2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix team radio transcript

“Two weekends of hell” was how Lance Stroll described his final races of the year at the end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in pictures

It had been a trying race for the Williams driver, who from the outset was unhappy with his car’s balance, urging his team to give him more information anf hurriedly calling for an early pit stop. He ended up making three visits.

For the rest of the field just one stop was obviously the way to go, though it left them with little room to manoeuvre in terms of strategy. Esteban Ocon tried to ‘over-cut’ his team mate by staying out longer but the tyres wouldn’t hold up long enough.

Fernando Alonso was one of few drivers who made progress after the first lap. As the race drew to a close he was lining up for a crack at the fastest lap time, but fell short. Nonetheless he joined in the celebratory doughnuts at the end, describing it as “practice for next year”.

However Alonso did manage to hold Felipe Massa off until the end. As in Brazil, the Williams driver had enough emotional farewell exchange on the radio after the chequered flag had fallen on the 2017 season.

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2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix team radio transcript

Lap*	Driver	Message
PR	From Lewis Hamilton	It’s quite windy out there.
PR	To Lewis Hamilton	To Hamilton: Still headwind turn two, it may have rotated compared to yesterday so more of a tailwind turn eight. Still predominantly the same direction, though.
PR	From Romain Grosjean	Grosjean: Thanks for waiting, I’ve finished my drink.
PR	To Romain Grosjean	No problem, that was a big drink.
PR	From Lewis Hamilton	Is the temperature still dropping?
PR	To Lewis Hamilton	Yeah it should be dropping. The sun’s just disappearing behind the grandstand. It should be down.
PR	To Fernando Alonso	Fernando tyre info: prime [soft] runners are Wehrlein, Ericsson and Hartley, everyone else on option [ultra-soft].
FL	From Lewis Hamilton	The fumes have been pretty strong.
FL	To Lewis Hamilton	Yeah that’s Ricciardo behind you quite smoky.
1	From Kimi Raikkonen	Something flew out of my car, hit me in the head on top of the car, don’t know what it was.
2	From Sergio Perez	Hulkenberg cut the corner.
2	From Nico Hulkenberg	He pushed me off the track, he made me run wide there.
2	To Nico Hulkenberg	OK Nico understood.
2	To Kevin Magnussen	Magnussen spun off on the first lap. We don’t see vibrations, and pressure are fine.
2	From Kevin Magnussen	Yeah it’s all good.
2	From Sergio Perez	He needs to give back the position, then.
2	To Sergio Perez	Understood. Charlie is aware.
3	To Lance Stroll	Go race, Lance.
3	From Sergio Perez	What’s going on with Charlie, man?
3	To Sergio Perez	It’s with the stewards. Tell us what happened.
3	From Sergio Perez	They don’t have to be a genius to realise that he cut the corner and he gained an advantage.
4	From Sergio Perez	We discussed that on the drivers briefing.
4	From Esteban Ocon	By the way Hulkenberg cut the track.
4	To Esteban Ocon	Copy that.
6	From Stoffel Vandoorne	Honestly I have no rear grip. Is there anything I can do?
6	To Stoffel Vandoorne	Difficult to help that with diff. You can go forward on brake balance but we risk front locking.
6	To Max Verstappen	How’s things Max?
6	From Max Verstappen	Yeah little bit stuck so I can’t really do much.
6	To Max Verstappen	Understood. Daniel is increasing the gap to Kimi so the tow effect will start to reduce.
6	From Kevin Magnussen	These tyres are finished, they’re gone.
6	To Kevin Magnussen	The temperature is coming back slowly so probably they’ll come back a bit.
6	From Sergio Perez	Come on Charlie.
6	To Sergio Perez	Hulkenberg will get a five second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
