Changing track conditions caused headaches for many drivers during qualifying for the United States Grand Prix as the team radio messages from the session reveal.
Nico Hulkenberg said he was shocked by how much his car’s handling had changed but recovered to take a strong fourth on the grid.
It was an all-Red Bull battle for pole position. Mark Webber nearly beat Sebastian Vettel but fell short after making a mistake in the final sector, as he admitted to race engineer Simon Rennie after crossing the line.
Here’s what was being said on the radio during qualifying.
2013 United States Grand Prix qualifying team radio transcript
| Phase | Time | From | To | Message |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | 17:47 | Nico Hulkenberg | Marco Schupbach | Is it new brakes? |
| Q1 | Marco Schupbach | Nico Hulkenberg | Not new, but different. | |
| Q1 | Nico Hulkenberg | Marco Schupbach | Could’ve told me. | |
| Q1 | 14:08 | Nico Hulkenberg | Marco Schupbach | The tyres are far from ready. |
| Q1 | Marco Schupbach | Nico Hulkenberg | Copy. The other car is saying the same. Possibly the same for everyone. | |
| Q1 | Nico Hulkenberg | Marco Schupbach | Aborted lap. Was traffic with a Marussia anyway, but it’s not going anywhere. | |
| Q1 | 11.05 | Nico Hulkenberg | Marco Schupbach | Most drivers found the track conditions challenging as the session began due to the stronger wind. Wow. Shocking. Shocking how this car’s performed. |
| Q1 | Marco Schupbach | Nico Hulkenberg | Okay, copy Nico. It seems to be similar for everyone. Hopefully the Medium is better. | |
| Q1 | Nico Hulkenberg | Marco Schupbach | I think it’s some nasty tail wind in sector one and two. | |
| Q1 | Marco Schupbach | Nico Hulkenberg | Copy Nico. So we have to be careful with cranking up the front wing then. | |
| Q1 | Nico Hulkenberg | Marco Schupbach | No, we don’t want to be cranking up the front wing, we want to go down. | |
| Q1 | Marco Schupbach | Nico Hulkenberg | Yep. Okay. Agreed. | |
| Q1 | 10:37 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Okay, Lewis, so that’s P1. Half a second to Alonso, P2. |
| Q1 | 10:04 | Sergio Perez | Mark Temple | I’m struggling with warming up the front tyres. It’s too understeery, the car. |
| Q1 | Mark Temple | Sergio Perez | Understood. Suggest using the toys to increase front-end. | |
| Q1 | 2:20 | Adrian Sutil | Brad Joyce | How much ******* traffic? Why can’t we manage the out-lap? |
| Q1 | Brad Joyce | Adrian Sutil | We are. Chilton behind, on timed lap. Chilton behind on a timed lap. | |
| Q1 | 00:00 | Adrian Sutil | Brad Joyce | Sutil’s failure later turned out to be a broken brake disc. I have a technical failure. |
| Q1 | Brad Joyce | Adrian Sutil | Okay. Okay. Front-right puncture. | |
| Q1 | Adrian Sutil | Brad Joyce | I also had traffic in the last sector and in the last corner, I had to pass a car. So I want to have a penalty for that car. | |
| Q1 | 00:00 | Giedo van der Garde | Juan Pablo Ramirez | How did we do? Good time? |
| Q1 | Juan Pablo Ramirez | Giedo van der Garde | P19, Giedo. | |
| Q1 | Giedo van der Garde | Juan Pablo Ramirez | So in front of Charles? | |
| Q1 | Juan Pablo Ramirez | Giedo van der Garde | Yes, in front of our group. | |
| Q1 | Giedo van der Garde | Juan Pablo Ramirez | Very good. Very good. Thanks man. Thanks a lot. Tyres came in better, | |
| Q2 | 13:40 | Ayao Komatsu | Romain Grosjean | Box Romain, box. |
| Q2 | Romain Grosjean | Ayao Komatsu | Box, box. But guys, the place you sent out on track was just stupid. Between the Marussia, it cut me off. | |
| Q2 | Ayao Komatsu | Romain Grosjean | Okay, stop in the box. | |
| Q2 | Ayao Komatsu | Romain Grosjean | Hey Romain. I know what you’re saying, but in Q1 with everybody out, if you go in the last minute, it’s not always possible mate, honestly. But we’ve got plenty of margin, so it’s fine. | |
| Q2 | Romain Grosjean | Ayao Komatsu | Yeah, I know. But if I’m stuck behind a Marussia or whatever it is – the stupid Van der Garde is trying to overtake you and go for it, or whatever?óÔé¼?ª | |
| Q2 | Ayao Komatsu | Romain Grosjean | I know, I saw it. | |
| Q2 | 12:20 | Andrea Stella | Fernando Alonso | There shouldn’t be anything strange in front of you. So [unintelligable]…seventeen. |
