Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2018: Qualifying team radio
42 radio messages were recorded during qualifying at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2018, across 17 drivers. Lewis HAMILTON had the most, with 4.
These are transcripts of real team radio audio, produced by speech recognition and presented as an archive rather than as edited prose. Radio is clipped and noisy, so wording can be imperfect. Each message is attributed to the driver or their engineer, and the original audio is playable in the archive.
Who was on the radio
- Lewis HAMILTON · Mercedes · 4 messages
- Romain GROSJEAN · Haas · 4 messages
- Fernando ALONSO · McLaren · 4 messages
- Max VERSTAPPEN · Red Bull · 4 messages
- Esteban OCON · Force India · 3 messages
- Nico HULKENBERG · Renault · 3 messages
- Charles LECLERC · Sauber · 3 messages
- Sebastian VETTEL · Ferrari · 3 messages
- Pierre GASLY · Toro Rosso · 2 messages
- Sergey SIROTKIN · Williams · 2 messages
- Kimi RAIKKONEN · Ferrari · 2 messages
- Marcus ERICSSON · Sauber · 2 messages
- Daniel RICCIARDO · Red Bull · 2 messages
- Sergio PEREZ · Force India · 1 message
- Lance STROLL · Williams · 1 message
- Carlos SAINZ · Renault · 1 message
- Valtteri BOTTAS · Mercedes · 1 message
Every message, in the order it happened
Pierre GASLY: The reels are a lot hotter than it was this morning.
Engineer: It's ok Pierre, it's ok from our side. Target will be zero, zero, zero, zero.
Engineer: Okay, a couple of good stops here.
Kimi RAIKKONEN: The wind has turned or? Looks like it has turned
Engineer: Are
Lewis HAMILTON: we going first or second? We're first, thanks.
Engineer: Check I will be asking you for a bit more speed on the straights a bit more speed on the straights
Lance STROLL: Alright, traffic turn 3, Bethel.
Engineer: Yeah, copy, yeah, copy, that's a bit late in the wake.
Engineer: How is the balance?
Esteban OCON: Balance is good.
Engineer: Okay, we've got wind from the north, so headwind in 3.
Engineer: I don't think we really need to compare sectors to Vettel, there's a mode difference you're going to have a Ricciardo coming through
Engineer: Currently P7, nice lap.
Nico HULKENBERG: Good lap that was, good tow as well.
Engineer: Yeah, worked out quite nicely. I
Nico HULKENBERG: need some iron to prepare the other helmet, I need a helmet change.
Engineer: Copy that Nico.
Engineer: So these tyres are a bit hotter on the rear now, they are hotter than the previous set, so you won't need to push quite as hard on this set on the outlap.
Engineer: I lost everything, I lost everything! I lost all the power, now I have 7 tenths up! F***! F***, at the back of the engine! Ok, Alonso behind is first here. No power, no power. Copy, copy. No power. Stop the car, stop in a safe place, stop the car, stop the car in a safe place.
Engineer: We are through mate, we are through
Marcus ERICSSON: Copy That's quite a good lap
Engineer: So that's our session done, we were P19, Lance was P20
Sergey SIROTKIN: Tough, tough, but that was back to normal guys, the car was quite good to be honest
Engineer: That was a good recovery from your side, well done, see you in a minute
Sergey SIROTKIN: Far off from cut-off?
Engineer: Several tenths
Sergey SIROTKIN: Yeah, no way
Charles LECLERC: That was a cool lap, apart from sector 3. Are we good, or not
Engineer: good at all? Yes, we were okay. We are good. P7 at the moment.
Engineer: And Fernando, we are through, we are through, that's P14, that my friend is magic, well done.
Fernando ALONSO: I enjoyed the laps, yeah still not fast enough but good effort, let's see what we can do now, you too.
Engineer: Exactly, well done mate.
Engineer: And Fernando we suggest on this lap trying the right hand toggle for the final two corners 20 and 21 that's the right hand toggle
Engineer: Esteban, do you think you can go faster on another Ultra Soft?
Esteban OCON: Not a lot, but there is track improvement I think.
Engineer: OK Niko, so when they're done, restart on MGVK. P1, now I'm in P1, but they're saying they don't touch the car because of the light. I need to go P0? No, don't go to P0 Niko, please don't go to P0. The car is safe, the car is safe.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, that was pretty .