6	From Sergio Perez	That’s not fair. But anyway let’s focus on this.
6	To Sergio Perez	We understand. Focus, he will get that added at the pit stop so let’s get close to him.
7	From Lance Stroll	Really struggling with the rear guys. Can you give me more information, you’re being very quiet.
7	To Lance Stroll	Diff entry two, mid two. We are checking, Lance.
8	To Pierre Gasly	You can use overtake sector one to get into his DRS.
9	To Kimi Raikkonen	I would try at the minute to close the gap and have a go, Kimi. Let’s try and have a go.
10	To Romain Grosjean	You need to obey turn 11 dotted line.
10	From Romain Grosjean	I can crash if they want. Honestly I’m starting to get a bit fed up of their rules.
12	From Lance Stroll	Can we box this lap? I would really suggest it. I would rather go all the way.
12	To Lance Stroll	Stand by.
12	From Lance Stroll	No time to stand by.
12	To Lance Stroll	Stand by, Lance.
12	From Lance Stroll	Yeah but I have two major flat spots… Box box box. I have to box. Box now.
12	To Lance Stroll	OK, box this lap, box this lap.
12	From Fernando Alonso	Tell me the distance with Massa on the start/finish line every lap.
12	To Fernando Alonso	OK understood.
13	To Lewis Hamilton	And Lewis if you could take turn nine in second gear, just seen a bit of vibration there. Valtteri was a 42.6.
14	From Daniel Ricciardo	Understood. For high-speed I need two to three clicks less. But I want to keep a bit for low so maybe down two.
14	To Daniel Ricciardo	OK Daniel understood. Track temperature will keep dropping, I’ll take that into consideration.
16	To Daniel Ricciardo	Verstappen has pitted so it’s all going to kick off now, let’s push.
17	From Max Verstappen	Ah I missed a gearshift, somehow it jumped out.
17	To Max Verstappen	Copy that, keep on it.
17	To Lewis Hamilton	Think about forward on B-bal and going up on your diffs to keep the rear under control.
17	From Lewis Hamilton	Just keep the talk to a minimum, please.
17	From Lewis Hamilton	Turn nine’s losing me time, guys.
18	To Pierre Gasly	Gasly spun. Is he car OK? All OK with the car?
18	From Pierre Gasly	All OK, I lost the rear completely.
18	To Pierre Gasly	Understood. The race is long. Keep pushing as much as you can.
18	From Stoffel Vandoorne	It’s like driving a rally car.
19	From Sergio Perez	What did you do with front wing?
19	To Sergio Perez	Exactly what you asked.
19	From Sergio Perez	And what did I ask?
19	To Sergio Perez	You didn’t want to go too low.
19	To Daniel Ricciardo	Are the tyres still OK, Daniel?
19	From Daniel Ricciardo	They hit a step that last lap. I’ll let you know. I can keep this pace.
19	From Romain Grosjean	Are we racing these guys or not?
19	To Romain Grosjean	Let’s fight, let’s hold them.
20	From Daniel Ricciardo	I’ve got a puncture, boxing. Sorry. Something felt wrong on the front.
20	To Daniel Ricciardo	It will be close to Raikkonen but you should be clear. We will be close.
20	From Daniel Ricciardo	OK. I don’t know if something in the front broke. I’ll let you know.
20	To Daniel Ricciardo	No worries. Just push on the way out.
21	To Daniel Ricciardo	All feel OK with the car question?
21	From Daniel Ricciardo	I think so. Just down at 19 felt weird.
21	From Daniel Ricciardo	Something on the front still feels weird.
21	To	OK mate we’re looking into it.
22	From Daniel Ricciardo	I think I’m losing power steering.
22	To Daniel Ricciardo	OK understood. Do not shift gear if you can.
22	From Daniel Ricciardo	Ricciardo sighed loudly after this message. Want me to stay in sixth? It’s gone, it’s gone.
22	To Daniel Ricciardo	OK mate. We’ve got a hydraulic problem. Go mode one and switch off mate. I can see what you’re doing, just pull as far off the track as you can. You were doing a really good job until that point. You were quicker than Raikkonen behind you. Go to P0.
