“That’s a BS call”: 2017 Belgian GP team radio highlights

2017 Belgian Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton was unhappy the Safety Car was brought out during the Belgian Grand Prix. Here’s what he and the other drivers had to say during the race.

Belgian Grand Prix in pictures
Hamilton had a minor concern before the race began.

Hamilton: “Seat was a bit warm when I got in.”
“Yeah I think one of the fans got a bit hot. We put a fan on it.”

Hulkenberg: “Some oscillation on the hold revs there from the engine.”

Vettel: “For the moment we can go with him, no problem.”

Nico Hulkenberg fought his way past Fernando Alonso but could only watch the Mercedes, Ferraris and Red Bulls disappear afterwards.

Hulkenberg: “Front-left looks like it’s getting a very hard time. Picking up understood.”
“Understood. Pace is very good.”

“No overtake, we need to build up our SOC [state of charge].”
Hulkenberg: “Nothing to overtake anyway.”

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An unhappy Alonso briefly held seventh but was passed by car after car.

Alonso: “Embarrassing, really embarrassing.”
“Yep Fernando we see that. Be careful, we have two warnings for turn four.”

Magnussen: “Romain cut the track.”

Magnussen: “Box now guys.”
“No, no.”
Magnussen: “I’m serious, we need to get out of this tyre.”

“Magnussen is 1.2s behind Grojean.”
Alonso: “I really don’t care about all the gaps too much. This is just a test.”

For the sixth time in 2017, Max Verstappen’s race came to an early end.

“Fuel six position eight.”
Verstappen: “Uh-oh, lose power.”
“Stand by. Fail one fail.”
Verstappen: “Nope.”
“One more time please.”
Verstappen: “No, no.”
“OK switch it off. Pull over to the right-hand side.”
Verstappen: “Unbelievable. I can’t believe this. No words.”

The drivers neared their pit stops.

Magnussen: “We need to get off this tyre. Guys listed to me we can get both cars in the points if we get off this tyre.”

Bottas: “Quite visible blistering in front-left.”

“Blister for Hamilton and Ricciardo.”
Vettel: “I’m still safe from the looks of it in here.”

To Hamilton: “OK Lewis, it’s hammer time.”

“Tyre degradation is low, we’re going to go super-softs at the next pit stop.”
Ricciardo: “We are Losing performance because of blistering. If we think that’s going to blister suggest not.”

Alonso’s frustration grew and he soon retired. Honda later claimed they couldn’t see any evidence of a fault in their data.

Alonso asked for a weather forecast, then retired
“Fernando suggest shape four to protect the rears.”
Alonso: “No more radio for the rest of the race.”

“We have a ten-second stop-go for failing to slow for Verstappen.”
Raikkonen: “What do you mean? He was on the side of the road.”

Raikkonen: “Is it drive-through or stop and go?”
“Stop and go.”
Raikkonen: “Can we do it whenever we want?”
“No this lap.”
Raikkonen: “And my car is actually really nice…”

“Fernando Stoffel is pitting this lap.”
Alonso: “Why? The only [censored by FOM] car I will overtake.”
“We didn’t want to be pushed back into Palmer and Stoll.”
Alonso: “They will pass anyway. But it will not change my life.”

Alonso: “Any rain expected?”
“No, no rain on the radar.”

Alonso: “Engine problem.”
“OK let’s box.”

Palmer: “Oh come on Alonso just forced me straight off the track.”

The Safety Car was deployed after Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez collided and left debris on the track. However Hamilton claimed there wasn’t enough debris for the Safety Car to be necessary.

Ocon: “Guys what the [censored by FOM]. Honestly. What the [censored by FOM] is this guy doing. What the hell. Front wing broken now.”
“So what is it Esteban, is it suspension or front wing?”
Ocon: “Front wing.”
“Front wing, OK.”
Ocon: “Two times.”
“The other car has a rear tyre go so you want to go pass the other car.”
Ocon: “I’m past since a long time.”
“Copy that.”
Ocon: “[Censored by FOM] idiot.”

Perez: “Puncture, puncture.”

Vettel: “Hamilton is not following the pace.”

