Bahrain Grand Prix 2020: Qualifying team radio
70 radio messages were recorded during qualifying at the Bahrain Grand Prix 2020, across 18 drivers. 68 of them have a transcript; the rest are audio only. Esteban OCON had the most, with 9.
These are transcripts of real team radio audio, produced by speech recognition and presented as an archive rather than as edited prose. Radio is clipped and noisy, so wording can be imperfect. Each message is attributed to the driver or their engineer, and the original audio is playable in the archive.
Who was on the radio
- Esteban OCON · Renault · 9 messages
- Max VERSTAPPEN · Red Bull · 8 messages
- Pierre GASLY · AlphaTauri · 8 messages
- George RUSSELL · Williams · 6 messages
- Carlos SAINZ · McLaren · 6 messages
- Lance STROLL · Racing Point · 5 messages
- Daniil KVYAT · AlphaTauri · 4 messages
- Alexander ALBON · Red Bull · 4 messages
- Charles LECLERC · Ferrari · 4 messages
- Kevin MAGNUSSEN · Haas · 2 messages
- Sergio PEREZ · Racing Point · 2 messages
- Romain GROSJEAN · Haas · 2 messages
- Lewis HAMILTON · Mercedes · 2 messages
- Lando NORRIS · McLaren · 2 messages
- Sebastian VETTEL · Ferrari · 2 messages
- Daniel RICCIARDO · Renault · 2 messages
- Antonio GIOVINAZZI · Alfa Romeo · 1 message
- Valtteri BOTTAS · Mercedes · 1 message
Every message, in the order it happened
Engineer: okay track is clear only car on track and let's go push before the last corner
Max VERSTAPPEN: Brightness going to go down again.
Engineer: Standby, track is clear.
Engineer: OK Max, positive on the brakes now on the run to turn 14. And it'll be VVAL 3 and recharge off when you are ready. VVAL 3 and recharge off when you're ready. Nice and positive on the brakes.
Engineer: So you can manage your outlap and then just make sure you have a reasonable gap to Latifi at the end.
Engineer: OK, recharge on, and double slow now.
Engineer: Focus on tires and brakes, beat big braking when you can.
Daniil KVYAT: The upshift lights are a bit bright. Can we do anything about it?
Engineer: Carlos the big flag looks a bit calmer now difficult to judge wind with all the following
Engineer: Recharge off we'll sort the B-Bell out on the straight. So B-Bell 4 please, B-Bell 4.
Engineer: Good lap here, good lap, shame about the last corner. Box, box, quick in-lap please, quick in-lap. I lost a bit the rear last corner. Yeah, copy that. And I'm afraid turn 11, I think we'll have to deal with it at the moment. We haven't to fix the problem.
Charles LECLERC: It's
Engineer: a
Charles LECLERC: mess
Engineer: Yeah, very nice work there. I don't hear. Very nice work, very nice work.
Engineer: Happy with the flap here? Or you want to take a step more?
Pierre GASLY: No, no, I just want to stay in the box.
Engineer: Yeah, okay.
Charles LECLERC: Please don't send me into traffic like this
Carlos SAINZ: Yeah, a bit of vibrations on this set from the dive
Engineer: Copy
Engineer: Okay out lap prep was good, so we just need to manage this to open the lap so you are the lead car
Engineer: OK, so just think about your temperatures. As before, the fronts will continue to drop. Rears are not looking too bad.
Engineer: So we would have some brake temp to keep the fronts. Fronts are dropping more than there is.
Engineer: Checkered flag checkered flag press in button and stay negative on the Delta time press in button stay negative on the Delta time Good lap. You are ahead of Ramon by 0.02. Unfortunately, we're outside of the 15 Just see how it all settles out. But good job. Good lap improvement there
Engineer: on 18 the 18.
Romain GROSJEAN: yeah no big surprise there okay i tried too hard mate i wanted to enjoy it and
Engineer: that
Romain GROSJEAN: car doesn't allow you to enjoy it but good job everyone thanks and hopefully it's not too bad tomorrow
Audio only, no transcript available for this message.
Engineer: Remember, mine is on target, boxes left, mine is on target.
Antonio GIOVINAZZI: One, I lost again the 5, from half-flop.
Engineer: Copy Antonio. So, just, let's focus on Crawley now, we will... Again? Yeah, copy Antonio.
Engineer: OK, George, we are through. We are through.
George RUSSELL: Woo! Nice, nice, nice. Nice!