22	To Max Verstappen	Daniel is slow ahead.
22	From Max Verstappen	What happened to him?
22	To Max Verstappen	Car issue.
23	To Fernando Alonso	One hundred and one percent please Fernando. And Ricciardo is out of the race.
23	From Esteban Ocon	Got no grip on the fronts.
23	To Esteban Ocon	So we need another four to five laps at this pace. If we can get another four or five laps at this pace we may over-cut, so keep going.
24	To Fernando Alonso	Alonso got ahead of Massa. Excellent job Fernando. Use the overtake if you need it.
24	From Felipe Massa	Just no deployment at all.
26	To Valtteri Bottas	Just be aware Lewis is pushing hard.
26	To Fernando Alonso	And gap to Sainz only 21.4.
26	From Fernando Alonso	OK mate but it is what we have. I would love to be quicker, I would love to have more deployment, I would love to have many things. This is what we have.
28	To Stoffel Vandoorne	Gap to Magnussen was two seconds on the start/finish line, this is good now Stoff, this is good.
28	To Nico Hulkenberg	Gap to Perez 5.3 seconds,
28	From Nico Hulkenberg	Lovely.
28	To Sebastian Vettel	Tyres are healthy.
30	From Lance Stroll	[Censored by FOM] disaster. I’m trying to do everything I can but I’m just going backwards.
30	To Lance Stroll	OK understood Lance. We reckon Ericsson should stop soon. Lance…
30	From Lance Stroll	What? Tell me.
30	To Lance Stroll	We are looking at an alternative. I’ll let you know.
30	From Lance Stroll	Yeah I’d rather stop again.
30	To Lance Stroll	Yeah push, push this lap. Then we see.
31	To Pierre Gasly	OK push now, push now.
32	To Valtteri Bottas	Lewis had a lock at turn 17. So he’s now gapping 1.8.
32	From Valtteri Bottas	Was it a big one?
32	To Valtteri Bottas	Not a major one.
33	From Carlos Sainz Jnr	Yeah one tyre is not on. [Censored by FOM].
33	To Carlos Sainz Jnr	Stop the car please. Try to avoid causing a Safety Car. Try to stop the car somewhere where they can recover it well.
33	From Carlos Sainz Jnr	[Censored by FOM].
33	To Carlos Sainz Jnr	OK don’t forget to go to P1 and P0.
33	From Carlos Sainz Jnr	OK. Anyway good effort guys. What a shame.
33	To Carlos Sainz Jnr	OK sorry.
36	From Fernando Alonso	Where is Stoffel?
36	To Fernando Alonso	Stoffel P12. Had a problem.
36	From Fernando Alonso	Nothing we can do to help him get in the points? How far he is?
36	To Fernando Alonso	No Fernando there’s nothing we can do. There are 21 laps to go including this one. The lead cars are slowing down so we’re not sure if we’ll be lapped. C3 position one please. Follow the dash.
36	To	OK.
37	From Lance Stroll	Maybe, can I just box? Just to do something different with the tyres? Maybe I can learn something. Because right now it’s kind of a waste of time.
37	To Lance Stroll	OK box, Lance, box.
37	To Marcus Ericsson	That was a very good lap. That was a lap from the cars in the top ten. So keep pushing.
39	From Lance Stroll	What should I do? Give me a little bit more information. Should I manage the tyre more?
39	To Lance Stroll	Watch Hulkenberg. We are thinking the front is too cold. Try to bring up the temperature in the front and see about the balance.
39	From Lance Stroll	OK.
39	To Pascal Wehrlein	Ahead of Magnussen is Vandoorne and he seems to struggle. Keep the pressure high on both, you are quicker.
40	To Brendon Hartley	You can use DRS. Let’s try to follow these guys and get past Wehrlein in front.
40	To Nico Hulkenberg	You are getting some warnings on your dash. You can ignore them.
40	From Nico Hulkenberg	OK.
41	From Sebastian Vettel	Can you confirm the left-rear sensor is wrong?
41	To Sebastian Vettel	Yes I can confirm, tyres are healthy to the end.
42	To Brendon Hartley	Come on, Brendon.
42	From Lewis Hamilton	Can’t follow this [censored by FOM] here.
43	From Romain Grosjean	The front didn’t like at all the blue flag.
