Carlos Sainz Jnr and Logan Sargeant were both destined to retire from the race in separate incidents, but the pair had a near-miss early on.
As the track dried out, Sainz was running 12th, and was initially eager to gamble on staying out on intermediate tyres when the rain returned. However his team mate was struggling with a power unit problem and Ferrari were preparing to bring him in for a long pit stop in an attempt to reset his electrics, which would lead them to gamble on a switch to slicks for him. Keeping Sainz on the more conservative strategy by fitting him with another set of intermediates meant they weren’t risking both cars.
Lap: 1/70 SAI: 1’57.663
Sainz
No visibility.
Lap: 2/70 SAI: 1’42.579
Sainz
No grip or visibility.
Lap: 5/70 SAI: 1’37.379
Sainz
Sergeant nearly hit me jumping the track. He needs to be more careful when you’re rejoining.
Adami
Copy that. Albon complaining about front tyres, for info.
Lap: 16/70 SAI: 1’28.980
Sainz
Impossible to pass. I’m stuck.
Lap: 22/70 SAI: 1’26.895
Adami
Do you think you can survive with this set all through the next rain or you need a new inter?
Sergio Perez and Pierre Gasly clashed on the first lap – the Red Bull driver’s second first-lap collision in as many races, though this time he was able to continue. Later Gasly dived past Perez, who took to the run-off area in avoidance:
Lap: 10/70 PER: 1’31.205
Bird
Remember zero on the dash. No hotter than that.
Lap: 12/70 PER: 1’31.058
Perez
I’m struggling quite a bit with the wet patches. What’s going on ahead?
Bird
So Hulkenberg on the extreme is yet to pit. He’s four seconds ahead.
Bird
Okay. Hulkenberg has just pitted. He was holding everyone up.
Lap: 14/70 PER: 1’30.583
Perez
It’s very difficult to pass. I’m being held up.
Lap: 18/70 PER: 1’27.644
Perez
I’m struggling with the rear.
Lap: 21/70 PER: 1’31.463
Bird
Gasly at 0.2.
Perez
Perez goes off at turn eight He just pushed me off.
Bird
Bottas at 0.9.
Lap: 22/70 PER: 1’26.184
Perez
My rear tyres seem to be gone.
“It feels way more than half a second”
Charles Leclerc rose to ninth place at one stage in the opening stint but suffered a loss of power. He became more vulnerable as the track dried and DRS was enabled, which allowed Yuki Tsunoda and Alexander Albon to overtake him.
Lap: 19/70 LEC: 1’27.107
Bozzi
In case of similar rain to the race start, are you happy to stay with this set? Question.
Leclerc
No we will a lot more [on] new.
Lap: 20/70 LEC: 1’28.214
Bozzi
Rain expected in four laps. We just need to hang on a bit.
Lap: 21/70 LEC: 1’28.317
Bozzi
It’s all about cooling the tyres where you can now and waiting for this rain.
Leclerc
Yeah but now I don’t do a difference any more, with the rain I’m losing shit-loads of speed in the straight.
Bozzi
I know, and I think you’re doing well, but we need to keep it up.
Leclerc
Ah it’s fucking frustrating.
Bozzi
We are trying our best. We’ll have to wait for the rain and get our chances later.
Lap: 22/70 LEC: 1’27.253
Leclerc
It feels way more than half a second.
Bozzi
Yes. It’s increased. We are more close to a second now.
Lap: 27/70 LEC: 1’45.291
Bozzi
Due to the issue, 1.2. One second, 200 milliseconds.
Leclerc
That’s fucking shit.
Bozzi
Yeah we agree. But we’re still in it. So let’s hope for the rain.
Leclerc
Where is the rain?
Bozzi
So the heaviest rain seems to just be missing. It seems it’s going to be the lightest rain in the next five to 10 minutes.
Having left it until the last minute to decide which tyres to take during the first Safety Car period, Sainz urged his race engineer to give him information more promptly next time. He was also told a problem with his car had seemingly cleared up.
Lap: 26/70 SAI: 1’50.841
Adami
Good. Close to Bottas… no, Bottas is in front, Gasly behind, Magnussen behind. Look after your rears and charge button on.
Sainz
Ricky, let’s be quicker with the rain forecast. You didn’t give me a chance to think about it. Please.
Adami
Copy. In five minutes green to yellow, green to yellow rain lasting four minutes.
Lap: 48/70 SAI: 1’21.875
Sainz
Woah I just saved a huge crash with a fucking AlphaTauri.
Sainz
He cannot do that. People are crazy.
Adami
Yeah, it was super close there.
Adami
The aero numbers now are better. There probably was something stuck underneath the floor and now has recovered so there’s good performance.
“You know rules”
Further back, Zhou Guanyu also wanted more information from his race engineer, who felt his driver should have been able to read the Safety Car situation for himself.
Lap: 26/70 ZHO: 1’43.444
Benisi
Confirm.
