Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, Singapore, 2015

2015 Singapore Grand Prix team radio transcript

2015 Singapore Grand Prix

23rd September 2015, 17:0515th December 2015, 17:06 | Written by Keith Collantine

We’ve seen plenty of controversies about team orders over the years in Formula One, regardless of whether the driver involved did as they were told or suddenly developed a selective loss of hearing.

Jenson Button, McLaren, Singapore, 2015 — Button asked his race engineer if he wanted him to “rub your tummy and pat your head”?

It’s rare to see a team defend a driver who’s gone against their instructions, but that’s exactly what happened to Max Verstappen last weekend. Having responded to an order to let team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr past with an unequivocal “no”, after the race team principal Franz Tost admitted Sainz hadn’t been close enough.

Verstappen wasn’t the only driver speaking his mind on the radio. Jenson Button remarked after the race he’d been given so many instructions to change his power unit settings he’d spent more time looking down into his cockpit than up at the track (the transcript below only includes messages broadcast in the television coverage).

His dissatisfaction was made plain when he responded to yet another command by enquiring if he should also “rub your tummy and pat your head” as well. “I know you’re not happy” Button added in a later message.

Both Red Bull drivers were left ruing their misfortune. The moment the Safety Car came out Daniel Ricciardo – who’d been closing on leader Sebastian Vettel – remarked that his rival had “got lucky”. As team principal Christian Horner pointed out afterwards, at least he had the satisfaction of denying Vettel the race’s fastest lap – by a mere 0.028 seconds.

Meanwhile team mate Daniil Kvyat had lost out to the Safety Car twice during the race, and was still fuming about it after the chequered flag came down.

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2015 Singapore Grand Prix team radio transcript