43	To Romain Grosjean	Understood the temp will come back a bit.
43	From Pascal Wehrlein	Oh my God, they are so fast on the straights. I can’t believe it.
43	To Pascal Wehrlein	It’s OK Pascal, keep pushing, was good overtake so far.
43	From Max Verstappen	Clearly sarcastic. Wow they did really well there. Unbelievable.
46	To Stoffel Vandoorne	Stoff you’re doing a good job with the issues we know we have. Ten laps to go after this one. You’re doing a good job.
47	To Marcus Ericsson	OK Marcus that’s the right thing what you’re doing with the mode push.
47	From Marcus Ericsson	Yeah it is not good.
47	To Marcus Ericsson	Copy. Use overtake button.
47	From Pierre Gasly	I have so much vibration.
47	To Pierre Gasly	Understood.
48	To Marcus Ericsson	OK Marcus, Gasly’s complaining about his tyres, he has a lot of vibration, we need to get him now.
51	To Sebastian Vettel	Bottas, Hamilton 42.4.
51	From Sebastian Vettel	Whey are they so slow?
51	To Sebastian Vettel	They have some traffic.
51	From Sebastian Vettel	OK, copy.
51	From Fernando Alonso	I will do a G1 last lap.
52	From Fernando Alonso	Four or three laps? Because we are one laps behind.
52	To Fernando Alonso	There are three full laps after you finish this one.
52	From Fernando Alonso	Because here on the dash I have three now.
54	From Fernando Alonso	What is the fastest lap?
54	To Fernando Alonso	Bottas has done a 1’40.65
54	From Fernando Alonso	It’s 1.7 from my delta?
54	To Fernando Alonso	That’s correct, Fernando.
54	From Fernando Alonso	So next one will be the final lap?
54	To Fernando Alonso	Yes mate next one will be the last lap.
55	To Fernando Alonso	OK Fernando fastest lap now a 1’40.5.
55	To Fernando Alonso	Correct it’s a 1’40.65. Let’s have yellow G1. Last lap.
55	To Nico Hulkenberg	This is the last lap.
VL	To Valtteri Bottas	Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. So well-managed. Thank you Valtteri.
VL	From Valtteri Bottas	Yes. That felt good. It’s a nice way to end, like this.
VL	To Lewis Hamilton	Well done Lewis. P2. It’s been one hell of a season mate. Well done.
VL	From Lewis Hamilton	Fantastic season guys. Thank you so much for all your work. It’s an honour to race for you and I’m grateful for all the hard work you do all year and everyone in the factory too.
VL	To Lewis Hamilton	Thank you Lewis, really appreciate it.
VL	To Nico Hulkenberg	That’s it Nico, fantastic.
VL	From Nico Hulkenberg	Thank you guys, good job, good job.
VL	To Nico Hulkenberg	Absolutely Nico. There was a few errors there we need to sort out but otherwise really great stuff. We’ve got what we needed. Absolutely brilliant. Well done mate. Thank you for your part, superbly judged.
VL	From Nico Hulkenberg	No worries, it’s what I’m here for. Thank you guys too. Enjoyed the first year. Let’s look forward to the next few at least, also. Let’s just pull hard to go for bigger results.
VL	To Nico Hulkenberg	Thanks a lot. Magic. Merci.
VL	To Sebastian Vettel	P3 Sebastian, P3. Nice job. Thank you for the season.
VL	From Sebastian Vettel	Thanks to everyone. Thanks for all your hours. Your hard work, commitment, your passion, your love for racing. Thank you.
VL	To Max Verstappen	Well done Max. Pretty boring race but well done. Bad luck. We will expect a good drawing of the rear of that Ferrari, tonight.
VL	From Max Verstappen	Yeah it was really, really boring. And a bit frustrating because we were a lot faster than him. I think if we got past him it would be a completely different race.
VL	To Max Verstappen	There was not much action out there to be honest, mate. It was pretty processional. Hamilton followed Bottas for the whole race as well.
VL	To Max Verstappen	Yeah it was a good effort Max. Unfortunately as GB said none of the cars could get close enough today. So it was a pretty boring race, we were hoping for a Safety Car when Daniel stopped but it wasn’t to be. You’ve driven a great season this year. Well done and look forward to next year.