Engineer: Okay Lance, how was that?
Lance STROLL: Yeah, just so much more grip.
Engineer: Okay dude, in sync with, looks like behind, he's just finished, he's timed as well. We're currently P18, P18.
Romain GROSJEAN: Yeah, no big surprise there. It's a shame I picked up that understeer in 13.
Engineer: Yeah, there's a snap on the way out as well, I guess, from the understeer. Just three hundredths to Kevin, P18 ahead, which has dropped down to P19.
Romain GROSJEAN: Okay, I tried too hard, mate. I wanted to enjoy it, and that car doesn't allow you to enjoy it, but good job, everyone, thanks, and hopefully it's not too bad tomorrow.
Engineer: Yeah, copy that, mate, and that's a good recovery from where we were at the beginning of P3.
Engineer: Okay, let's go.
Audio only, no transcript available for this message.
Engineer: Okay, let's go
Engineer: Okay, so far only Gasly and Kvyat have gone on soft, all other cars on medium. The Toro Rosso only have one medium tyre, Carlos, so no big surprise.
Engineer: And we have headwind at turn 4
Engineer: Need to wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Good to go.
Engineer: yellow turn one single yellow to double yellow turn one double yellow turn one
Carlos SAINZ: Yeah, there's no drive it's like something is blocked at the rear like the rear tires are blocked
Engineer: And Sainz is stopped at turn 1. He's stopped? Yeah, stopped at turn 1 and I think he's pan or something.
Engineer: On clear we will go to prime. We will go to prime on the next run. We think there is time for one run. It looks like a lot of tailwind in turn 1, the club.
Engineer: So Lewis, we will go to the other set of medium tyres. Let's use
Lewis HAMILTON: these.
Lance STROLL: How long is the red flag gonna be so
Engineer: that the red flag we don't know yet it's till they can recover science won't be long Why is that Lance
Lance STROLL: Cuz I gotta be And I'd be like two minutes super quick
Engineer: You can be we're gonna go on soft tires now for your info
Lance STROLL: How long is the red flag going to be?
Engineer: Why is that Lance?
Lance STROLL: Because I got a P
Carlos SAINZ: OK, copy. I know something broke on the car. Come on. No, don't tell me this. There's no drive. It's like something is blocked at the rear, like the rear tires are blocked. Any default I have to do?
Engineer: Can you hear me, Tom? Yes, Carlos, I hear you. It's like the rear tire is locked. We're looking at it. It does look like the rear tire is locked. We're just trying to confirm. We're just trying to confirm. Carlos, the FIA are happy for us to try and restart. Stand by till I give you the call on that.
Carlos SAINZ: Any default to unlock the rear tires?
Engineer: Stand by. We're just checking the gearbox. Carlos, we're just going to check for another 30 seconds, and then I'll let you know. Carlos, you can get out, but go to P0 before you do. Make sure the steering wheel is off before you get out.
Carlos SAINZ: Cutting that down.
Engineer: Feel free to get yourself ahead of Norris if you need to for tyres, Max.
Engineer: So Lando, there's only two cars behind you at the moment, Albon and Perez, so just do what you want, doesn't matter if they come past you.
Engineer: Look after this set, it's a potential race start set.
Alexander ALBON: Where am I losing the time?
Engineer: It's mainly middle sector, a little bit 6-7, a little bit 8 and a little bit 9.
Engineer: Dance, everyone has gone medium, everyone has gone medium, we're the same as everyone.
Engineer: Do not give Leclerc a tow. Avoid Leclerc tow.
Sebastian VETTEL: I had a couple of bubbles
Engineer: OK, you finished a P8 in that session on 28.9, obviously there was some track improvement after that, so I think that was really good in the circumstance, that was really good, excellent, there's only two cars around soft, that was Albon and Norris, both Ferraris are out, as is Stroll. Yeah,
Esteban OCON: a little
Engineer: bit too much front end, I think we're a bit...
Engineer: That's a P-13, Lance, P-13 Ah,
Lance STROLL: that was a miscommunication
Engineer: Speak
Lance STROLL: about it after
George RUSSELL: Yeah, good effort guys, I had no grip on the used quali tyre, but yep, good job anyway
Sebastian VETTEL: We'll see what we can do tomorrow. Let's be sly fox mode tomorrow
George RUSSELL: Yeah good effort guys, I had no grip on the used quali tyre but yep, good job anyway
Engineer: We need a good braking turn 11. Make sure we get a good braking turn 11 turn 14
Daniil KVYAT: Okay, I think for the used tyre it was in the ballpark, the balance, so I would change a lot more.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, I don't have the same rear grip, even compared to FB3, so I don't know what's going on. The tires went really hard.