Lap*	From	To	Message
PR	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Just confirm you’re happy with the standard flap adjust.
PR	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	Affirm, good balance.
PR	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	My engine has gone off. Come and get me, at the end of the pit lane.
PR	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Copy, copy.
PR	Unknown	Jenson Button	Is everything OK?
PR	Jenson Button	Unknown	Yeah everything’s OK with the car. There’s a relatively good amount of front end in the car.
PR	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	I’m happy to fire up at the end of the pit lane. So Nico we’ve got a starter so just follow Guy’s instructions.
PR	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	Engine has gone off again. My mistake.
PR	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Was it your mistake Nico?.
PR	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	Affirm. I mean, I’m not doing anything different to usual, but it did the same again.
PR	Unknown	Nico Rosberg	Understood Nico. You’re not doing anything unusual, but what we need you to do is to keep it at first gear until the revs come all the way down to idle and then put it in neutral.
PR	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	OK this time I did the procedure correctly and the engine went off again. Now I’m in first gear.
PR	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	So Nico just confirm this time we’re going to go straight to the grid.
PR	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	So Nico no clutch warm just pull away if you can, try and just get straight to the grid.
PR	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	Do I do a start?
PR	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Negative. Just pull away gently, let’s just try and get to the grid.
PR	David Greenwood	Kimi Raikkonen	OK Kimi we’ve [unclear] the cars much better than yesterday, rear feels more stable, everything stays as is.
FL	Unknown	Jenson Button	OK Jenson we continue with the program. Default zero five.
1	Max Verstappen	Xevi Pujolar	Stalled and engine off.
1	Xevi Pujolar	Max Verstappen	We’ll push it to the pitlane. We will fire up and go.
1	Max Verstappen	Xevi Pujolar	But I’m stuck in first gear. What can I do?.
4	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	So left front brake is on the hot side. Right hand side is OK. Could be some debris in left-hand side.
4	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK Lewis you’re doing a good job there. Maintain this gap, we will let you know when to pick it up.
5	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	How are the tyres?
5	Daniel Ricciardo	Simon Rennie	All OK for now.
5	Valtteri Bottas	Jonathan Eddolls	For your info, the pace compared to the car in front feels pretty good. Just difficult to follow.
5	Jonathan Eddolls	Valtteri Bottas	Copy, good feedback.
5	Marcus Ericsson	Erik Schuivens	Ericsson was behind team mate Nasr. He needs to hurry up.
5	Erik Schuivens	Marcus Ericsson	Copy that Marcus keep pushing.
5	Jenson Button	Tom Stallard	The rears are overheating under braking.
6	Daniil Kvyat	Gianpiero Lambiase	A little bit struggling to stop the car.
6	Gianpiero Lambiase	Daniil Kvyat	Yeah understood, rear brake temperatures are high at this stage Dani. That’s why we are shifting the balance.
6	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	Vettel ahead has calmed down a bit, now he’s doing 52.3s.
6	Valtteri Bottas	Jonathan Eddolls	Starting to have a little bit of rear right deg but not too bad yet. In the stop, minus one.
7	Sergio Perez	Tim Wright	I am a lot quicker than Nico.
7	Tim Wright	Sergio Perez	OK Checo, yeah, it’s understood.
8	Marco Matassa	Carlos Sainz Jnr	How is the car, Carlos?
8	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Marco Matassa	All OK for the moment.
8	Tom Stallard	Jenson Button	OK Jenson we are currently thinking plan A target plus three. How are the tyres?
8	Jenson Button	Tom Stallard	The tyres are not good. Very poor [unclear] traction soon as I touch the throttle. The cars in front are much stronger. They’re making massive amounts of mistakes and the tyre recovers. Whereas for us, no chance.
9	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Marco Matassa	We are catching Force India.
9	Marco Matassa	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Understood. Yeah this time you were six tenths faster than Perez in front.
9	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Marco Matassa	And I could be so much quicker.
10	Sergio Perez	Tim Wright	Nico is holding me up. A lot.
10	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Brakes OK?.
10	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Yep Brakes are still fine. When we get close it will be the front-left that gets hot. Just think about how you can manage that.
10	Nico Hulkenberg	Brad Joyce	The lag is kicking in now.
11	Mark Temple	Fernando Alonso	Box this lap, Box confirm.
11	Max Verstappen	Xevi Pujolar	I start to lose the rear tyres.
11	Xevi Pujolar	Max Verstappen	Copy. Try to continue a bit more.
12	Nicolas Perrinn	Alexander Rossi	Try to work on pedal overlap to cure brake temp.
13	Max Verstappen	Xevi Pujolar	Rear tyres are gone.
14	Tom Stallard	Jenson Button	Jenson, degradation looks OK on these tyres. How do the tyres feel?
14	Jenson Button	Tom Stallard	Yeah hasnt really degraded from previously.
14	Brad Joyce	Nico Hulkenberg	Hulkenberg sounded surprised after his collision with Massa. Are you alright Nico?.
14	Nico Hulkenberg	Brad Joyce	Yeah.
14	Felipe Massa	Dave Robson	I don’t understand, I was inside, man. You need to check my car man.
14	Dave Robson	Felipe Massa	We’re looking everything looks OK at the moment.
14	Felipe Massa	Dave Robson	Yeah I dont understand what he did. I mean I was inside. So…
14	Dave Robson	Felipe Massa	Yep. OK. Understood.
15	Daniel Ricciardo	Simon Rennie	Riccairdo had been catching Vettel before the Virtual Safety Car was deployed. He got lucky didnt he?.
15	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	Yes mate.
15	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	OK Nico so it’s looking good. We are the second car on [softs]. So Lewis on [softs], you’re on [softs], verybody else is [super-soft].
15	Jonathan Eddolls	Valtteri Bottas	So just for info the two mercedes have switched to [softs] tyre. All others in front on [super-soft]. The two cars behind you on [softs] as well, but they’re a long way back.
15	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	So Safety Car has been deployed. Just keep the delta positive.