VL	From Max Verstappen	Yeah exactly. Maybe this was not the most interesting race but at least we got some good results at the end of the season so that is promising for next year.
VL	From Esteban Ocon	Good job guys. Great season. Let’s keep this going next year.
VL	To Esteban Ocon	Yep well done mate, great year. Sorry we couldn’t do anything strategy-wise.
VL	From Fernando Alonso	I did some doughnuts practice for next year.
VL	To Fernando Alonso	Yes mate I saw.
VL	To Felipe Massa	OK Felipe great job. Sorry we lost out to Fernando there but we picked up a point. Good drive.
VL	From Felipe Massa	Yeah thank you guys thank you. Unfortunately we lost a position but thank you very much for everything. Really enjoyed to be here for this year but also for these 16 years. So thank you guys, I love you guys.
VL	To Felipe Massa	Thank you, Felipe. It’s been brilliant the last three years, really good, really enjoyed it. So thank you very much and congratulations on a really great career.
VL	To Felipe Massa	Hi Felipe this is Paddy. Thank you for a great race, well done today, and thank you for a great career. All you’ve brought to Formula One, absolutely amazing, thank you.
VL	From Felipe Massa	Thank you Paddy, thank you everybody. All the mechanics, thank you boys, great job, I love you all. Everybody from the team, everybody from outside, all the fans. And my family, thank, I’m very lucky.
VL	To Felipe Massa	Well done mate, another good drive. Thanks for the last 12 years or whatever it was.
VL	From Felipe Massa	Yes thank you mate. Was really, really great. Thank you Rob.
VL	To Felipe Massa	Massa’s wife also contragulated him in Portuguese. Say hello, daddy.
VL	To Felipe Massa	Hello daddy.
VL	From Felipe Massa	Hello!
VL	To Felipe Massa	Good race.
VL	From Felipe Massa	Thank you.
VL	To Felipe Massa	Ciao.
VL	From Felipe Massa	I have no power any more.
VL	To Felipe Massa	Are you sure you’re supposed to be there?
VL	From Felipe Massa	Yeah I’m here man.
VL	To Felipe Massa	Yeah fair enough. It’s like you’re third.
VL	To Romain Grosjean	Good drive man. Wasn’t enough but you did great, really good drive.
VL	From Romain Grosjean	Yeah probably one of the best of the season to be fair. Just a bit unlucky with the blue flags and with Stroll. Anyway, thank you everyone for the season it’s been great, I’ve enjoyed it. Proud of you, I’m looking forward to next year.
VL	To Romain Grosjean	Thanks a lot. It’s been fun. We’ll do more next year.
VL	To Stoffel Vandoorne	Good job Stoffel. Well done hanging on to that. We know there are issues with the car. Not sure what, we need to investigate after the race.
VL	From Stoffel Vandoorne	Anyway thanks guys for the season, it’s been not an easy one for everyone.
VL	To Brendon Hartley	Unfortunately Hulkenberg is P6.
VL	From Brendon Hartley	Ah sorry guys. Not much I could do mate. Very hard to get close enough with the aero loss.
VL	To Brendon Hartley	Yeah copy that. Anyway the pace was more close to the other guys today so it’s good.
VL	From Brendon Hartley	Thanks guys. Sorry about that.
VL	From Pierre Gasly	[Censored by FOM] hell. [Censored by FOM]. [Censored by FOM]. Sorry guys. [Censored by FOM].
VL	To Pierre Gasly	It’s OK.
VL	From Pierre Gasly	It’s not OK. First of all I’m not P6 and second I did a [censored by FOM] race. [Censored by FOM].
VL	To Pierre Gasly	Radio off.
VL	From Lance Stroll	I just want to say, anyways, to everyone. Thank you for a really great year I think in general. Some of the results have been really, really good. Let’s forget about the last two weekends of hell because that’s not what we’re capable of doing. Let’s remember the good moments, take some time off, work hard in the off-season, come back and be at our best level.

