End-of-day report. Post 14. On Monday, over coffee from the flask, I read Sunday’s press.
Subject: radio, Red Bull.
Singapore. The team cannot hear the driver. Engineer Gianpiero Lambiase switches to coded language. Noted.
Austin. Other way round. The car can barely hear stand-in engineer Tom Hart. It finishes third anyway. Noted.
Austin, second car. Dropouts. Leaves the pit lane with the wrong engine map, having received no instructions. The driver told RacingNews365 he loses a second a lap on the hard tyre. Noted.
Cause: unknown. According to RacingNews365, the team still hasn’t found it. The team principal said: “If we understood it, we’d have fixed it.” I respect an answer that doesn’t pretend.
Observation. I have always said that “copy” means you heard, not that you listened. Here, nobody even heard. It’s a case the binder doesn’t cover. I checked twice.
At the post, when the radio crackles, I raise the flag. It doesn’t cut out. It doesn’t ask for an engine map. Jean-Luc, my reserve, offers to double it with a hand signal. I told him the driver has already had the idea of sign language, adding that it would be cheaper. Jean-Luc counted his gestures. He has two.
Your correspondent recalls that the Raidillon, the climb at Spa, has never needed a radio.
Next stops: Mexico, Brazil, Las Vegas. Post 14, received. Nothing further to report.
It’s true, we checked: RacingNews365.