| Q2 | 10:30 | GianPiero Lambiase | Paul di Resta | Rosberg, two seconds behind. Hamilton, five seconds behind him. |
| Q2 | Paul di Resta | GianPiero Lambiase | I’ve backed off! | |
| Q2 | GianPiero Lambiase | Paul di Resta | Okay?óÔé¼?ª get back in front of him! Good job. | |
| Q2 | 7:05 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | Very hard to hear Okay, so we need to try something different. When [I try to do that DRS thing, I make a mistake.] |
| Q2 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Yeah, you’re going to have to come off the RFA [DRS] before turn one massively Nico. Otherwise you’ll just be plowing straight on. | |
| Q2 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | If I’m not going to be able to brake, there’s no point in doing it. | |
| Q2 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | That’s why we’re saying, you do need to do it Nico. | |
| Q2 | 00:00 | Romain Grosjean | Ayao Komatsu | The traffic was stupid in those last laps. |
| Q2 | Ayao Komatsu | Romain Grosjean | Did you get held up on that lap with Di Resta? | |
| Q2 | Romain Grosjean | Ayao Komatsu | Yeah, for sure I lost a bit of time there. | |
| Q2 | Ayao Komatsu | Romain Grosjean | Okay. Did you get held up with Hamilton as well? | |
| Q2 | Romain Grosjean | Ayao Komatsu | Hard to hear Hamilton was ???? We went together. |
|
| Q2 | 00:00 | Felipe Massa | Rob Smedley | Italian? [unintelligable] |
| Q2 | 00:00 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Okay Nico, so we’re out of that. P14 at the moment. |
| Q2 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | Just got massive oversteer this time in the first sector. I also had my ‘magic’ on, I don’t know if that was causing any problems? But yeah, just very, very difficult. | |
| Q2 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Yeah, copy that. | |
| Q2 | 00:00 | Marco Matassa | Daniel Ricciardo | P11 confirmed. Good job, thank you very much. |
| Q2 | Daniel Ricciardo | Marco Matassa | Okay. Understood. | |
| Q2 | Marco Matassa | Daniel Ricciardo | So how was the car? | |
| Q2 | Daniel Ricciardo | Marco Matassa | Erm?óÔé¼?ª difficult. Difficult. It was quite unbalanced as it was all session. It varied a lot between the corners. | |
| Q2 | 00:00 | GianPiero Lambiase | Paul di Resta | Okay, that’s P12 for us Paul. Just knocked out by half a tenth. What was up with that set? |
| Q2 | Paul di Resta | GianPiero Lambiase | Lewis was too slow for me. He came out of the first corner full pelt and when you said he was in sync with me, so I took the chance to get out of his way and he just cruised round. Didn’t get the tyres in. Far too slow for me to do anything. I need to get by him, but I think it’s the traffic’s fault. It’s just a nightmare. | |
| Q3 | 8:00 | Mark Slade | Heikki Kovalainen | No more KERS please Kim- Heikki. Do not use any KERS now. Wait until the exit of the last corner. |
| Q3 | Heikki Kovalainen | Mark Slade | Yeah, okay. | |
| Q3 | 4:14 | Ayao Komatsu | Romain Grosjean | Okay Romain, do you want higher front tyre pressures for the next run or not? |
| Q3 | Romain Grosjean | Ayao Komatsu | I have not a clue. I don’t know what is the problem. There is a problem at the front. | |
| Q3 | Ayao Komatsu | Romain Grosjean | Okay, copy that. | |
| Q3 | Romain Grosjean | Ayao Komatsu | I need one turn up on the front wing, please. | |
| Q3 | Ayao Komatsu | Romain Grosjean | Okay mate. Front tyre pressures are a little bit lower than the target, so I’ve put some in to achieve the target and we’ll do the front wing for you. | |
| Q3 | 00:00 | Guillaume Rocquelin | Sebastian Vettel | P1. Attaboy! Shake ‘n’ bake, baby. Shake ‘n’ bake. |
| Q3 | Sebastian Vettel | Guillaume Rocquelin | Baaaaaaoooh! Baaaaaoooh YES! Yes boys. Good job. Nice work. Shake ‘n’ bake. | |
| Q3 | Christian Horner | Sebastian Vettel | Well done, Sebby. Great job. Great job. Well done. | |
| Q3 | Sebastian Vettel | Christian Horner | Happy birthday. Nice to get the one-two. Great job guys. | |
| Q3 | Christian Horner | Mark Webber | Well done Mark that was a good effort. It was all there. Well done. | |
| Q3 | Simon Rennie | Mark Webber | Okay mate, we finished P2 in the end. Good job. Vettel one tenth clear of us. Next car behind was Grosjean, seven tenths behind us. Good job mate. | |
