Nico Hulkenberg is confident the serious cooling problems both Aston Martin drivers encountered during the last race won’t resurface this weekend.
He and team mate Lance Stroll were both told repeatedly to reduce their pace during the Bahrain Grand Prix in order to bring the temperature of their cars down.The situation was described as “critical” for both drivers and at one stage Hulkenberg was told he could not make a pit stop because his car was too hot. Both had to ‘lift and coast’ into corners by backing off early, pull off-line on straights to get fresh air into their radiators and pull away slowly after pit stops to manage the problem.
Hulkenberg, who is substituting for Sebastian Vettel again this weekend, believes the team have a solution in place for this weekend’s race in Jeddah.
“I think we have it under control, we understood what went wrong,” he said in response to a question from RaceFans. “It was just kind of a bad call on the cooling side I think.
“It is manageable. It was quite compromising in the race in Bahrain but nothing that concerns us going forward.”
Selected Lance Stroll radio messages from the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix
2 | Michell | DRS is enabled, Zhou is 1.1 behind. |
2 | Michell | Zhou 1 behind, 1 behind. |
2 | Stroll | Stop with the gap. |
3 | Michell | Can we do a bit of lift-and-coast for tyres and PU. Lift-and-coast. |
3 | Michell | Lance, we need to focus on the energy, we need to focus on getting the pack up. |
3 | Stroll | [Unclear]. |
3 | Michell | Car behind is Norris on medium. No energy button, no energy button. |
4 | Stroll | Suffering a lot with rear. |
4 | Michell | Plus two on brake balance. Lift-and-coast can help, lift-and-coast can help as well. |
4 | Michell | Okay at their peak Lance they’re now so and they’re going to come bit back to of you. Lift-and-coast |
4 | Michell | We need Lift-and-coast turn 11 for PU. |
5 | Michell | Okay we need Lance lift-and-coast urgent, for PU, lift-and-coast for PU. |
5 | Stroll | I am lifting and coasting… |
5 | Michell | We need more… |
5 | Stroll | What do you want me to tell you? |
5 | Michell | We need more, we need more. |
5 | Michell | Critical – 1.4 to Norris – critical lift-and-coast. Good job, good job, we need that. |
5 | Michell | Okay keep lifting and coasting critical good job for now, good job for doing now, keep it. |
6 | Michell | Keep doing what you’re doing, Lance, it’s coming back to us. |
6 | Michell | We need 20 metres more Lance, 20 metres more lift-and-coast everywhere please. |
7 | Michell | Keep doing the lift-and-coast, it’s good, it’s getting it under control, Norris has the same issue. |
10 | Michell | Keep lifting-and-coasting for PU. Good job, though. |
10 | Michell | Both safety car windows are open, both safety car windows are open. |
11 | Michell | Strat six, strat six and keep doing your lift-and-coast. |
11 | Michell | Pull out to take some air on the straight, pull out to take some air on the straight to cool the PU. |
12 | Michell | Pull to the right of Albon on start/finish, pull to the right of Albon on start/finish for cooling. |
12 | Michell | And strat seven as well, strat seven. |
12 | Michell | That was really good Lance, let’s keep doing that, that’s going to give us the engine temp to attack him. |
13 | Stroll | Do you prefer I use high revs or low revs for engine temperatures? |
13 | Michell | Longer gears. What you’re doing is good, what you’re doing is good. Keep pulling out, lift-and-coast and longer gears. |
13 | Michell | Keep pulling out on the straight Lance. |
13 | Stroll | Yeah, he’s pitting. |
13 | Michell | Copy. Let’s focus on getting the PU down, let’s push on and get the PU temperature down. |
13 | Michell | Zhou is 6.6 ahead so use this free air to cool the car. |
13 | Stroll | Do I have to lift-and-coast as much in free air? |
13 | Michell | Yes for now it’ll get it down quicker. |
14 | Michell | Car behind is Alonso, he’s pitted he’s doing 38s, he’s quick. Different strategy, different race, so don’t hold up, don’t lose time with Alonso. |
14 | Michell | Okay Alonso 1 behind, different race to focus on the PU. |
