5 of the Most Interesting Radio Messages from Italian Grand Prix
The Italian Grand Prix was a pivotal race in the 2015 Formula One season, with both title protagonists forced to negotiate significant hurdles at the Monza circuit.
Mercedes, the reigning constructors' champions, responded to their problems in the only way they know how: by going even faster. But while Lewis Hamilton was able to take his seventh win of the year and increase his lead in the drivers' standings, Nico Rosberg was forced to retire.
Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, meanwhile, raced head-to-head as their Williams team took an almighty gamble, while Nico Hulkenberg spent much of his race bemoaning his misfortune but still managed to add some much-needed points to Force India's tally.
With a look at Jenson Button's latest dig at the woeful McLaren-Honda outfit, here are five of the most interesting team radio messages from the Italian GP.
Mercedes Give Lewis Hamilton a Fright as Tyre Pressure Fears Emerge
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Lewis Hamilton's performance across the Italian Grand Prix weekend was arguably the most dominant, complete display of any driver in 2015.
The reigning world champion topped each and every session at Monza and established a comfortable advantage over second-placed Sebastian Vettel in the race.
But after seeing his Mercedes team-mate, Nico Rosberg, make an enforced engine change ahead of qualifying on Saturday, doubts lingered at the back of his mind. He was petrified his car would also let him down, that he would be denied the 25 points he deserved.
According to pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz during Sky Sports' television coverage, Hamilton requested advice over what he could do to protect his own power unit and, on Lap 42, asked the team to check the condition of his front brakes, per the FIA television feed.
But all appeared fine and everything seemed serene—until Lap 48, of course, when his race engineer, Pete Bonnington, suddenly urged him to increase his pace.
"OK, Lewis, we're gonna go Strat Mode 3, Strat Mode 3," Bonnington said, per the same source. "We need to pull a gap, we need to pull a gap. Don't ask questions, just execute."
Later that lap, he added: "OK, Lewis, let's just grab some 'hammer-time' lap times. We just need some good lap times now. No need to ask questions, we'll just explain it at the end."
It is, however, human nature to have the urge to ask questions whenever you're told not to, and Bonnington's secrecy left his driver increasingly panicked.
"I've not got a lot of pace in me," Hamilton cried, fearing the worst on Lap 50 of 53. "What do I need to do? I can't get much quicker."
"Yeah, what you're doing is great, Lewis," Bonnington assured. "That's all we need. Just stabilise on pace and that is great."
Two laps later, Bonnington again reassured his driver, "So there's no need to take any risks. Just keep doing what you're doing." But it was no use to Hamilton, who was so close yet so far from his seventh victory of the season.
"Bono, picking up the pace to where I was? It is taking risks," Hamilton replied.
Whatever the problem was, it didn't affect Hamilton's pace, and he crossed the finish line 25.042 seconds ahead of Vettel, per the official F1 website. Yet even more eerie was that fact Bonnington retained a discreet stance when the win was supposedly secure.
"OK, Lewis, thanks for that," he said on the victory lap. "I'll explain everything when I see you."
"I have to say, Bono, those last few laps were not cool, man. I—"
"Yeah. OK, Lewis," Bonnington interrupted. "Copy that. So I'll speak to you in a bit."
Only at that point did it emerge that the win was not secure by any stretch of the imagination, with Hamilton and Mercedes under a stewards' investigation for illegal tyre pressures, as reported by Motorsport.com's Jonathan Noble.
The team, it transpired, had urged Hamilton to increase his lap times to ensure he would retain first place in the event he suffered a post-race time penalty. Yet Mercedes had no need to worry, with the team eventually cleared of any wrongdoing.
It is, however, unclear whether Hamilton's heart rate had returned to normal by that point.
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes Too Greedy for Their Own Good in Sebastian Vettel Pursuit
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Nico Rosberg's engine change on Saturday morning left him with an older power unit that had, by our calculations, already completed 305 racing laps prior to the Italian Grand Prix.