16	Sebastian Vettel	Riccardo Adami	The VSC was replaced with a Safety Car period. Why was there a need for Safety Car now?
16	Riccardo Adami	Sebastian Vettel	There has been another shunt and debris, yeah, it’s not good.
16	Sebastian Vettel	Riccardo Adami	Where’s the other shunt?
16	Riccardo Adami	Sebastian Vettel	No, correction, was just the debris and turn 12.
16	Sebastian Vettel	Riccardo Adami	There was hardly any debris.
16	Fernando Alonso	Mark Temple	We lost two positions because [unclear] so we should be in ninth, easily.
17	Daniel Ricciardo	Simon Rennie	How was our pace compared to everyone else?
17	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	Pace is good mate. Our deg looked good. Vettel obviously spanked it at the start and then dropped off later to be three or four tenths slower. Raikkonen was the same pace as Vettel at the end so we were about three, four tenths quicker than the Ferraris before we stopped. Other people were miles off.
17	Daniel Ricciardo	Simon Rennie	OK.
17	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	I would say Kvyat and the Mercedes both had worse deg.
18	Sebastian Vettel	Riccardo Adami	How are the brake temps?.
18	Riccardo Adami	Sebastian Vettel	Brake temps are OK. Tyres are a too bit cold as you can see. We need a good warm-up on the tyres. Still cleaning the track.
18	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	You didnt let me know that people coming past. Nearly just got hit by someone.
19	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Marco Matassa	The car went to neutral again. Like in China.
20	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	We are going to have to look after this tyre set. Eke it out as long as we can.
20	Marco Matassa	Carlos Sainz Jnr	OK Carlos good overtake. The race is long, 40 laps remaining. Button in front, you can catch him and overtake.
21	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Vettel’s backing up Ricciardo I think.
22	Gianpiero Lambiase	Daniil Kvyat	Brake balance forward one. Hot rear-right caliper again, Dani.
22	David Greenwood	Kimi Raikkonen	OK this is good Kimi. Temps and pressures with the tyres have stabilised. We are back to normal.
23	Gianpiero Lambiase	Daniil Kvyat	Forward another click please brake balance Dani. Plus one click brake balance.
23	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	These guys ahead are driving really slow. or at least Sebastian is.
23	Tom Stallard	Jenson Button	The car is hot. Avoid a tow when possible. Move sideways out of the tow if possible.
23	Jenson Button	Tom Stallard	Anything else?
24	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	OK Daniel obviously Vettel isn’t pushing atm. Keep looking after your tyres.
24	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Feels like they’re upping their pace.
24	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Marco Matassa	Yeah my rears are quite bad.
24	Marco Matassa	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Understood.
25	Daniil Kvyat	Gianpiero Lambiase	Losing some brake efficiency.
25	Gianpiero Lambiase	Daniil Kvyat	Understood Dani.
26	Valtteri Bottas	Jonathan Eddolls	Tyres feel still OK.
26	Jonathan Eddolls	Valtteri Bottas	Copy that. Everything good from data side.
26	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	So Vettel and the top three are not pulling away. So there is still chance for more places.
26	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	I’ve lost power guys.
26	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK we’re looking into it, we see an issue.
27	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Quick guys, quick.
27	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	We’re working on it, working on it.
27	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	So driver default zero one. Try chassis driver default zero one.
27	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Doesn’t work.
27	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Yeah we still see the issue Lewis. We are looking at it.
27	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK Lewis so we see the throttle not going to wide open throttle. Is it the pedal? We cant see anything electrically.
27	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	I am accelerating to full throttle but it’s just not going.
28	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Lewis has a minor problem. So just close the gap to the car in front.
28	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	We would like to target delta minus 0.2 when you can at the extent of stint length.
28	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Come on guys how do I reset the throttle?
28	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Try HPP default zero one.
28	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	That doesn’t work.
28	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK lewis we think we’ve got a pedal issue. We can’t see anything on sensors. OK so we’re just looking into it, we’ve got multiple issues.
29	Felipe Massa	Dave Robson	I don’t know what’s happened. I just went to neutral.
29	Dave Robson	Felipe Massa	OK Felipe, everything’s OK, just keep pushing on.
29	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Try strat mode one, let’s see if this sparks it back into life.
29	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	No.
29	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK so back to Strat mode three. Try RS modes, caution with the EB.
30	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	No.
30	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	So we are flat on the pack.
30	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK lets have strat mode one for a sustained period, for a number of seconds. let’s keep it on for a minute.
31	Felipe Massa	Dave Robson	Massa came into the pits, then was told to go back out, then returned to retire. I have the same problem.
31	Dave Robson	Felipe Massa	Understood.
31	Felipe Massa	Dave Robson	I’m here. Now it has come back into the gear. You want me to carry on or stop?
31	Dave Robson	Felipe Massa	OK just keep going Felipe, drive through.
31	Felipe Massa	Dave Robson	For whatever reason when I am in the gear it goes into neutral so maybe it is a problem with whatever gears we have.
31	Felipe Massa	Dave Robson	Yeah again. I have the problem again. Maybe it is the third gear. I am afraid to destroy the gearbox.
31	Dave Robson	Felipe Massa	OK Felipe we are going to retire the car. Box this lap.
31	Felipe Massa	Dave Robson	Yeah I have a problem again.
