"Bad call on cooling" behind Aston Martin's engine warnings

Nico Hulkenberg is confident the serious cooling problems both Aston Martin drivers encountered during the last race won’t resurface this weekend.

Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free

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.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Browse all 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix articles

New on RaceFans

“Bad call on cooling” led to Aston Martin’s “critical” engine warnings in Bahrain

2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Selected Lance Stroll radio messages from the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix

Selected Nico Hulkenberg radio messages from the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix

2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Author information

Keith Collantine

Claire Cottingham

1 comments on ““Bad call on cooling” led to Aston Martin’s “critical” engine warnings in Bahrain”