Starting fourth on the grid and short on power at the most engine-dependent track on the calendar—according to a UBS infographic, 74 per cent of the Monza lap is spent on full throttle—a podium finish, merely a decent result for the Mercedes drivers on a normal weekend, would have been an excellent result for Rosberg.
Yet having made his way up to third place at the beginning of the second stint, after dropping as low as sixth on the opening lap, Rosberg and Mercedes had second-placed Sebastian Vettel in their sights.
"So Nico, just be aware Vettel's tyres went off earlier than anybody else on the option, so [we're] expecting the same on the prime," Rosberg's race engineer, Tony Ross, reported on Lap 35, per the FIA TV feed. "So we think P2 is still possible. We just need to close the gap, looking after the brakes, and then attack when his tyres go off."
Rosberg, however, had made his pit stop for medium-compound tyres on Lap 18, eight laps earlier than Vettel, which made it likely the Mercedes' tyres would lose grip before the Ferrari's.
In his desperation to catch Vettel, Rosberg appeared to be a little adventurous with his car's settings, so much so that Ross had to advise him to switch to the correct position.
On Lap 43, Ross said: "Erm, try Diff Mid 5. Currently showing you in a strange position."
As noted by technical expert Matt Somerfield, this may have been "a subtle way" of informing Rosberg that he was using an incorrect strat mode, with Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff later telling Autosport's Ben Anderson and Matt Beer how the team increased the engine's power as they chased Vettel.
With several miles already covered, however, the power unit could take no more and smoke was seen bellowing from the rear of Rosberg's W06 on the 51st of 53 laps.
"Lost power, lost power, what do I do?" Nico asked the pit wall, per the official F1 website. But there was nothing he could do as he parked his car at the second chicane.
Rosberg's title challenge has been based on his ability to play the percentages, to extract what he can from each individual weekend and hope he has more points than anyone else when the 19-race season comes to an end.
The lengths Mercedes went to in their bid to catch Vettel, therefore—when the difference between a second- and third-place finish is only three points—were unnecessary and meant Rosberg's title hopes, much like his engine, went up in smoke.
Williams Make Felipe Massa Fight for a Podium Finish
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Since the beginning of 2014, Williams have been frequently criticised for making clumsy decisions from the pit wall, particularly when it comes to the murky issue of team orders.
In last year's Malaysian Grand Prix, Felipe Massa was instructed to move aside for team-mate Valtteri Bottas, but his new race engineer made the humiliating error of using the exact same terminology Ferrari had used during the infamous 2010 German GP.
In July's British GP, Bottas was ordered to hold position behind Massa as the Williams cars were running first and second at Silverstone, a decision that cost the team a shot at victory.
Williams almost seem uncomfortable with the very thought of team orders, implementing them in a cack-handed, uncoordinated fashion and often when there is no need to do so.
But in the latter stages of the Italian GP, they had plenty of reasons to turn to the dark arts.
With Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat running down the order at Red Bull Racing's least favourable circuit of the season, Williams had a golden opportunity to strengthen their challenge for a second successive third-place finish in the constructors' championship at Monza.
Massa and Bottas had been evenly matched throughout the weekend, qualifying just 0.187 seconds apart, according to the official F1 website, and the Finn found himself closing in on the fourth-placed Brazilian late on.
But Williams were unwilling to call an end to their race.
"Keep pushing, Felipe," Massa's engineer, Dave Robson, said, per Autosport's live Twitter commentary. "We're racing Valtteri, and it has to be a clean race to the end."
Nico Rosberg's retirement added greater significance to their inter-team battle, but while Bottas chased Massa to the finish line, he was unable to complete a move.
"Yeah, guys. Oh my God," Massa, 34, shouted on the slow-down lap. "I'm too old for that! Too old! Thank you, guys. Brilliant race!"
"Rubbish, [you're] not too old—we're just starting out, mate," came the reply.
As Massa celebrated his second podium finish of the season, Bottas was left to rue a loss of power on the final lap, reporting, "The power unit turned off in the last lap on the main straight. I was going to make a move," per the official F1 website.
While Williams must be admired for allowing their drivers to race with freedom, the team would have faced plenty of awkward questions had Massa been denied third place or if their cars collided in the remaining laps.
