2017 Spanish Grand Prix team radio highlights: Qualifying

2017 Spanish Grand Prix

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Sebastian Vettel wasn’t the only driver frustrated by his qualifying effort – Esteban Ocon made a mistake with his DRS.

Third practice

The DRS zone was extended ahead of final practice.

“So you were late on DRS both times. One hundred metres earlier.”
Ocon: “Copy that.”

Spanish Grand Prix qualifying in pictures
Perez: “I lacked a lot of front end.”
“Checo, suspension is still coming up so suspension one more cool and one more push lap. Esteban 24.7, particularly found a lot in the third sector. Your first sector was better than your previous lap. What we see if you’re braking quite early in turn ten and maybe carrying too much at 14.”

“OK Lance two green sectors there, sector one and sector two. Try again?”
Stroll: “I think so. The grip is staying pretty consistent.”

“OK to keep pushing?”
Grosjean: “Yeah I am. Haven’t found a sweet spot right now.”
“OK.”

After a frustrating Friday, Fernando Alonso was able to completed more meaningful running.

Alonso: “Better now but last corner a lot of push.”
“OK understood, we’ll look at the data. How do you feel about the balance? Do you want a front wing adjust.”
Alonso: “Yes I think we will try less. Maybe something like one hole and a half less.”
“OK understood we’ll go down one and a half turns.”

To Ericsson: “Compared to Pascal again minimum speeds seems like you’re braking a bit too much at most of the braking. But especially turn one, turn seven and turn twelve again.”

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Qualifying

Q1

Vettel’s qualifying seemed in jeopardy
A late drama almost forced Sebastian Vettel out of qualifying.

“Slow down, slow.”
Vettel: “Yeah, copy that.”
“Stop the car, stop the car now.”
Vettel: “You sure?”
“Stand by. Box Sebastian, try to reach the box.”
Vettel: “OK. Let me know on traffic. I think you saw the issue.”
“Yeah, saw that.”
Vettel: “Let me know if you want higher gear, lower gear, higher or lower revs.”
“We are fine. Driver default Charlie five zero.”
Vettel: “Seems better now. Let me know.”
“OK, that’s fine for us, you can push.”

“Too much rear locking, maybe?”
Grosjean: “No it’s not… whatever.”

“This lap you had headwind turn ten, 2.5. How was this lap?”
Sainz: “Yeah not bad. Some gusts of wind on the main straight, doesn’t give you a lot of confidence when you brake into turn one and four. But the balance is there.”
“Understood.”

“How’d you feel about your lap, question? Looks like the track might be a bit slower than we expected.”
Ricciardo: “Yeah I can improve first two sectors.”

Alonso: “Lap was good, hopefully we don’t need to run.”

Palmer: “Time losses?”
“Turns two, three, exit of turn seven, and then sector three.”

To Kvyat: “OK Danny we are last. Box, box.”

Palmer: “Picked up loads of understeer.”
“Understood Jo. Unfortuantely we’re P17.”
Palmer: “Yep, I know.”

“So we are through to Q2.
Massa: “Very difficult grip, man. Struggling a lot to make the tyres work. Very tricky. Fortunate because it was very difficult.”

Q2

Alonso surprised Kevin Magnussen by beating him to Q3.

Ocon: “We have to cope with the track improvement. I picked up understeer.”
“Copy that. Do you want to come up with front wing?”
Ocon: “Yes.”

“P12 Carlos.”
Sainz: “Yeah I’m sorry to say this but there’s not more than this. We did the maximum we could with this. Good job on the car.”

Hulkenberg: “Ah [censored by FOM]. Well that was a pretty sweet lap.”

Magnussen: “Is anyone behind me on a lap?”
“No because it’s an in-lap for Perez.”
Magnussen: “Ah [censored by FOM] Alonso, he came in front. Sorry guys.”

Q3

Vettel was furious at himself for missing out on pole position but he wasn’t the only driver to make a costly error.

To Hamilton: “OK Lewis so currently P1. Valtteri behind, two-and-a-half tenths. Then Raikkonen, three tenths.”

To Hamilton: “Nice work Lewis, that’s P1. Well done mate. Great job.”

Ocon: “I don’t understand.”
“You didn’t press the DRS at the right place.”
Ocon: “How much, is it worth it?”
“More than two-tenths, more than two-tenths.”

“OK so that’s P3, Valtteri.”
Bottas: “OK copy that, not good enough.”
“Copy that, the race is tomorrow.”

“That was a really good session, mate, you finished P5. You were 19.7, a couple of tenths behind Kimi. Daniel 20.1, Alonso P7.”
Verstappen: “That felt good.”

“Nice lap Fernando we’re definitely in front of Ocon. We are P7. Fantastic all through quali.”
Alonso: “Well done guys, thank you.”

“P2. Very, very close. Hamilton 19.15, you 19.2.”
Vettel: “Oh [censored by FOM] up the chicane, I [censored by FOM] up the chicane. [Censored by FOM] [censored by FOM]. Sorry guys, I had it. The last chicane I lost. I missed the apex in 14 all weekend. Sorry guys.”

2017 Spanish 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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3 comments on “2017 Spanish Grand Prix team radio highlights: Qualifying”

  1. The pic associated with this article shows how ugly the pink color and all the sponsor logos are on the Force India. The car is uglier than a NASCAR chevy with all the stickers. Enzo Ferrari would throw up if he saw an F1 car like the FI.

    1. Sundar Srinivas Harish
      14th May 2017, 2:27

      Well, tell it to FOM. A team like SFI needs all the money it can get, especially considering that their main promoters (UB Group, Sahara) are embroiled in controversy.

  2. Four beeps in one message; wonder what Vettel really said!

Comments are closed.