31	David Greenwood	Kimi Raikkonen	I need everything you’ve got Kimi, I need everything you’ve got.
31	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	It’s at the last corner where I lose most of the power.
31	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK thanks for the information.
31	Kimi Raikkonen	David Greenwood	The right front tyre is getting a bit too hot. Getting some understeer. Also the rear is sliding at low speed straight away when I start pushing.
31	David Greenwood	Kimi Raikkonen	Understood, Kimi.
31	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Just remember to drink.
32	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Guys, we might as well save this engine, I’m falling further and further back. It’s impossible. For all we know this driving could just be killing it more. We might be able to recover it.
32	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Copy that, Lewis. We are discussing now. We dont believe it to be a risk, we are still just looking at the opportunities.
33	Fernando Alonso	Mark Temple	How many laps we did with this set? And how many under the Safety Car?
33	Mark Temple	Fernando Alonso	OK Fernando let’s try and close up on Nasr. We’ve done 21 laps on this set and 15 after the Safety Car.
33	Fernando Alonso	Mark Temple	Will be tough. I don’t know how much track evolution we will have. I also don’t know how desperate we are to risk for points or if it’s looking good already.
34	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	It’s really getting a lot worse now, I’m slowing right down. You need to stop me. Brakes are getting cold and everything, I can’t
34	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Yeah affirm Lewis, copy that. We see it’s all dropping off. Box box. We are going to try and power cycle the car in the pit box. It will be RS modes, stop in the box, go to neutral and switch off.
34	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	OK so we are going to retire the car.
35	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Thanks for persevering with us Lewis. We were trying our best to get you back into life.
35	Lewis Hamilton	Peter Bonnington	Yeah its a real shame man. I think I had the pace to win.
35	Peter Bonnington	Lewis Hamilton	Yeah we think we had the strategy to win as well, mate.
35	Mark Temple	Fernando Alonso	Pace is dropping off is it the tyres?
35	Fernando Alonso	Mark Temple	Mistake in the last lap, I try to close the gap again.
35	Mark Temple	Fernando Alonso	OK understood.
35	Fernando Alonso	Mark Temple	Gearbox problem.
36	Jonathan Eddolls	Valtteri Bottas	We may stop in the next lap or two. Well, in the next few laps. We are monitoring Kvyat. He’s coming up behind button. If he struggles to get past, then will may pit.
37	Romain Grosjean	Julien Simon-Chautemps	How many laps?
37	Julien Simon-Chautemps	Romain Grosjean	26 laps to go.
37	Romain Grosjean	Julien Simon-Chautemps	We don’t go to the end.
37	Julien Simon-Chautemps	Romain Grosjean	Copy that.
37	Julien Simon-Chautemps	Romain Grosjean	OK Romain with the info we have we can go to the end.
37	Romain Grosjean	Julien Simon-Chautemps	[Unclear, sounds like ‘But…’]
37	Riccardo Adami	Sebastian Vettel	Ricciardo 4.5 seconds behind.
37	Sebastian Vettel	Riccardo Adami	Interrupts There’s a fan on the track. There’s a person on the circuit between 13 and 14.
37	Riccardo Adami	Sebastian Vettel	Box Sebastian, box for [soft].
38	Jonathan Eddolls	Valtteri Bottas	You should be well in front of Kvyat.
38	Valtteri Bottas	Jonathan Eddolls	Good stop, guys.
38	Jonathan Eddolls	Valtteri Bottas	Nice one, thank you.
39	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	OK race situation while it’s quiet. So you’re P4, the three in front of you are on [soft] tyres. Bottas is the car behind you, he is fifth place on new [soft] tyres as well. Kvyat is P6 on the older [soft] tyres.
39	Nico Rosberg	Tony Ross	And am I going to the end with this, how many laps are left?
39	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	Yeah you’re going to the end, everybody’s going to the end Nico, currently on lap 38 so 23 laps remaining.
39	Sebastian Vettel	Riccardo Adami	Tell the Safety Car to speed up a bit.
39	Riccardo Adami	Sebastian Vettel	OK, copy, we are trying.
40	Jenson Button	Tom Stallard	At last we’ve got a break with Safety Cars. Well, we’d’ve got a break last time if we didn’t balls it up.
40	Tom Stallard	Jenson Button	OK Jenson so manage the temperatures. We want you to save as much fuel as possible and we need some hard braking events to keep the temperature in the front brakes.
40	Jenson Button	Tom Stallard	And rub your tummy and pat your head? Alright we can do this.
40	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	So Rossi has not overtaken. Theres a Manor in front of Raikkonen who you’ll pass pretty quickly.
42	Jenson Button	Tom Stallard	Button and Maldonado collided. I should’ve known, really, that he’s mental.
43	Craig Gardiner	Felipe Nasr	Maldonado ahead is struggling on his tyres.
43	Xevi Pujolar	Max Verstappen	OK Max good job. Still plently of race ahead.
43	Riccardo Adami	Sebastian Vettel	Still possible debris turn 17. Marshals are cleaning the track there. Be careful, watch out for debris, there was a crash there.
44	Xevi Pujolar	Max Verstappen	Still plenty of laps to go. And keep it clean with Carlos behind.
45	Tom Stallard	Jenson Button	We believe 17 laps remaining after this. We think we will get to full distance within the two hours.
45	Jenson Button	Tom Stallard	You need to speak up, I know you’re not happy but speak up, I can’t hear you. How far are we behind the Lotuses.
45	Tom Stallard	Jenson Button	Jenson 27 seconds but two-and-a-half seconds per lap quicker.
46	David Greenwood	Kimi Raikkonen	This is good, Kimi. Pulling half a second a lap on Rosberg at the minute.
46	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	OK Daniel you are doing a good job, you are catching Vettel. You are a couple of tenths quicker than him at the moment.
47	Romain Grosjean	Julien Simon-Chautemps	Sainz passed Grosjena at turn one, forcing the Lotus driver wide. OK, he pushed me wide. I had no place to go.
47	Julien Simon-Chautemps	Romain Grosjean	OK, copy that.
47	Marco Matassa	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Did you go off track Carlos?
47	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Marco Matassa	I dont know. Check the video.
48	Mark Slade	Pastor Maldonado	We think there’s some diffuser damage. You’re doing a great job with the car. Any more retirements, we’re back in the points.
48	Jenson Button	Tom Stallard	OK Jenson both Lotuses are really struggling and inside our pit window.