Engineer: Let us know if you can go faster.
Sebastian VETTEL: Yes I can. If I have a clean lap and no traffic in the last sector, I would say 0.4.
Engineer: We are considering which tires for the next run. Kimi, any preference on your side? For
Kimi RAIKKONEN: sure we can go a bit faster with the new setup, if the tires work.
Engineer: Let's have one more magic lap, mate.
Engineer: Okay Fernando, well done mate.
Engineer: Yeah, P12 confirm, P12 confirm, not too bad, not too bad, it's a very strong position for the start of the race, three shows of tyres, well done mate.
Marcus ERICSSON: Okay, thank you.
Engineer: Yeah, I'm out, right? Yeah, P11, sorry mate. Yep.
Engineer: The track's getting better for the rear, so we can add a little bit of front wing.
Sebastian VETTEL: OK, good.
Engineer: OK, do I have time for a quick pee?
Sebastian VETTEL: You have four minutes. Four minutes to last.
Engineer: Yeah, I can make it.
Sebastian VETTEL: OK, real quick.
Engineer: OK abort Daniel abort, slow down, slow down, slow down, slow down, slow down.
Daniel RICCIARDO: OK, so we got through on the Ultra?
Engineer: Yes we got through on the Ultra mate, nice job, we ended up P10.
Daniel RICCIARDO: OK, nice.
Engineer: For
Charles LECLERC: the last run, if you could give me a car in front, it would be perfect, like now.
Engineer: Copy.
Romain GROSJEAN: Are the numbers correct or upside down?
Engineer: Looks strange, I'll come back to you. Not sure why, I think the left sides are the fronts and the right sides are the rears. So just do your outlap as you feel right.
Engineer: That was a good lap. Maybe we can put that one in the book. Okay, it's in the book. Nice one.
Max VERSTAPPEN: What are the gaps to the guys in front?
Engineer: Okay, so you're p6 35-5 ahead of you Reichen 35-5 Daniel 35-4 in p4, Bottas 35-4 in p3 Then 35-3 for Sebastian and 35-2 for Hamilton
Max VERSTAPPEN: These tires are way warmer out of the box. They're still in
Engineer: a good window. They're still in a very good window.
Engineer: Is
Lewis HAMILTON: the wind still the same?
Engineer: Affirm, it looks to be the same. So headwind into 5 and tailwind into 8.
Engineer: Yes! Fantastic Lewis, that's P1. But Valtteri sat right next to us P2, Vettel P3.
Lewis HAMILTON: How close was it?
Engineer: So, tenth and a half to Valtteri, just over three tenths to Vettel.
Engineer: OK, so Vettel is P3, so front row lockout, good job Valkyrie, good job.
Sebastian VETTEL: And be free, be free. Ok guys, I tried everything. Maybe there was half a tenth in the car in the last sector. Was really good in the first run. Mi ringrazio. Grazie ragazzi.
Engineer: The lap was very strong. Well done Deo.
Sebastian VETTEL: Tomorrow we fight.
Engineer: OK, our Rykernet just pipped us by half a tenth there, so we've finished P5 mate.
Daniel RICCIARDO: Did you say half a tenth?
Engineer: Yeah.
Daniel RICCIARDO: OK.
Engineer: That's a good effort Daniel. You were purple in the last sector there, so points for tomorrow.
Max VERSTAPPEN: No, f**k, what a f**king disaster, ah f**k it, unbelievable, ah mate, already out of the garage, the tyres are just too hot, and you can say they're in
Engineer: a
Max VERSTAPPEN: good window, but I'm just having to cool them down.
Romain GROSJEAN: Yeah, you're P7. That's done. Yes! My second wasn't bad either.
Engineer: Fantastic job, Roman. Thank you. Thank you.
Romain GROSJEAN: You're welcome. Good job, guys on the car. Really good job. Very happy.
Charles LECLERC: Well done guys, great way to finish the season, honestly from where we have been starting the weekend, it's great to be in Q3 and second to best of the race, now let's finish on a high tomorrow.
Engineer: And I'm afraid we are P10, two thousandths of a second slower than Ocon.
Nico HULKENBERG: Damn, I just wasn't in there, it just seemed like it was going away from me, the great brother then coming.
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