Zhou
I can go past the Safety Car?
Zhou
He passes the Safety Car I passed the Safety Car, guys, come on.
Leclerc’s pit stop did fix his engine problem but left him a long way behind. At his suggestion – which appeared to be communicated by a switch on the steering wheel – his team switched him to slick tyres. This was a gamble on the rain forecast proving to be an exaggeration, but it wasn’t, and Leclerc struggled enormously with his tyres.
Lap: 28/70 LEC: 2’18.750
Leclerc
How light?
Bozzi
The lightest on our scale. So it might be then for dry.
Leclerc
Do you copy that? It’s a suggestion.
Bozzi
Yes, I copied. Thank you.
Leclerc
Honestly…
Bozzi
And if we stop, hard or medium. Hard will get us to the end.
Leclerc
Yeah, probably hard.
Bozzi
And box, Charles, box.
Leclerc
Leclerc arrives in the pits Better to take risk because with 1.2 seconds off we are not going to go anywhere.
Bozzi
So we’re going to do a power cycle. Ignition off. Then P0. Wait.
Lap: 29/70 LEC: 1’39.909
Leclerc
Leclerc struggles for grip at the wet pit exit Sorry I did it without… ah, shit.
Bozzi
Target three when you can. Driver default delta one five on.
Bozzi
We think we fixed the issue. We think we fixed the issue.
Bozzi
Driver default delta one five off. And K2 off. You’re catching the pack now. They’re going to restart now.
Leclerc
Yeah. We’ve got the rain.
Bozzi
Copy. Just keep it on track. So two laps of rain and then it dries. Just keep it on track and then we’ll go fast.
Lap: 30/70 LEC: 1’44.706
Bozzi
Leclerc goes off at turn three And driver default delta one five off when you can. One five off.
Leclerc
Should we box again? It’s raining too much.
Bozzi
It’s going to last only one, two laps.
Leclerc
For fuck’s sake. It’s raining too much. I’m losing like 10 seconds a lap.
Bozzi
Copy. We box for inters.
Leclerc
If we’ve got nothing to lose I’ll try to keep it on track [unclear]
Bozzi
He stays out [Unclear] Only wet first sector. Even if slow, just keep the temperatures in the tyres and keep it on-track.
Lap: 31/70 LEC: 2’13.657
Leclerc
Yeah, now it’s 30 seconds slower I think.
Bozzi
Rain is clearing now.
Leclerc
Yeah but track is too wet.
Bozzi
If you can driver default one-five off, copy.
Bozzi
Delta one-five off.
Leclerc
He goes off at turn eight For fuck’s sake. It’s already hard enough to keep it on track if we are doing… If we are losing a second and a half per straight I’d rather fucking stop. There’s no point. Otherwise, just put the inter and let me driver normal, man.
Bozzi
If we box inters, we’ll have to box for drives in two laps and then we’ll lose 40s. We’re shit anyway. Up to you.
Leclerc
I’m boxing for inters.
Bozzi
Copy. Update on flap.
Leclerc
I’m okay with flap. Is the engine okay or we are still a second and a half? Think about the mileage on this.
That delay meant he was now being lapped by the leaders, losing even more time. Leclerc had already used more power unit parts than his rivals before the weekend began, so the team decided it was better to retire his car than to incur further wear when points had become unlikely.
Lap: 37/70 LEC: 1’27.015
Leclerc
What is the target about? What are we trying to do?
Bozzi
We’re just waiting for the situation to settle down, and then we will decide.
Lap: 38/70 LEC: 1’27.575
Leclerc
We are completely fine now engine-wise?
Lap: 39/70 LEC: 1’26.012
Bozzi
Yes, we’re fine. DRS enabled.
Lap: 40/70 LEC: 1’26.234
Bozzi
And Gasly just boxed for hard. I’ll update you on his pace.
Bozzi
Gasly still quite slow out of the box in the first sector.
Lap: 41/70 LEC:
Bozzi
So Gasly really struggling, not keeping the car on-track.
Bozzi
Next car behind is Alonso, two seconds. And there’s a big train of cars. Try to push you if you can.
Bozzi
And Charles. We will retire the car. We will retire the car.
After Leclerc, Gasly was the next driver to risk a switch to slick tyres. He made the call by telling his team “let’s try” as he exited the turn nine chicane. His race engineer confirmed the decision as he bore down at the pit lane entrance, the minimal communications reducing the possibility others would realise what they were doing.
Although the conditions proved difficult at first and Gasly went off more than once, he was able to gain positions from others who pitted later.
Lap: 40/70 GAS: 1’42.267
Howard
How’s the track? Suggest the front-right toggle.
Gasly
Out of turn nine Let’s try
Howard
Copy.
Howard
And we’ll do front-right toggle, we’ll go tyre switch to dry.
Howard
Approaching final corner And we’ll box, Pierre box.
Lap: 41/70 GAS: 1’40.549
Howard
Okay so we can go status zero.