| Q3 | Mark Webber | Simon Rennie | Sorry mate I ****** the last corner up. | |
| Q3 | Ayao Komatsu | Romain Grosjean | Yeah we are P3. P3. Good job. | |
| Q3 | Romain Grosjean | Ayao Komatsu | YEE-HA! Yee-ha! Come on mate! Good job. | |
| Q3 | Ayao Komatsu | Romain Grosjean | Well done. Well done. | |
| Q3 | Romain Grosjean | Ayao Komatsu | My God, the high speed was interesting! | |
| Q3 | Ayao Komatsu | Romain Grosjean | [laughing] Good to hear! | |
| Q3 | Andrea Stella | Fernando Alonso | rolling his ‘r’s Okay, rrrrrrrrrrrevs off, charge zero. To be where we are for sure you put a lot of yourself into this performance, so well done from all of us. |
Phase/time: Refers to point at which message was broadcast. There may be a delay between messages being said and being broadcast.
Message: Repetitive or irrelevant messages omitted. Notes in italics. Highlights in bold.
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2013 United States Grand Prix
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Image ?é?® Sauber
Rick Lopez (@viscountviktor)
17th November 2013, 16:10
lol mark getting mixed up with his drivers
MVerstappen (@mverstappen)
17th November 2013, 16:11
The guys from the BBC didn’t get the Shake N’ Bake reference from Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) a movie about Nascar.
Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
17th November 2013, 16:56
Thanks for that didn’t know what the hell they were on about !
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
17th November 2013, 17:46
@mverstappen @hamilfan They’re better off!
johnny stick
17th November 2013, 16:50
OK For all you guys out there who are not old farts in the USA, I believe shake and bake refers to a product we used to have to prepare chicken easily in the 70s. the commercial went something like.” Chicken is so easy, just shake and bake for an easy and quick meal for the entire family” It is a term we racers used to say job well done, or to imply follow the tried and true preparation and the results are easy. Or in this case, Red Bull prep like we always do, and the results are automatic and easy.
Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
17th November 2013, 16:58
that makes a lot of sense . Looks like they pick up catchphrases wherever they go . Ichiban , Now this . Pity Seb couldn’t learn something in Hindi . Maybe next year …oops I forgot .
the_sigman (@sigman1998)
17th November 2013, 16:53
Oh Mark :P
Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
17th November 2013, 17:00
mark :Please Kimi
Kimi: yes yes….(inaudible)
I will miss that this weekend :(
electrolite (@electrolite)
17th November 2013, 17:11
I’d quite like to know what ‘magic’ Rosberg had on.
TMF (@)
17th November 2013, 17:11
Andrea Stella trying to get on Alonso’s good side for 4 consecutive years :)
bull mello (@bullmello)
17th November 2013, 17:25
The weather in Austin is a bit warmer and less windy today, so far.
RC (@)
17th November 2013, 17:27
HUL needs a better relationship with his race engineer.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
17th November 2013, 17:45
@rcrc They seem to be doing just fine in terms of what matters: results.
This is a bit like the monumental over-reaction to the Raikkonen/Permane messages in India we saw from some people. There’s no need for niceties, pleases and thankyous in this kind of competitive situation in a professional sport. It’s ‘do this’, ‘don’t do that’, ‘why haven’t you done that?’.
Hulkenberg doesn’t need his race engineer worrying that he might have raised his voice or used a naughty word. He needs his race engineer making sure to tell him when his brakes have been changed. A point which those who went ballistic about Permane telling Raikkonen to ‘get out of the way’ singularly failed to grasp.
tmekt (@tmekt)
17th November 2013, 18:39
I think I remember you saying the exact opposite in Abu Dhabi last year.
Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
17th November 2013, 17:54
Drivers have the right to get a little angry when things go wrong while they are doing 350 kmph , pulling 3-4 G every odd corner and pushing to the limit .
Juzh (@juzh)
17th November 2013, 18:08
They’re not doing 350kmh. Not since V8 is used anyway.