The Grove-based team remain unconvincing when making crucial decisions but somehow keep getting away with it.
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Nico Hulkenberg Frustrated by Force India Car Problem
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Following a retirement in Hungary and a frustrating weekend in Belgium, Nico Hulkenberg's 2014 campaign took a turn for the worst at Monza.
As reported by Sky Sports' Ted Kravitz, a damaged floor made the German's VJM07—a car he scored points with in each of the first 10 races—extremely difficult to drive, and it was, to all intents and purposes, a minor miracle he finished 12th in the Italian Grand Prix.
And it seems his 2015 season may heading in a similar direction.
After securing strong points finishes in Canada, Austria and Britain, Hulkenberg has suffered misfortune in each of the last three races, retiring with a front-wing failure at the Hungaroring and failing to even start the Belgian GP because of a loss of power on the formation lap.
Although Hulkenberg reached the final segment of qualifying for the first time since Silverstone at Monza, the ghosts of 2014 returned in Q3, when a loss of power forced him to settle for ninth on the grid, two places and 0.691 seconds behind Force India team-mate Sergio Perez, per the official F1 website.
His misfortune continued into the race, and Hulkenberg—who made contact with Lotus' Pastor Maldonado at the first corner—could sense something was awry with his B-spec VJM08.
"I hear a strange noise," he reported on Lap 13, according to the FIA TV feed. "Think [it's] something on the exhaust."
Hulkenberg later told the team's official website the issue left him with a lack of downforce, which overheated his rear tyres and explained why the No. 27 car—along with Nico Rosberg's Mercedes—was the first of the leading cars to pit for fresh tyres on Lap 18.
That, however, meant Hulkenberg—in a race dominated by one-stop strategies—had to spend the remainder of the race on medium-compound tyres.
Per the same source, the team decided against making an additional stop, and the German was feeling the pressure as he was pursued by Sauber's Marcus Ericsson on Lap 41.
"Ah, man," he cried. "I'm telling you something is not working on the back! It just reminds me of last year! No traction, no rear grip—nothing!"
Per the F1 website, he also raged, "[I'm] so upset. What's happening!? Each year at Monza. ... You think from Friday to today I lose a second a lap!?" In doing so, he made it abundantly clear the problem was with the car and not his driving.
Hulkenberg is normally the calmest driver on the grid over team radio, and his tone revealed much about how frustrating and difficult his race was at that point.
His seventh-place finish was, in truth, the best possible result available at Monza and, combined with Perez's sixth place, has aided Force India's fight for a top-five spot in the constructors' standings.
But it was the hardest seventh place Hulkenberg will ever achieve.
Jenson Button Doesn't Want to Master the Art of Being Lapped
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There is an art to being lapped in a Formula One race.
When slower drivers are shown blue flags, ordering them to move out of the way, they must strike a balance between letting faster cars pass without difficulty and ensuring their own race isn't ruined in the process.
Jenson Button had plenty of practice of being lapped in 2007 and 2008, when he spent much of his time behind the wheel of average cars, but the British driver appears to have lost his touch since becoming world champion in 2009.
Button, not for the first time during McLaren-Honda's dreadful 2015 campaign, was lapped en route to a 14th-place finish in the Italian Grand Prix, and his team seemed to be disappointed with his performance in traffic.
Per the F1 website, team-mate Fernando Alonso was stronger when it came to navigating his way around other cars, despite retiring six laps from the end of the race, and Button didn't react well to being told of his apparent shortcomings.
"Well hopefully I won't get too good at [being lapped]—I don't want to be good at it," he said, according to the same source.
In other words, a team with the history, heritage and resources of McLaren should never be in a position where their drivers—their world-champion drivers—are being lapped.
Following his tongue-in-cheek comment about the team's lack of pace in the Belgian Grand Prix, this was the latest indication of Button's frustration with McLaren's struggles in 2015, which have seen the team score just 17 points.
It also offered a sad insight into how McLaren's expectations have changed with their fall from grace, with the team now seemingly judging their driver's performances on how efficiently they drive under blue-flag conditions.
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