AlphaTauri was given a helping hand: "I call her the 'blonde American'"
F1 News
- GPblog.com
AlphaTauri was given a helping hand: "I call her the 'blonde American'" AlphaTauri says the team uses a special automated speech system. The system is called the 'blonde American' and has ensured that AlphaTauri did not make a mistake during the first safety car in the Italian Grand Prix.
The Mercedes mistake
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton made a remarkable mistake during the Italian Grand Prix which cost him the victory at the end of the stage. The win eventually went to Pierre Gasly of AlphaTauri, and that team says they didn't make the same mistake because of an automated voice system they call the 'blonde American'.
"I don't think Mercedes has anything similar, because otherwise they would have known", said AlphaTauri team manager Graham Watson in conversation with Motorsport.com. "About three years ago I took the initiative for a computer-controlled voice-over on our pit wall for all FIA messages."
Just in the nick of time
"So when the FIA says 'the pits are closed', a computer-generated voice tells me. It's a woman, I call her the blonde American because of the accent", Watson explains. According to Watson, the engineers were about to bring in Daniil Kvyat, but because the team manager was told that the pits were closed, he was able to prevent Kvyat from receiving a penalty.