49	Riccardo Adami	Sebastian Vettel	We are the quicker car out there.
50	David Greenwood	Kimi Raikkonen	Good laps but remember there is still some way to go.
50	Marco Matassa	Carlos Sainz Jnr	OK Carlos wise driving. We are catching Perez by the end of the race, we need tyres for ten.
51	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	OK Dani you’re doing a good job mate, Keep it smooth, keep it clean.
51	Riccardo Adami	Sebastian Vettel	Push the oil button Sebastian. That was a good lap. Ten laps to go.
53	Tom Stallard	Jenson Button	OK Jenson, we need to retire the car. Gearbox . We’re taking too much risk with the gearbox. Back off, please.
55	Pastor Maldonado	Mark Slade	Im finished with the tryes.
55	Mark Slade	Pastor Maldonado	Understood. Box, Pastor, box, please confirm.
55	Pastor Maldonado	Mark Slade	Copy, box box.
56	Jonathan Eddolls	Valtteri Bottas	For info, there’s not a lot you can do, but we see a bit of a glitch on the gearbox on downshifts. Just look after the gearbox on the downshifts. Carry on doing what you are doing.
56	Valtteri Bottas	Jonathan Eddolls	And how do you do that?
56	Jonathan Eddolls	Valtteri Bottas	Just carry on doing exactly what you’re doing. This is good.
57	Erik Schuivens	Marcus Ericsson	It looks like we’re losing the tyres you just need to try and manage your surface. Three more laps.
58	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	For your info. Vettel is dropping off as well, he’s doing 51.0s.
58	Josh Peckett	Will Stevens	OK Will 3 laps left do you need to box or can you stay out?.
58	Will Stevens	Josh Peckett	Stay out.
58	Josh Peckett	Will Stevens	OK. Blue flag, Raikkonen.
60	Riccardo Adami	Sebastian Vettel	Keep your head down. Important Laps.
60	Xevi Pujolar	Max Verstappen	Use scenario plus. Need to get him now.
60	Max Verstappen	Xevi Pujolar	Is the next lap the last lap?.
60	Xevi Pujolar	Max Verstappen	That’s your last chance.
60	Xevi Pujolar	Max Verstappen	The race is still not over and we will have to swap positions. Two more laps.
61	Xevi Pujolar	Max Verstappen	We need to swap positions.
61	Max Verstappen	Xevi Pujolar	No.
61	Xevi Pujolar	Max Verstappen	Max just do it.
61	Xevi Pujolar	Max Verstappen	OK Max you need to let him go now. Slow off, please. He needs to have a go. There will be one more lap to go and Carlos needs a chance to overtake Perez.
61	Xevi Pujolar	Max Verstappen	OK to go and push on Perez, push on Perez one more lap.
VL	Riccardo Adami	Sebastian Vettel	Yes, you did it! Pole position and race lead from lap one. You great, you magic.
VL	Sebastian Vettel	Riccardo Adami	Forza Ferrari! Grazie. [Sings in Italian]. Fantastic stops guys, fantastic. We kept out head cool in the heat of Singapore. Grazie ragazzi.
VL	Sebastian Vettel	Riccardo Adami	Keep enjoying it, guys, this is a great race to win.
VL	Riccardo Adami	Sebastian Vettel	Yep and a great weekend, you deserve it. You push since the beginning. Great job together.
VL	Sebastian Vettel	Riccardo Adami	So now that I sang for you, you need to sing for me, OK? Promise.
VL	Riccardo Adami	Sebastian Vettel	OK I will, tonight, I will show you. Enjoy the fireworks and the podium. Third win – unbelievable!
VL	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	Excellent job. Very good job today mate, pace was excellent, you did get the fastest lap of the race. We might have had a bit more of a chance without the Safety Cars. You did a very good job.
VL	Daniel Ricciardo	Simon Rennie	Yep, understood. Cheers guys. Good race car. Think we got a bit unlucky but anyway thank you.
VL	Christian Horner	Daniel Ricciardo	Very good job, Daniel, really professional job there. You’ll upset your former team mate by the fact you got fastest lap so you can let him know that. But very professional drive. You two were in a class of your own today.
VL	Daniel Ricciardo	Christian Horner	Thanks Christian. I’ll give him a bit of shit.
VL	Simon Rennie	Daniel Ricciardo	He was certainly trying as well, mate. You pipped him him by about… I’ll let you know the number.
VL	David Greenwood	Kimi Raikkonen	Nice job Kimi. Solidly P3. Well done.
VL	Kimi Raikkonen	David Greenwood	Yeah thanks everybody. Was just a struggle with the car all race. With new tyres it was OK but after that it was just the same issues as yesterday so… Anyhow it’s not too bad with the all the difficulties so it’s OK.
VL	David Greenwood	Kimi Raikkonen	Copy Kimi. We’ll just make sure all those difficulties don’t exist next weekend.
VL	Tony Ross	Nico Rosberg	So good job Nico in the circumstances, we’ll need to come back in Suzuka.
VL	Jonathan Eddolls	Valtteri Bottas	P5, great job. Now on this in-lap reduce the gear-shifts. Gearbox issue. Very slow lap.
VL	Valtteri Bottas	Jonathan Eddolls	OK
VL	Jonathan Eddolls	Valtteri Bottas	Pick up lots of rubber.
VL	Valtteri Bottas	Jonathan Eddolls	Well done guys.
VL	Jonathan Eddolls	Valtteri Bottas	Nice job, well done Valtteri. So that’s P5. Excellent race. Really good job.
VL	Gianpiero Lambiase	Daniil Kvyat	Tough race all round for various reasons. Hard luck.
VL	Daniil Kvyat	Gianpiero Lambiase	What a fantastic luck with the [censored by FOM] Safety Cars. Unbelievable. Un-[censored by FOM]-believable
VL	Tim Wright	Sergio Perez	Well doen Checo, great job. Really great job, great overtaking, great defending, good job with the tyres. Well done.
VL	Sergio Perez	Tim Wright	Wow! That was a good job man. Very hard at the end to keep these [censored by FOM] out. Well done, man. Good job. We need to keep this momentum now.
VL	Xevi Pujolar	Max Verstappen	OK Max P8. Think very strong performance despite the problem at the start.
VL	Max Verstappen	Xevi Pujolar	Yeah I think we made up a lot of positions. The car was really good.
VL	Marco Matassa	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Yes Carlos! P9, great recover. Bravo. [Says more in Italian]
VL	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Marco Matassa	Very quiet – can also be heard saying thanks to his mechanics, Grazie.
VL	Erik Schuivens	Marcus Ericsson	Well done, Marcus. Not easy: Tyres were definitely dropping off. Good job keeping him behind, buddy. So that’s P11 for you. Sorry about the mistake on special one.
VL	Marcus Ericsson	Erik Schuivens	Yep, good job, thanks.
VL	Mark Slade	Pastor Maldonado	OK Pastor. That’s a poor reward for a well-driven race, mate. You drove very well, mate. Sorry about that.
VL	Craig Gardiner	Felipe Nasr	Well done that’s a point in the bag.
VL	Felipe Nasr	Craig Gardiner	Where did we finish?
VL	Craig Gardiner	Felipe Nasr	P10, well done.
VL	Felipe Nasr	Craig Gardiner	Woo! Oh my god that was difficult, Thank you guys.

