2017 Bahrain Grand Prix team radio highlights: Practice

2017 Bahrain Grand Prix

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Here are the team radio highlights from the first two practice sessions at the Bahrain International Circuit.

First practice

With scorching temperatures making first practice unrepresentative of the race to come, teams concentrated on testing duties to begin with.

Kvyat: “Front tyres look a bit ugly. Check their aspect, please.”

To Ricciardo: “No DRS, please, do not use DRS.”
To Ricciardo: “Use DRS on the next run, DRS.”

To Bottas: “Tyre temperatures, left rear is working OK. Right rear is also OK.”
To Bottas: “HPP nine to one.”
To Bottas: “HPP nine to one, currently in 14.”
To Bottas: “As expected you can see overheating through 12 and 13.”

To Vandoorne: “Launch map on. This is a pit stop. Front wing adjust. Lay rubber from the stop. Look for Bottas, 11 second gap behind him.”
Ricciardo: “OK do you want me to stay in pedal 12?”
“Pedal two.”
To Ricciardo: “OK Daniel stop in the box…thank you. OK it’ll be another quick turnaround again.”

Hamilton: “My delta keeps resetting.”
“Copy that. Box, box. Stroll’s car behind.”

The Williams drivers were troubled by poor grip and other problems.

Stroll: “I keep getting the Safety Car, my dash goes yellow and says ‘Safety Car’.”

Massa: “It’s really terrible, the grip level is zero.”
To Massa: “I want you to manually cancel the DRS just before the braking zones.”

To Grosjean: “It will be a slow nose change because we need to connect some wires.”

To Ericsson: “OK Marcus we suggest on the next push lap to use the right-hand toggle for turn one.”

Magnussen: “The seat is burning.”
“OK, understood.”

Palmer: “No power.”
“OK we lost the K a couple of times and you had no DRS. OK to stay out.”

To Verstappen: “OK Max time for seven laps, push the first three laps, please.”

Esteban Ocon was irritated by his former team mate’s driving.

Ocon: “I don’t know what Wehrlein is doing.”
“Wehrlein doesn’t know what Wehrlein’s going to don’t worry about him.”

Vettel: “Do I get another one after this? Or I’m also happy to take a lap at speed and then box at the end of the lap? Or if that doesn’t work for you I’m also happy to back off in the last sector.”
“OK you can take one more if you need.”
Vettel: “Say again, I didn’t hear it.”
“I said that you can take more after the following if you need. Driver default one four on.”

Kimi Raikkonen suffered Ferrari’s first problem of the day.

“We need to slow down Kimi, we need to slow down and box.”
Raikkonen: “I have.”
“Stop the car, Kimi, pull off where it’s safe and stop the car. P1 for a few seconds and then P0.”
“And P0 Kimi.”
Raikkonen: “I am already.”
“OK copy. Sorry we can’t see.”

“OK you can do one more push or you can box now. Either way cool the car.”
Grosjean: “Yeah I have no more deployment at the exit of the last coner.”
Yep Fabio sees it, OK
Grosjean: “Picked up quite a bit of understeer in six and seven.”
“Yep, more understeer, OK.”
Grosjean: “I haven’t got any precise test to do so I guess we can box and think about it.”
“Let’s box, we’ll work on the mas and things. See if we make a small bar change or something. So you can box.”

Life got worse for Massa at Williams.

Massa: “I had a problem on the brakes.”
“OK understood.”
Massa: “Yep I confirm I lost the brakes completely.”
“OK understood. Can you bring it back slowly? OK we’ll box this lap.”
Massa: “Was just no pedal. It was quite long in corner 11 but it was working at least, then it stopped compoletley”
“OK understood. OK Felipe so we’re just stopping normally and we’ll push you back.”
Massa: “Unbelievable. There was just no pedal. Zero.”

Stroll: “I just don’t feel grip.”
“OK understood, abort the lap. You’ve got Ericsson behind, two seconds, let Ericsson through.” #F1

To Bottas: “Practice braking for turn one again.”

Second practice

After quick work by the Ferrari mechanics – including some from Vettel’s car – Raikkonen was out in time for the start of second practice.

“Quick radio check Kimi.”
Raikkonen: “It’s OK.”

To Magnussen: “Try higher gear in corner 12. We are losing performance.”

Vettel: “I think you saw. Struggling with the front end six and seven. The first was more limited.”

Palmer: “Understeer quite big in five-six, quite big in ten.”
“Understood.”

Vettel: “Not ideal with the traffic in the last sector both laps. Similar behaviour from the first to the second attempt.”

To Hamilton: “No one’s gone faster on their third lap. Suggest we just go through the pits rather than box.”

Carlos Sainz Jnr’s session-halting problem seemed to be more serious than just a fire extinguisher.

To Ricciardo: “Sainz is at turn 11, the fire extinguisher’s gone off in the car.”

Pascal Wehrlein was back in the Sauber but experienced a strange handling problem.

“So what is the reason exactly, Pascal? You have to keep pushing to make the tyres working. Describe the problem, please”
Wehrlein: “The front inside corner is in the air, every corner, even through high-speed.”

“V Lim two for exit turn ten”
Stroll: “V Lim what?”
“V Lim two”

Stroll: “The radio is horrible, I can’t hear a word you say.”

Lewis Hamilton had a near-miss with Nico Hulkenberg which the stewards are investigating.

Hamilton: “These drivers are just so dangerous, man.”
“Look out for Valtteri behind. Copy that last message.”

Verstappen: “There was some stuff, I don’t know, a piece of carbon on the track in front of me and then Bottas backed out. They have to go quicker.”
“Confirm where the debris is, Max.”
Verstappen: “Turn 12, the fast right-hander.”

Hamilton: “Think Valtteri’s rear T-wing just flew off.”

Raikkonen: “I have a lot of vibration in the brakes. I don’t know why.”
“Understood Kimi.”
Raikkonen: “I think it’s from the front, the tyres.”

Traffic, set-up and radio problems continued to vex some drivers:

“So prepare V Lim two, that’ll be fifth gear exit turn ten.”
Stroll: “Stop talking! It’s really hurting my ears, the radio. The radio’s horrible. I can’t hear a word you’re saying.”

“Try entry mid 22 for turn 14 only and then go back to…”
Grosjean: “I cannot. Really struggling here it’s all going apart.”
“Try torque four then, might help the front locking.”
Grosjean: “Well that doesn’t work. So I’ve got no more tools. Less toggle is understeer, more toggle is understeer. I don’t even know how to fix it.”

Vettel: “OK down on upshift, second to third.”
“Copy that.”
Vettel: “OK we’re just [censored by FOM] around in traffic. What is the gap behind?”
“Perez three seconds behind. Then behind Perez is Hulkenberg. Then behind Hulkenberg is Kvyat.”

2017 Bahrain Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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One comment on “2017 Bahrain Grand Prix team radio highlights: Practice”

  1. The stand out for me…

    “We need to slow down Kimi, we need to slow down and box.”
    Raikkonen: “I have.”
    “Stop the car, Kimi, pull off where it’s safe and stop the car. P1 for a few seconds and then P0.”
    “And P0 Kimi.”
    Raikkonen: “I am already.”
    “OK copy. Sorry we can’t see.”

    “So what is the reason exactly, Pascal? You have to keep pushing to make the tyres working. Describe the problem, please”
    Wehrlein: “The front inside corner is in the air, every corner, even through high-speed.”

    “So prepare V Lim two, that’ll be fifth gear exit turn ten.”
    Stroll: “Stop talking! It’s really hurting my ears, the radio. The radio’s horrible. I can’t hear a word you’re saying.”

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