2017 Australian Grand Prix radio notes: Race

2017 Australian Grand Prix

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A dejected Daniel Ricciardo said “let’s get out of here” after things went from bad to worse in the Australian Grand Prix. Here are some of the highlights from the team radio through the race.

To Bottas: “Wind direction is the same. Track temperature is starting to drop.”

To Alonso: “The following are on prime: Ericsson, Stroll. The following are on backup: The Sauber, Magnussen Palmer.”

To Hulkenberg: “Nobody told me that the gears are not synced any more.”

To Giovinazzi: “The car is moving again in first gear.”

To Hamilton: “Grip feels poor on the grid.”

Trouble struck early for several drivers:

Ericsson suffered damage in Magnussen collision
Vandoorne: “My dash is not working.”
To Vandoorne: “Understood Stoffel. Do you mean you have no display?”
Vandoorne: “It’s stuck on out-lap.”

To Kvyat: “DRS should be enabled, try again.”
Kvyat: “No, doesn’t work for me.”

Hamilton: “Struggling for grip.”
To Hamilton: “OK, copy.”

Ericsson: “Something is not right in the rear.”
“Yes Marcus we can see some loss of downforce in the rear.”

Daniel Ricciardo joined in the race on its third lap with little chance of a points finish:

Vandoorne told: “Car behind is now Ricciardo. Don’t get tangled up with Ricciardo, he’s a lapped car.”

Verstappen: “A bit of oversteer, a bit of understeer but it’s just because I’m close to Kimi.”

To Ricciardo: “Get stuck in, have fun.”

Vandoorne: “I’m low on power.”
To Vandoorne: “Copy, we’re investigating.”

To Bottas: “Carry more speed turn 14 and turn one, mate”.

Vandoorne: “The pack is not doing anything. The pack is just empty.”

Palmer’s brakes locked on
A bizarre problem forced Jolyon Palmer out of the race. His brake repeatedly jammed on and refused to release.

Palmer: “Problem. Anchored on the brakes.”
“Can you move at all?”
“Yep, I’m moving.”
“OK, carry on, we’ll see what it is.”

Palmer: “Ah same problem!”

“Palmer: “Aaargh, same again.”
“OK Jo we’re going to retire you. Sorry about that.”

Mercedes warned Hamilton that Vettel was too close and potentially able to jump him through the ‘undercut’:

“Lewis we’re going to need to get this gap, it’s critical. Gap 1.7.”
Hamilton: “Nothing left.”

After pitting Hamilton, Mercedes were concerned he was stuck behind Max Verstappen:

“This is race-critical, you need to get past Verstappen.”
Hamilton: “I don’t know how you expect me to do that.”

Hamilton: “There’s nothing left in these tyres, guys.”

To Hamilton: “We’re thinking B now, thinking plan B.”

Hulkenberg: “It’s unbelievable. [Censored by FOM] hell. This dirty air is incredible.”

“Let’s not make our day any worse…”
A disappointing day had one last kick in the teeth for Ricciardo. Having tried to turn down his engine to save unnecessary wear and tear, it failed anyway.

To 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.”
Ricciardo: “Understood.”

Ricciardo: “OK, I guess we didn’t save it. I’ll go to P0. I’ll wait for your call, but…”
To 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.”

To Ricciardo: “OK Daniel, P0. Sorry mate. Car’s done. Don’t know what to tell you, mate.”
Ricciardo: “Let’s get the [censored by FOM] out of here.”

Hamilton’s pace improved after he switched to the soft tyres:

“It’s not over yet, Kimi”
To Hamilton: “We need high 27s, let us know what you can do.”
Hamilton: “Is fuel OK?”
To Hamilton: “Fuel is good.”

To Hamilton: “Tyres look like they’re holding up.”

To Raikkonen: “It’s not over yet, Kimi. Hamilton is complaining he might not be able to make these tyres last until the end.”

To Raikkonen: “Hamilton still complaining a lot about tyres, Kimi.”

Toro Rosso engineered a temporary position swap between their two drivers:

To Sainz: “Swap position now.”
Sainz: “He will give me the position back if he doesn’t pass Perez, right?”
To Sainz: “Yes, Carlos.”

Stroll: “I think I had brake failure. Yeah I think something broke.”
To Stroll: “Box, box.”
Stroll: “Argh, I missed it, sorry.”

Kvyat’s efforts to pass Perez were thwarted by an engine problem:

To Kvyat: “OK Danny we will have to box soon, we have a problem with the engine air.”
Kvyat: “No let’s stay out guys.”
To Kvyat: “You cannot stay out.”
Kvyat: “Is there anything I can do?”
To Kvyat: “No, we need an engine air refill.”

