better than that.”
Oooooh, what was Vettel trying to say there?…