17 | Michell | Okay Lance use the tyres, keep lift-and-coast, but use the tyres. |
18 | Michell | Lance boxing we’re this lap, we’re boxing this lap. |
18 | Stroll | Okay copy. |
18 | Michell | Lance we’re going to need a into lift 14, lift into 14. |
18 | Michell | Big lift into 14, big lift into 14 and there will be no launch, gentle pull-away from the pit stop, gentle pull-away from the pit stop. Box box, box box. |
Selected Nico Hulkenberg radio messages from the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix
1 | Hulkenberg | A bad de-rate there on the main straight. |
1 | Cronin | Copy that we see, we’re looking. |
3 | Cronin | So Nico for engine and tyre a bit of lift-and-coast into one and four, a little please, bit of lift-and-coast one and four. |
4 | Cronin | A bit more lift-and-coast if you can, please, a little bit more lift-and-coast for clips. |
4 | Cronin | So Nico we do need to cool the engine, we need to cool the engine, so pull to the side a bit and do lift-and-coast. |
5 | Cronin | So Nico we need a lot more of that please, a lot more. You have to do a big lift-and-coast. If that costs position, that’s what you’ve got to do. Some big lift-and-coasts now. |
5 | Cronin | Pull to the please, side, pull to the side, cool the engine. |
5 | Cronin | Okay Nico you have to keep doing it, please, keep pulling to the side. |
5 | Cronin | Okay Nico so you’ve got to keep doing it, you’ve got to keep cooling the engine, Lance and Norris behind have got the same issue. |
6 | Cronin | Okay Nico one clock forward on brake balance and keep pulling to the side and keep doing lift-and-coast, you’re doing very good. |
6 | Cronin | So Nico you’re doing a good job but I need a bit of lift-and-coast into eight and also 10. As well as 11. |
6 | Cronin | Schumacher car ahead, and you need ACS off you when can, ACS off. |
6 | Cronin | So let’s try and get Schumacher, because that will help the engine. You can use energy, good. |
7 | Cronin | Okay Nico you’ve got to do a bit more lift-and-coast, please, a bit more lift-and-coast, we’re critical on engine. |
8 | Cronin | Car behind is now Norris. |
8 | Cronin | Okay Nico I know this is painful, but you’ve got to keep doing the engine cooling. |
9 | Cronin | It’s critical on engine now, Nico, critical. |
9 | Cronin | Okay Nico so Norris is still 0.7 behind. Keep doing the engine cooling please. |
9 | Cronin | So we do need more lift-and-coast, Nico, more lift-and-coast. |
10 | Cronin | Keep doing the lifting, coasting in free air, please. |
11 | Cronin | So Nico we need more, please, more lift-and-coast. I know it’s painful, you’re doing a good job, but we need more. |
11 | Cronin | So Nico this next lap I need bigger lift-and-coast, especially into four. |
11 | Hulkenberg | Do you want eighth gear on the straight or not? |
11 | Hulkenberg | The rears are going off now. |
11 | Cronin | Copy that, Nico, copy. |
12 | Cronin | So Nico we’re too hot to be able to pit so we need to do more cooling, even if it costs a position, more cooling. |
12 | Cronin | So Nico if you can use higher gears in the corners where you can, use high gears, and later downshifts, that also helps engine temps. |
12 | Cronin | That will help a bit, Nico. |
13 | Cronin | Okay Nico you’re doing a very good job. You can do go torque you nine if want a bit of stability, torque nine and click forward on brake balance. |
13 | Cronin | So keep doing the engine cooling, you’re doing a good job. Keep doing the engine cooling. |
13 | Hulkenberg | This strange sensation, the car is kind of squaring under braking. |
13 | Cronin | Copy that. So Alonso is about to pass Norris behind, he’s pit-stopped onto a medium. Alonso is fast behind on failing a medium. It’s a different strategy so don’t lose time with him. |
14 | Cronin | Becoming a little bit rear-limited now. |
14 | Cronin | Yeah copy that, Nico, copy that. |
14 | Cronin | Seventh or here? eighth in the straight |
14 | Cronin | So there are two cars exiting the pits ahead now. |
14 | Cronin | So Nico eighth gear is good, eighth gear is good. |
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Patrick (@paeschli)
25th March 2022, 13:50
Just imagine being told to lift-and-coast over 15 times in a race