It was a near-silent race on the radios at the Russian Grand Prix – at least as far as the FOM broadcast was concerned.
While the new restrictions on radio messages have reduced the amount of communication going on between driver and team there is still far more going on than gets broadcast during the races.
That much was obvious during last weekend’s race, when more than half of the eleven teams did not have any of their radio communications broadcast. Out of 22 drivers in the field we heard messages involving just six of them.
Among them was Sebastian Vettel, who supplied one of the most furious outbursts herd for some time when Daniil Kvyat ejected him from the race.
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2016 Russian Grand Prix team radio transcript
| Lap* | Driver | Message |
|---|---|---|
| PR | From Max Verstappen | Guys I think there was a problem there, the engine just completely disappeared when I went on total, there is an issue. |
| 1 | From Sebastian Vettel | Oh for [censored by FOM] sake man! Who the [censored by FOM]? Oh I’m out! Crash! Somebody hit me in the [censored by FOM] rear, T2, Somebody hit me in the [censored by FOM] rear again T3, for [censored by FOM] sake, honestly. What the [censored by FOM] are we doing here? |
| 6 | To Lewis Hamilton | Get in there Lewis, come on man!. |
| 9 | To Felipe Nasr | We have a slow puncture Felipe a slow puncture, box this lap. |
| 10 | From Felipe Nasr | Why do we box this lap?. |
| 10 | To Felipe Nasr | We have a slow puncture, a slow puncture. |
| 17 | To Kimi Raikkonen | So this is the critical point Kimi. |
| 22 | From Sergio Perez | Do you like my pace, do you like it? |
| 22 | To Sergio Perez | Doing well Checo, pace is good. |
| 30 | From Max Verstappen | I have something with the engine. |
| 32 | From Lewis Hamilton | You there Bono? |
| 33 | To Lewis Hamilton | Affirm Lewis, we’ve got a bit on at the moment mate. so Lewis it looks lke we’ve got a water pressure issue, water pressure issue. |
| 39 | To Lewis Hamilton | Lewis the situation has stabilised. |
| 53 | To Nico Rosberg | Excellent drive Nico, well done we’ve finally done it in Russia. |
| 53 | From Nico Rosberg | Thanks everyone. Everything worked really well this weekend, thanks a lot. |
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.
Follow F1 Fanatic Live on Twitter for team radio highlights during all live F1 sessions.
Russian Grand Prix data
- 2016 Russian Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops
- 2016 Russian Grand Prix lap times and fastest laps
- 2016 Russian Grand Prix lap charts
2016 Russian Grand Prix
- Red Bull bosses gave me “no explanation” – Kvyat
- Another weak race shows Sochi is the new Valencia
- Magnussen beats grand slam Rosberg for Driver of the Weekend
- Kvyat axed by Red Bull, Verstappen takes his place for Spain
- 2016 Russian Grand Prix team radio transcript
Team radio transcripts
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- ‘I can’t box?’: Hamilton and Verstappen’s 2021 Abu Dhabi GP radio transcript
- “Don’t fight Max”: How Red Bull’s team radio row in Brazil unfolded
Andy (@andycz)
4th May 2016, 12:09
These transcripts this season are just sad… It’s a pity…
Joao (@johnmilk)
4th May 2016, 13:40
This was one of the best features here, with the restrictions we haven’t gained better racing, just less insight into what is happening.
Even LH is asking “you there bono?”
Night Fury (@toothless)
4th May 2016, 15:05
Agree. I was always looking forward for this. Now it’s just…
Tyler (@tdog)
4th May 2016, 12:13
The broadcasters can’t be happy about this.
I predict a change to the radio rules for next season, if not earlier.
As I’ve said before, the restrictions introduced mid last season were a reasonable compromise between ensuring the drivers aren’t excessively coached, and still giving the viewers insight as to what is happening in the race.
Tyler (@tdog)
4th May 2016, 18:57
Also, we don’t seem to have the fuel use graphic anymore.
Obviously the answer to fans’ frustration with fuel saving is to pretend it isn’t happening.
Robbie (@robbie)
4th May 2016, 12:24
I’m a bit confused. Is FOM only broadcasting some of the radio activity to make it appear that there is less coaching when in fact there is more than we are lead to believe? I’m sure there is actually less coaching, since the teams are being heard and monitored, so why don’t they broadcast everything (not literally during the race of course but made available afterwards) which will still be less than before?
Kanil (@kanil)
4th May 2016, 12:32
I’d guess Bernie doesn’t like the rules, so he’s ordered FOM to make the rules seem harsher than they are, to sway public opinion to get them revoked.