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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Keith Collantine

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50 comments on “2015 Singapore Grand Prix team radio transcript”

PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
23rd September 2015, 17:28

I’m thinking Mercedes was a little overconfident on winning the race. Where would they suddenly find the pace to overtake both Ferrari cars and Ricciardo? Pretty sure all three would have him covered had it been needed anyway.
1. lexlut
  23rd September 2015, 17:58
  
  Ferrari on softs was as fast as Mercedes on supersofts anyway. Moreover Mercedes had even worse deg than Ferrari who had worse deg than Red Bull.
2. IJW (@ijw1)
  23rd September 2015, 18:04
  
  If the safety cars hasn’t come out (and subsequently HAM didn’t have his car problems), the followiing is what I think Mercedes had in mind;
  VET/RIC/RAI/HAM/ROS start on super-softs
  HAM/ROS in for softs and go long
  VET/RIC/RAI in for super-softs
  VET/RIC/RAI in for softs & HAM/ROS are still out on softs and in POS 1 & 2
  ROS plays the team game and tries to back VET/RIC/RAI up whilst HAM tries to build a gap.
  HAM in for super-softs and charges to the end of the race. ROS in for super-softs later?
  Problem with all this is that for this race, Safety Car is guaranteed, since we have 100% record of SC per race. It would of been a nice race to watch if the above had happened. Personally I think P3 would of been the max for HAM. VET and RIC were too fast this weekend.
Simon (@weeniebeenie)
23rd September 2015, 17:35

Jenson on the radio is getting more and more entertaining by the race!
1. Jules Winfield (@jules-winfield)
  23rd September 2015, 17:46
  
  Did he upset his engineer, though? “I know you’re not happy”
2. JCost (@jcost)
  24th September 2015, 9:16
  
  Jenson is selling himself to BBC. They should hire him either for Top Gear or for their F1 team. Sky is watching…
Jules Winfield (@jules-winfield)
23rd September 2015, 17:47

@keithcollantine Minor typo:

“So your P4, the three in front of you are on [soft] tyres.”

Should be “you’re”.
Clemsie McKenzie (@clemsiemckenzie)
23rd September 2015, 17:55

Aaaand I’ll definitely miss Jenson if he does go. When we can understand what he says, his messages are hilarious!
1. lexlut
  23rd September 2015, 17:59
  
  “When we can understand what he says”
kanan
23rd September 2015, 17:56

Peter Bonnington: “Thanks for persevering with us Lewis. We were trying our best to get you back into life.”
LOL

This part is also funny with how over-optimistic they were. Reminded me of Malaysia….
Lewis Hamilton: “Yeah its a real shame man. I think I had the pace to win.”
Peter Bonnington: “Yeah we think we had the strategy to win as well, mate.”
1. @HoHum (@hohum)
  23rd September 2015, 23:55
  
  Always reminds me of that Marlon Brando line ” I could’a been a contender”
  1. EF1
    24th September 2015, 2:01
    
    LH: “Dude I almost had you.”
    SV: “You almost had me? You never had me. You never had your car!”
    1. lewisco (@lewisco)
      24th September 2015, 9:30
      
      Haha :)
periwinkle (@shena)
23rd September 2015, 18:46

VL Vettel to Adami “Forza Ferrari! Grazie. [Sings in Italian]”
If you wish to listen to it yourself… https://twitter.com/F1Rai/status/646400403848998912
1. paul
  23rd September 2015, 21:03
  
  “Lasciatemi guidare perchè non sono lento, lasciatemi guidare … una gara bella”
  “Let me drive because I’m not slow, let me drive … a beautiful race”
  