Howard
Gasly puts two wheels on the grass at the pit lane exit Obviously let’s stick to the dry line.
Howard
Gasly goes off at turn six I’d suggest not using the top-right modifier, disable that. We’ve got Magnussen in the pits now. So Magnussen the car ahead on medium.
Lap: 44/70 GAS: 1’24.981
Howard
Gasly passes Magnussen So Bottas the car ahead 3.0 on medium. Gap to Bottas 0.5. We’ve got Hulkenberg at the box. May be close on the exit.
Lap: 45/70 GAS: 1’23.452
Gasly
Gasly goes off at the final chicane trying to pass Bottas and is re-passed by him Where is Magnussen?
Howard
Magnussen is one second behind.
Howard
You got offset minus three available.
Lap: 46/70 GAS: 1’22.775
Howard
Gasly passes Bottas The car ahead is now Hulkenberg, 1.3 ahead.
“Blue flag, Hamilton”
Zhou’s switch to slick tyres was compromised by a long pit stop. He sat in the Sauber pit box with his medium compound tyres cooling, and was extremely slow when he joined the track.
That was bad news for Lewis Hamilton, who was gaining time after an early switch to slicks when he caught the Sauber, and lost well over three-and-a-half seconds in a single corner:
Lap: 44/70 ZHO: 2’25.739
Benisi
What do you think on track status?
Zhou
I can’t hear you, man.
Benisi
What do you think about the track?
Zhou
Drier but still might have a bit of a warm-up issue at the moment. Still can be a bit quicker with inter.
Benisi
At the moment Gasly after three laps started to be quicker on slick.
Benisi
And we will box this lap, box this lap.
Zhou
Box?
Benisi
We go for medium. Box this lap.
Zhou
I can’t hear you. Box or not?
Benisi
Box, box, box. Confirmed.
Lap: 45/70 ZHO: 1’45.189
Zhou
He leaves the pits and drives slowly through turns three and four. Hamilton overtakes Blue flag, Hamilton.
Sainz’s race came to an end when he spun at turn six and collided with Alexander Albon. Perez had made a similar mistake moments earlier and driven back to the pits to retire.
Lap: 51/70 SAI: 1’18.957
Adami
29 laps to go, 29.
Adami
Correction, 19 laps to go.
Sainz
DRS train.
Adami
Yeah DRS train. Try to save the tyres and the pack.
Adami
Alonso on hard and Stroll on hard in that group.
Lap: 53/70 SAI:
Sainz
Sainz spins at turn six and is hit by Albon Yeah, sorry for that.
Adami
Sainz drives back Safety Car. Safety Car.
Sainz
I lost control so I couldn’t do anything.
Adami
Understood. Pressures are okay. Is the car okay?
Sainz
I don’t know. It feels okay but the rear of the car maybe had contact.
Sainz
Yeah rear wing is damaged. Box.
Sainz
Copy.
Sainz
Charge on.
Sainz
Yeah, sorry for that. I was trying.
Sainz
Also Checo had a similar issue. And P0 please.
“Nothing happening in front of us, eh?”
Aston Martin enjoyed their best result of the season to date. But Fernando Alonso was disappointed more drivers ahead of them hadn’t been delayed as he collected sixth place.
Lap: 49/70 ALO: 1’21.938
Cronin
Hamilton ahead just went off but he’s okay, back on the track.
Alonso
Where? I need all the info.
Cronin
Turn six he went off. He was pushing very hard. He was doing a 19.6. Hamilton was flat in turn five. We just think we’ve got to put as much temperature in these tyres as you can.
Lap: 58/70 ALO: 2’12.536
Alonso
Yeah. Just try to bring it home.
Chequered flag
Cronin
The pressure you had from Fernando early in the race… from Hamilton, his pace is just quick so you did a good job there to hold him off.
Alonso
Copy. Nothing happening in front of us, eh? Always difficult to get some free positions.
Cronin
Yeah, I was hoping, the Mercedes were fighting pretty hard, I was hoping, but it didn’t happen.
Alonso
Yeah, like the Ferraris off this race but they were behind anyway, so it doesn’t change anything.
People considering that F1 may be adding too much races should play attention to the lawsuit the football players are launching against FIFA and the general argument at “The scarcity value of top-class football” article of FT.
The Benisi Zhou “you know the rules”exchange does not look good, especially for Benisi, the race engineer. It sounds incredibly petulant and immature, like he is saying “it’s not my job to read the rule book for you”.
José Lopes da Silva
16th June 2024, 11:13
People considering that F1 may be adding too much races should play attention to the lawsuit the football players are launching against FIFA and the general argument at “The scarcity value of top-class football” article of FT.
AlanD
16th June 2024, 18:58
The Benisi Zhou “you know the rules”exchange does not look good, especially for Benisi, the race engineer. It sounds incredibly petulant and immature, like he is saying “it’s not my job to read the rule book for you”.