Alonso: “There is something wrong with the car. We lost something. It is pulling to the left.”

Kimi Raikkonen ended the race with the fastest lap but he wasn’t the only driver who wanted it:

To Kvyat: “OK Danny just bring it to the flag, OK? Situation is very calm for us. Just bring it to the flag.”
Kvyat: “OK. Should I get the fastest lap or not?”
To Kvyat: “No, Vettel does.”
Kvyat: “OK, how much off?”
To Kvyat: “One-tenth. Danny, bring it to the flag, we have points on the table, just bring it to the flag”.
Kvyat: “Calm, OK.”

“How much faster is the fastest lap?” “Too fast.”
Verstappen: “How much faster is the fastest lap?”
To Verstappen: “Too fast. Two laps remaining, we just want to bring it home.”

Sebastian Vettel celebrated a welcome victory for Ferrari:

To Vettel: “Awesome drive, that’s the way to do it.”
To Vettel: “Grande Sebastian, bravissimo.”
Vettel: “Woohoo! Forza Ferrari. Questa e per noi. (Go Ferrari, this is for you.)”

To Hamilton: “OK Lewis, well done mate, sorry about that. P2 still, not a bad result, plenty to learn from this race. Good drive.”

To Giovinazzi: “OK Antonio that was a really good race from your side, P12. Congratulations, very good race for your first Formula One race.”

The race team radio transcript will follow later this week.

2017 Australian Grand Prix

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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...

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28 comments on “2017 Australian Grand Prix radio notes: Race”

  1. I believe that “per noi” is “for us”.

    1. Yes, “Questa è per noi” is like “this is for us”

  2. Strange from Daniel. From the radio, it looks like he wanted to not race at all but his engineer was egging him on to keep going as much as he can.

    1. Not surprising really considering everything that happened, starting a race from two laps down can’t be much fun.

      Speaking of Ricciardo, I’ve forgotten where the safety car rules ended up, do lapped cars get laps back still? I assume so judging by what his engineer said…

      1. Micheal (@shakengandulf)
        28th March 2017, 7:54

        Was thinking the same.. was wondering how on earth a safety car could get him back in the points.

  3. “engine air refill” is the most confusing thing I`ve heard for ages.
    Can somebody please enlighten me?

    1. I think they are referring to high pressure air for the pneumatic valves. As opposed to the springs used to in most engines.

  4. When Ham was stuck behind VER he aired “” Can’t get past this guy “” ( i missed that one)

    1. Yes i missed that remarks also

      1. The race team radio transcript will follow later this week.

  5. Constantijn Blondel
    27th March 2017, 19:39

    Allow me to remark that I like the new (?) dialogue type presentation of the radio transcript. I find it surprisingly pleasant reading.

    You have my vote, if there’s any needed :)

    1. Argghhh, I so want to be positive. Maybe I’m a luddite, but I like seeing what lap it is.

      1. @john-h This is just selected highlights from the race, the full transcript will be available later (see the note at the bottom).

        1. can’t wait for this…
          …wonder if it will shed any light on speed of Kimi or Bottas not being able to / not willing to challenge Ham

        2. I prefer those, personally.

        3. Ah, thanks Keith. More things! Seriously, I don’t know how you do it.

  6. To Bottas: “Carry more speed turn 14 and turn one, mate”.

    Is that still legal?

    1. Yes, there are no radio restrictions. F1 swings from one extreme to another rather than admit they simply may not have implemented an idea correctly.

    2. It is legal to tell Bottas how to drive the car. But it is obvious he is being told he is taking less speeds through those turns compared to Hamilton. We can thus conclude that Bottas is matching Rosberg in driving tips received.

  7. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    28th March 2017, 7:58

    There’s no table for this team radio transcript article.

    1. no table

      Fully booked tonight, but the manager confirmed that there will be a table later in the week :p

      1. a slightly increased burst of air just escaped my nostrils, ahah!

    2. @iluvsoundtracks Again, this isn’t the transcript, it’s just highlights. As it says at the bottom of the article the transcript will be published later.

      1. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
        28th March 2017, 10:51

        @keithcollantine Got it

  8. To Raikkonen: “Hamilton still complaining a lot about tyres, Kimi.”
    Raikkonen: “Bwoah. It’s the same for everybody.”

  9. You know Vettel’s having a good day when there’s no radio calls from him…

  10. Vettel’s seems to having a good year so far and it will be tough to bet hamilton.

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