  :D
  1. paul
    24th September 2015, 17:58
    
    Correction. He says:
    “Lasciatemi guidare perchè sono lento, lasciatemi guidare … una gara bella”
    “Let me drive because I’m slow, let me drive … a beautiful race”
2. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
  23rd September 2015, 21:42
  
  @Shena Thanks for that – any idea what Matassa was saying to Sainz?
  1. periwinkle (@shena)
    23rd September 2015, 23:03
    
    @keithcollantine Sorry, I don’t speak Italian and don’t have the footage of it either.
faulty (@faulty)
23rd September 2015, 19:07

Comment of the race, IMHO:

“Theres a Manor in front of Raikkonen who you’ll pass pretty quickly.”
Jules Serano
23rd September 2015, 19:11

If you read the communication betweeen Verstappen and his engineer Max Verstappen is just a back stabber and a bad teamplayer. Earlier in the season they got the same order and Sainz let Verstappen by. He is certainly no hero and sounds more and more like a spoiled kid who starts to believe in his own hype.
1. Sander (@)
  23rd September 2015, 22:04
  
  What race was that? People talk about that but always fail to mention the race, thanks in advance!
  1. MattyPF1 (@mattypf1)
    24th September 2015, 2:05
    
    I believe it was Malaysia. Don’t quote me on that but if my memory serves me well it was in the closing stages of Malaysia
  2. paul
    24th September 2015, 7:39
    
    Also Monaco.
    1. To the Max !
      24th September 2015, 9:14
      
      When it was really needed in Hungary the team had to undercut Sainz.
      
      In Malaysia Sainz would not have chance anyway, and in Monaco the only thing he could have done was drive deliberately into Verstappen.
2. To the Max !
  23rd September 2015, 23:31
  
  Why should Sainz be favoured over Verstappen ?
  
  As far as I know, only just last week Sainz told everyone there was no favouring for either driver at Torro Rosso. I don’t get it why Verstappen has to go to the side and let Sainz present himself at the cost of Verstappen so he can look to be the better driver, while he clearly wasn’t in this race.
  
  The last 2 laps, the chance to be able to overtake Perez would have been the greatest, because of Perez’s tyres having been worn out the most, and what is so special about Sainz that he has to be privileged to be given such a chance over Verstappen ?
  1. Jordi Casademunt (@casjo)
    24th September 2015, 0:59
    
    Verstappen had worn his tyres more than Sainz. It was pretty obvious that Verstappen wasn’t going to overtake Pérez. Sainz’s tyres were 1 lap fresher, and there are conflicting reports but Verstappen might have been using an used set (and Sainz a new set) so that would add some extra wear.
    
    Obviously the team is better having a 7th and 9th than 8th and 9th. Right now Toro Rosso could aim for Lotus and possibly Force India, which would mean a lot more of money.
    
    Furthermore, if Sainz forced Pérez a bit wide, Verstappen is the kind of guy who can use that chance. So potentially a 7th and 8th, and making a rival lose points.
    
    And if Sainz didn’t overtake Pérez, Verstappen would lose nothing, since Sainz would be ordered to give the position back.
    
    It’s not about favoring Sainz. It’s about getting the best result for the team. Verstappen had worse odds of passing Pérez than Sainz, so why not try it?
    
    And remember. Vettel let Ricciardo through at Bahrain last year. Kvyat let Ricciardo through at Monaco this year. It’s all about optimizing the result for the team.
    1. To the Max !
      24th September 2015, 4:03
      
      Verstappen’s driving style makes him wear out his tyres less, so after 20 laps the tyres of Verstappen were probably in a better condition.
      
      Kvyat letting Ricciardo through in Monaco was because Ricciardo was on much fresher and the faster tyres, totally different situation. It had nothing to do with optimizing the team result, the only which would have been accomplished was Sainz giving the impression of being the better driver at the expense of Verstappen.
      1. Matthijs (@matthijs)
        24th September 2015, 11:52
        
        It had nothing to do with optimizing the team result, the only which would have been accomplished was Sainz giving the impression of being the better driver at the expense of Verstappen.
        
        Do you have any evidence to back up your accusations? Because they make no sense.
        I fully agree that the team order itself was timed poorly and probably even explained poorly, but I fully understand it was for trying to optimize the team result.
      2. To the Max !
        24th September 2015, 16:22
        
        Watch the last stint of both of them at the Monza GP to see who was able to keep his lap times in the 1.27s the most laps. Sainz was on maximum attack also at the end in trying to catch Kvyat at the Monza GP.
        