Engineer: Okay, understood.
Engineer: How was the front wing offset?
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, that's good.
Engineer: Leave it for the next run?
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, just don't need to slow down, don't
Engineer: be
Max VERSTAPPEN: a grip.
Engineer: OK, understood. Main deficits I think you can see to Hamilton are turns 4 and 7.
Engineer: OK Esteban, so first sector was absolutely awesome, second sector we lost a little bit of time, and final sector was good as well.
Esteban OCON: Yeah could be a lot of tyres. OK. For the last one.
Engineer: OK, understood. Hopefully good learning for the next run then.
Engineer: Last corner again is where we lose too much time, last corner again. What's the main limitation there?
Pierre GASLY: I have no grip, no grip, like no rear. Same story since Q1.
Engineer: Ok, shall we take some flaps off? It seems to be working out for the other car.
Pierre GASLY: Yeah.
Engineer: Ok, let's try that. No need to drop in the end lap, box, box.
Pierre GASLY: I don't feel very good grip, I must say.
Engineer: Ok, we will see for the next set.
Daniel RICCIARDO: OK, actually, probably lost the front more than the rear, particularly early in the lap.
Engineer: OK, understood.
Pierre GASLY: Let's try to be at the front of the queue I would say Let's try to be at the front of the queue otherwise we'll have a pull out lap
Pierre GASLY: The rear left is a bit hotter
Engineer: Take it is in turn 6 on turn 12 Take it is in turn 6 on turn 12 You can help us Good braking while you can
Engineer: Lewis, you're on pole.
Lewis HAMILTON: Great work, guys.
Engineer: Good effort, Max. You got everything out of it you could. Well done.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, luckily I started on the clean side.
Engineer: P-10, Dani, P-10.
Daniil KVYAT: Again, more difficult with the rear, with this flap.
Engineer: I
Daniil KVYAT: should have done that in the end, but you never know.
Engineer: Stop FIA Bridge, stop FIA Bridge, P-1, wait for the signal, MP-0.
Engineer: So that's P2, I lose P1, there's a 3 tenths, there's 2 tenths sector 3, and half a tenth in the first two sectors, good job Valtteri.
Engineer: Well done Alex, you can you can bring it back now
Engineer: And recharge on, I'll keep you updated. F***ed up turn 1, sorry about that. Understood, let's have multifunction white H9, position 14 please, white H9, position 14. And you've finished P9.
Lando NORRIS: Alright, well
Engineer: I mean I messed up turn 1, maybe lost a tenth or something, but the rest of the lap was decent so there wasn't that much more in it. Okay mate, just a reminder when you get to Park Firm A, pause for five seconds, P1, pause for five seconds, P0, key thing is we got Q2 right, well done.
Engineer: P5 Checo, P5, Albon just a couple of hundreds ahead. Well done Checo. Good job guys, well done. Yeah well done, it's all very close.
Engineer: Just looking at that, that is P5, nice job mate Esteban P6 P6, sorry P6 Press just jumped to P5
Daniel RICCIARDO: Okay, well f*** no
Engineer: Charge your battery for tomorrow, we need full throttle, we need to start with the full battery tomorrow, and stay negative
Pierre GASLY: Yeah that was a good lap
Engineer: You can push a bit more, stay negative Still two cars to come mate, so I will stomp down Currently P6, Albon and Ricciardo went in front Ok sorry Pierre that's P8, so we've been jumped by the Renault and the Paris So P8 for us, P10 for Danny
Pierre GASLY: To be fair I didn't have much more, it was the gap, P5
Engineer: It's a tenth, a little bit more than a tenth Very very tight, all very tight And stop FIA bridge, stop FIA bridge When you stop the car, P1, wait for the message, and then P0 Good job, good recovery, wasn't an easy one, but I think we put it together in the end Thank you
Engineer: Great job Esteban, great job mate.
Esteban OCON: Yeah that was close, I thought it was a good lap, just brake a bit early, in 2.13, all right.
Engineer: I thought it was excellent, well done mate, really good session all round, thank you very much.
Esteban OCON: Yeah it's good stuff for tomorrow guys.
Engineer: Yep, awesome mate.
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