Hamilton: “Why have they got the Safety Car out? This is ridiculous.”
“It’s for the amount of debris.”
Hamilton: “There’s literally no debris.”

Hamilton: “That’s a BS call from the stewards.”

Hamilton: “Vettel’s weaving behind me. Why is the Safety Car so slow?”
“Lewis expect one more lap of Safety Car.”
Hamilton: “Got glazed brakes.”
“Just do what you can do. Looks like that disc has woken up.”

To Vettel: “SOC [state of charge] six and you can push tyre-wise, no problem.”

Kvyat: “Oh what the [censored by FOM] he’s too fast on the straight, this guy.”
“He’s slow in the corners Danny, keep pushing.”

To Hulkenberg: “OK Nico we must not use overtake now. SOC [sate of charge] level is too low, you’ll get a de-rate.”

The full race radio transcript will be published later this week.

2017 Belgian 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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15 comments on ““That’s a BS call”: 2017 Belgian GP team radio highlights”

  1. Fernando is so over McLaren. It’s clear as day now.

    1. Ocon has anger issues. Usually human beings make poor judgment calls under extreme anger.

      Acting his age I guess. Force India need to fix that.

      1. I agree about ALO. This could be Honda’s last year.

        1. So Honda’s gonna leave because Alonso is unhappy? So who’s going to supply engines to McLaren?

      2. Nigel, agree about extreme anger, but what poor judgement did Ocon do?

        1. Let’s see you know Perez defends as if he was related to Ayrton Senna. Would it kill him to back off a bit stick to Perez gearbox and then make the move with ease. He knew out of the 2 cars His had the greater top speed.

          He let the anger take over and instead made a horrible decision. He ruined all those FI factory workers efforts there.

          1. I agree that it would’ve been easier to lift off and wait, but his nose was alongside Perez’s rear wheel quite a few metres before the wall, so he was entitled to the space.

    2. I agree, Alonso just gave up, they did finish P6 at Hungary with the Fastest Lap, how come in the next GP the engine is so bad?

  2. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
    28th August 2017, 15:33

    I thought it was just silly when Hamilton said there was literally no debris. In one area, there was plenty and even the commentates on Channel 4 who often seem to be bias towards Hamilton said he clearly was incorrect there. The safety car is out for a reason and that isn’t up to the drivers so they shouldn’t complain as much as Hamilton does all to often. Considering the amount of debris there was at first including a large piece of front wing and many other bits, I personally think that was a good enough reason for the safety car. The safety car may have ended up making Kimi’s penalty worth nothing and effectively allowed Ricciardo and Kimi past Bottas due to his bad start but I still think it was the right decision to bring it out. Just the VSC won’t really have been the best choice. Perez was driving all over the place with a damaged car dropping bits in several places. He also seemed to be acting as if he was still racing other drivers by defending Stroll when he had blown his tyre. I don’t know how he escaped a penalty for this whole incident. It was just after this that the safety car came out.

    1. Only reason for no penalty is no reason wse.

  3. I think there was one more call to Alonso informing of Force India drivers colliding with each other and his reply was quite blunt.

  4. They should have ignored Alonso’s question about weather after his jerk “no more radio” remark…

    Time to put one of their junior drivers in that car, Alonso obviously doesn’t want to be there… the guy may have talent, but his work ethic is disgusting. I don’t care how bad the engine may be…

    1. Agree 100%, I sit here , working and Alonso’s remarks just run through my head ocassionaly,

      Imagine the team at Honda working hard for the next update and for sure they will have Alonso’s comments on the radio ringing like bells in their heads. Way to go to motivate the team !

      @cm-cm

      1. what would you rather expect

        fantastic job guys !! everyone else has more top speed than us and will get us at some point in the race

        My teammate and I love competing for the last 2 positions – occasionally i am last but most of the times i don’t make it to the finish line

        Honda sucks and reality bites

  5. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    29th August 2017, 15:10

    Kvyat: “Oh what the [censored by FOM] he’s too fast on the straight, this guy.”
    “He’s slow in the corners Danny, keep pushing.”

    Who was Kvyat talking about?

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