        The request to let him through came from Sainz himself (declared by himself in the Spanish press), and the team responded to it. Now if Verstappen wasn’t able to overtake Perez, Sainz would had no chance either, so the only thing which would have accomplished by it was, it would have given the impression Sainz being the better driver (he gets overshadowed right now and needs to present himself better, but on track it’s not happening that much).
      3. Matthijs (@matthijs)
        25th September 2015, 7:33
        
        OK, so you have no proof.
      4. To the Max !
        25th September 2015, 21:25
        
        There’s enough proof to be found in the other races too about Verstappen being able to keep his tyres in a better condition for longer…hint, look at the team team radio transcript of the Singapore GP lap 24 ;)
  2. Jordi Casademunt (@casjo)
    24th September 2015, 1:02
    
    I forgot to add something. I think Verstappen was the best driver of the two last weekend, but that’s irrelevant. At that point in the race, Sainz (through different strategies or whatever) had fresher tyres. He had a better chance at gaining a position.
    1. Sander (@)
      24th September 2015, 1:41
      
      You forget that if Verstappen let Sainz past he would have been at least 1.3-1.5 seconds behind Perez on lap 60 close to lap 61, he would have to close that gap within a few turns to even have a shot at overtaking Perez and even if his tires were 4-5 laps fresher he would not have been able to do so, even with DRS the Mercedes engine on the straights was powerful enough to hold and even increase the gap.
      
      Would they have called to switch when Sainz closed the gap with Verstappen on lap 55 he might have had a little chance to overtake Perez but be honest, overtaking is not Sainz’s quality, he could not even overtake Alonso and later Ericsson earlier in the race, he even had pull a dangerous move that forced Grosjean off track, would it have been Maldonado both would have ended up in the walls.
      
      So all in all a wise choice by Verstappen and terrible judgement by the team to even ask him to swap it will only create friction within the team and they need all the points they can get to beat Lotus this year.
      1. gary
        24th September 2015, 7:41
        
        Order had come early enough for Sainz to have a go at Perez, but Verstappen dilly dallied.
  3. MattyPF1 (@mattypf1)
    24th September 2015, 2:08
    
    Your name and your comment about sainz makes you sound like you’re bias towards max in my eyes
Alex De (@alexde)
23rd September 2015, 19:47

Lewis Hamilton: “Vettel’s backing up Ricciardo I think.”
…
Rosberg: “And am I going to the end with this, how many laps are left?”

Interesting that top tier drivers like Hamilton, Vettel and Alonso can see the whole race. Solid (good) racers like Rosberg usually can’t see further than the next car ahead of them.
1. Robbie (@robbie)
  23rd September 2015, 20:08
  
  Don’t see how you equate ‘going to the end’ and ‘how many laps left’ with not seeing the whole race. He was obviously thinking about his conditions by which he would be finishing his last stint of the race with respect to today’s need to conserve in order to finish without losing places on ruined tires.
  1. Alex De (@alexde)
    23rd September 2015, 20:45
    
    My comment is not about one sentence or one race.
2. paul
  23rd September 2015, 21:04
  
  We don’t get all the radio conversation either.
  1. paul
    23rd September 2015, 21:08
    
    Not that I disagree though. For example, if you read the post-race press conference, you realize how much Vettel knew about other people’s races too, like Ricciardo, Hamilton, Rosberg et al.
Robbie (@robbie)
23rd September 2015, 20:14

Would have been interesting to see LH’s side’s strategy play out, perhaps without the distractions of safety cars and buddy going for a walk on the track, wrt their claim of having the strategy to beat SV, and how that would have affected any thoughts of whether SV is now on a WDC hunt or not as per Keith’s topic on that.
CashNotClass (@cashnotclass)
23rd September 2015, 21:50

Thanks for the list. Great reaction by Nasr at the end there!

I was surprised to be reminded that Hamilton ran around with his issue for about seven or so laps.

Also, from which Silicon Valley start-up did Mercedes recruit its race engineers? These guys can’t seem to start a sentence without the word So. Such inane filler words must get old pretty fast when you’re driving around on track.
1. @HoHum (@hohum)
  24th September 2015, 0:04
  
  Actually, using radios, the first word can often be clipped, and/or the driver might be concentrating on others things (unlikely as that may be) so an irrelevant 1st word serves to alert the driver to listen to the message and if it is clipped it doesn’t matter.
2. Matthijs (@matthijs)
  24th September 2015, 11:59
  
  @cashnotclass Actually, I think it’s rather smart to start with a ‘useless’ unimportant word. It takes a split second for the driver to get focussed to the radio message, so the first word(s) may be lost. Then they better be unimportant.
  1. Matthijs (@matthijs)
    24th September 2015, 12:00
    
    Sorry @hohum beat me to it.
    1. @HoHum (@hohum)
      24th September 2015, 22:28
      
      @matthijs, Which is weird when you look at the time stamp.
      1. @HoHum (@hohum)
        24th September 2015, 22:31
        
        Or not, after the 1st gulp of coffee kicks in.
    2. @HoHum (@hohum)
      24th September 2015, 22:35
      
      Believe it or not my post went to mods. which explains why you didn’t see it to begin with.
      1. Matthijs (@matthijs)
        25th September 2015, 7:34
        
        @HoHum It doesn’t matter. I didn’t really read too well, so I have no idea if your reply was showing or not. I was just eager to reply, failing to see if someone else (you in this case) explained the same thing even more clearly!
David (@ringridder)
23rd September 2015, 21:58

I love these transcripts. Great stuff.