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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12 comments on “2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix team radio transcript”

Baron (@baron)
30th November 2017, 16:28

Comedy gold. Interesting Alonso’s team player mode. What can you say about Romain? He’s just really funny and I mean that in a nice way. Stroll, really pushing the team. Interesting. Not much radio from the top flight which tells it’s ownstory…
1. Aaditya (@neutronstar)
  30th November 2017, 20:31
  
  Stroll, really pushing the team. Interesting.
  
  I’m surprised by how positive and uplifting his attitude has been throughout the year, even when he has been abysmal. With his current mindset, he is only going to improve.
  1. Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
    1st December 2017, 1:29
    
    positive, uplifting vs delusional – it’s a fine line.
    1. Aaditya (@neutronstar)
      1st December 2017, 4:02
      
      @jimmi-cynic Stroll has never been delusional, unless you’re saying that he shouldn’t be in F1, which I don’t necessarily agree with yet. When he’s bad, he admits it. If he says that he can do better than what he did in Abu Dhabi and Brazil, I’d gladly believe him because of his performances in Canada, Baku, Monza, Malaysia, Singapore and Mexico.
      
      What I meant by a “positive” attitude was that he doesn’t let bad results negatively affect his mindset and approach to a race and continues to believe in himself.
      1. Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
        1st December 2017, 20:41
        
        Yes, I don’t feel his was ready fro F1. His driving style hasn’t evolved much either. He was sawing at the wheel in his first F1 race and reverted to sawing away at his last. As others have said, he doesn’t seem to have much feel for the car.
        
        He can have all the positivity money can buy, but if he doesn’t learn from the negatives, how will he improve? And the $50 million dollar question still remains to be answered – would he have an F1 drive without Stroll Sr’s billions backing him?
2. Aaditya (@neutronstar)
  30th November 2017, 20:31
  
  @baron
Tom
30th November 2017, 16:55

@keithcollantine
When watching the race ric clipped the wall but there wasn’t much coverage on tv.

Do you know if this was a result of the hydraulic issue or potentially a cause, or completely unrelated.

Thanks
1. Phylyp (@phylyp)
  1st December 2017, 2:33
  
  Tom – Ricciardo first noticed the issue when he had steering difficulties – he suspected a puncture or a suspension failure, and pitted. However, despite the tyre change it didn’t improve. It was a lap or so later that the team detected the hydraulic failure and asked him to retire.
  
  See these radio comms on laps 20-22: https://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2017/11/30/2017-abu-dhabi-grand-prix-team-radio-transcript/#20
  
  It does appear to have been unrelated to him clipping the wall, as that was a rear tyre impact, which would have manifested itself first as gear shifting or gearbox sync issues, not as steering issues.
He Man
30th November 2017, 18:13

Stroll just seems completely lost. I hope he manages to find something next season, or his career is basically over at such a young age.
1. Christopher Bowers (@darkstar)
  1st December 2017, 0:02
  
  It’s rare to see a driver almost panicking during a race. He has had a lot of practice when you include the private test sessions. I think he may lack feel. The ability to get feedback from the car and what it is doing at any given moment. The faster the vehicle the more feel you need. I want to see young drivers do well. They are the future of the sport. However I can think of a few young drivers with the potential for greatness who could be in his seat. Williams is being made to look foolish and needs to react to the situation. If the lack of points were down to an engine they would swap to a different maker. Like McLaren did.
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
30th November 2017, 22:24

The TR drivers had a huge amount of expectation and pressure put on them by the team for the race ..bit unfair with a few races under their belts
me
1st December 2017, 9:44

That was more exciting than the race.