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
4th May 2016, 12:57
@kanil “I’d guess Bernie doesn’t like the rules”
Bernie is the one who was pushing for these radio restrictions.
As to if FOM are playing everything, There not playing out everything but are playing most of the stuff that’s worth broadcasting. I also saw Ted Kravitz mention on one of his post race notebook’s that he was told by one team that they only used there radio 6 times during a race & most of those were messages telling there drivers to pit.
Kanil (@kanil)
4th May 2016, 16:10
@gt-racer Fair enough. He has used FOM as a weapon in the past — but perhaps there really is nothing being said anymore.
Park
4th May 2016, 12:59
FOM were missing a lot.
We can see this from Mercedes’ open letter: “We spent a number of laps reassuring him that he had a good gap over Lewis and could ease off before the FIA gave us the all-clear to tell him to switch to a setting that would control the issue. ”
I think that Bernie asked FOM to broadcast much less. He thinks that less radio makes drivers look more independent, I guess.
GeeMac (@geemac)
4th May 2016, 14:31
What a sad state of affairs. I remember what a revelation it was when we started to get team radio broadcasts in the world feed. A chance to see what is going on under the drivers helmet and on the pitwall, all now sadly taken from us.
Sure it got a bit extreme, but we have gone way too far the other way in typical F1 style. If FOM didn’t like hearing “Ok, Jenson, Yellow G7” or “Torque Map 1 and box” they should have just chosen not to broadcast those particular messages. I liked hearing (and reading in this piece) what was said during the race. I liked knowing which drivers needed more or less coaching, who complained more, who was cooler under pressure. Every message helped to build the picture and now one of the few tools we have as fans has been taken away from us.
Jordi Casademunt (@casjo)
4th May 2016, 16:08
I’d blame FOM more than the radio restrictions. We know for a fact there were more radio messages than what’s shown here. FOM just refuses to release the huge majority of them.
GeeMac (@geemac)
4th May 2016, 16:50
I do blame FOM, there is no one else to blame for this ridiculous scenario.
gdewilde (@gdewilde)
4th May 2016, 15:14
From Sebastian Vettel: Oh for [censored by FOM] sake man! Who the [censored by FOM]? Oh I’m out! Crash! Somebody hit me in the [censored by FOM] rear, T2, Somebody hit me in the [censored by FOM] rear again T3, for [censored by FOM] sake, honestly. What the [censored by FOM] are we doing here?
It reads like a scene from The Big Lebowski
markp
4th May 2016, 15:29
No need to ask in future he will know it was Torpedo Moscow.
Strontium (@strontium)
4th May 2016, 20:20
[censored by FOM]
I struggle to think what word this could have been..
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
4th May 2016, 20:22
I thought that Kimi Raikkonen was The Dude!
Cyber
4th May 2016, 21:10
You said it man – Nobody [censored by FOM] with the Jesus!
Ciaran (@ciaran)
4th May 2016, 16:16
If people want to complain about not hearing enough radio messages, they need only look at their fellow fans who didn’t like what they were hearing previously. This is the result.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
4th May 2016, 17:26
“[censored by FOM]”
Says it all really. We get so little radio messages now, this barely deserves a page.
And we were the people who used to complain about driver coaching… now we dont even know if Nico’s rear is sliding to much or if Lewis needs to put a less aggressive engine mode on.
I am fairly sure Water pressure was going overboard due to long time highest power engine mode was used…
Craig Woollard (@craig-o)
4th May 2016, 18:19
The radio often added a little something to dull races such as that one. Now we don’t even have that luxury. A shame really.
lockup (@)
4th May 2016, 19:03
Yep, another fail at presenting what they have.
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
4th May 2016, 20:29
Vettel’s broadcast comments were very entertaining, in the heat of the race.
When Alonso missed his qualy lap a few weeks ago, all he said over the radio was “Aurgg! Aurgg! Aurrgg!”
I guess FOM is going for quality over quantity.
I do not miss the technical queries of various drivers to their mission control; that is what message boards and flat screen displays are for.
ILuvSoundtracks (@)
4th May 2016, 21:18
Turkey 2010, Russia 2016…Vettel being angry, 6 years apart.
Joao Pitol (@)
4th May 2016, 22:15
And Rosberg had a MGU-K problem and had to drive in safe mode, lots of radio there also skipped.
Charlie (@kestrel)
4th May 2016, 22:35
You’ve missed off Tony Ross’ “Haarooooo” to Nico on the cool-down!
Todfod (@todfod)
6th May 2016, 9:26
Where’s the rest of the transcript? What a joke they’re making of their message publications