“I just don’t like that kid’s face”: Hungarian GP practice team radio highlights

2017 Hungarian Grand Prix

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Daniel Ricciardo wasn’t entirely happy despite topping the two practice sessions at the Hungaroring today.

Here’s what he and the other drivers had to say.

First practice

The McLaren drivers were in the top ten in both sessions but experienced problems at the beginning of first practice.

Alonso: “I have on the dash the message ‘puncture'”.
“It’s a problem with the dash, no problem on the car.”

Alonso: “Do you want DRS or non-DRS?”
“Let’s do non-DRS just to test deployment. Be careful of front tyre temperatures.”

Hungarian Grand Prix practice in pictures
Vandoorne: “Shut down.”
“Copy”
Vandoorne: “Also I’m stuck in gear.”
“OK Stoffel we think we can try cranking.”
Vandoorne: “Now running again.”
“Stoffel did the engine stop there or did you lose the car?”
Vandoorne: “Felt like the engine stopped.”

Romain Grosjean had a prang at the start of another frustrating Friday.

Grosjean: “The rear end feels very loose I don’t know why. OK box, I hit the wall, something wrong with the rear end of the car.”

Verstappen: “My radio cable is a bit stuck, I can’t move my helmet a lot.”
“Do you need to box?”
Verstappen: “No for one run I think I can manage.”

Sainz: “A lot of understeer in the car, medium to high speed.”
“Understood.”

Hamilton: “Where the time in sector one?”
“Braking turn one, entry to two.”

Sainz: “Something is not right with the car. A lot of understeer. Check the front loads.”

Massa: “Just made a big mistake in corner one.”
“OK, understood.”

Stroll: “No grip, really struggling.”

Carlos Sainz Jnr eventually got on top of his set-up woes.

“How was this lap Carlos?”
Sainz: “Same. A bit more front, but a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of understeer.”

Vettel: “OK struggling with oversteer, the rear tyres didn’t seem to be ready.”

“You are quickest.”
Ricciardo: “Yeah, yeah!”

Grosjean: “The brakes are not working today. Very different from the last race. I don’t know what’s going on.”

“Any better this lap?”
Sainz: “Yep. Finally.”
“OK, good.”

To Ricciardo: “OK Daniel Mercedes 23.2s, you are doing 22.6.”

To Grosjean: “Think we just have to give you a stronger rear package for the afternoon so we’ll work on that over lunch.”

Jolyon Palmer broke his front wing at the end of the first session.

Vandoorne: “Palmer went off and broke something on his car. I didn’t hit anything.”

“Palmer: “I’ve got a puncture.”
“OK just come in slow.”
Palmer: “No, can’t, there’s bodywork rubbing too much.”

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Second practice

As has become very familiar during Friday practice sessions, Grosjean was not at all happy with his car’s balance.

Grosjean: “Guys is the aero balance of correct? I’ve got as mountain of understeer.”
“Mountain of understeer, OK checking.”
Grosjean: “Yeah we should do a pit stop. I don’t know what you’re thinking guys but…”
“OK we were hoping that maybe when the front temps came into the window it would be OK but…”
Grosjean: “It’s not.”
“Yeah, massive understeer.”
Grosjean: “So how much are we talking about?”
“I’ll add 0.4, is that OK?”
Grosjean: “Yes please.”

Hamilton: “Very loud whistle from the engine.”

Grosjean: “OK I’ve got an issue. I’ve spun. It’s getting worse and worse and worse.”
“OK what’s the main problem that you feel?”
Grosjean: “Understeer I’ve got no front end.”
“Let’s box Romain.”
Grosjean: “Don’t have time. I’ll try to go. I don’t know what’s going on.”

Pascal Wehrlein had problems with his car and later spun into a barrier.

Wehrlein: “Something is wrong with the rear. Something is broken.”
“Copy, we check it.”

Wehrlein: “My car is moving to the right on braking.”

Lewis Hamilton found it difficult to improve his time after switching to the super-soft.

Hamilton: “Has anyone improved on this tyre?”
“Vettel, Raikkonen also improved. Vettel was 18.6.”

A settings change went wrong for Kimi Raikkonen, bringing his Ferrari to a temporary halt.

“So we need fail B zero five on, Kimi. And we need to slow down while we do that fail. So don’t be at 100% throttle when you do that fail. Just watch Grosjean.”
Raikkonen: “No, I have no power. Absolutely no throttle when I do that.”
“OK. Bring the car back.”
Raikkonen: “No I cannot. Listen, I don’t have the throttle. I cannot do anything. Can I do something to fix it?”
“It should be back now, try now.”
Raikkonen: “No, nothing.”
“Just the check gear, Kimi, check you’re in first.”
Raikkonen: “It’s fine but I have no throttle response.”
“OK, can you get into first gear? For us it seems like you’re in neutral.”
Raikkonen: “No I am in first gear. No, please, listen, I can get the gears in but I have zero throttle response. Nothing happens when I… once you asked me to do the fail I lost throttle completely.”
“Understood Kimi. Go P zero and we’ll try to fire up on the MGU-K. K1 button then into P2.”

Massa: “I think we need to check the car. Losing the car very easily on the rear.”

Palmer: “The car’s got so much oversteer I can’t even drive it.”

Wehrlein caused a red flag by crashing his Sauber at turn 11.

Wehrlein: “Massive.”
“Understood, Pascal.”
Wehrlein: “Yep all OK.”

Vettel: “Engine ringing, low revs out of four.”
“Understood, we saw it.”

To Vandoorne: “OK Stoff back off. We’re going to box. Just drive back slowly, stay backed off.”

Grosjean’s frustrating afternoon continued.

Grosjean: “Ericsson, come on, must be kidding me. Unbelievable.”
“Yeah he almost drove into you.”

“How are these tyres?”
Vettel: “Seriously, after three corners? They are fine to run if that’s what you want to know.”
“No, for the vibrations you reported before, they’re still there?”
Vettel: “No it’s OK. Still a bit but not bad.”

Grosjean: “Toro Rosso nicely blocked me. He’s letting me by now it’s too late. OK I’ve got no rear end, did you see what happened in turn one?”
“Yeah OK we’re checking.”
Grosjean: “I don’t know what to do guys. One lap is massive understeer the next run is massive oversteer.”
“OK. The entry snap in one I would close the mid so try 24.”

Grosjean: “What is Vettel doing? Guys. honestly what is that?”
“Yeah we see it.”
Grosjean: “Yeah but we see it, we always give places to everyone. it completely shaft me when I’m starting a timed lap. He’s coming out of the box. Come on.”

“Magnussen: “What is Lewis doing?”
“No idea, mate.”

Ricciardo later admitted he was (jokingly) referring to Esteban Ocon, who had held him up.

Ricciardo: “I just don’t like that kid’s face. Not a fan.”

2017 Hungarian 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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11 comments on ““I just don’t like that kid’s face”: Hungarian GP practice team radio highlights”

  1. Haha. Grosjean.
    Good for him that he is making a book about cooking as he needs a new career fast, hopefully he cooks better than he drives.

    1. You have to feel sorry for him tho, driving so slowly that the slowest car car in the field almost ran into him:

      Grosjean: “Ericsson, come on, must be kidding me. Unbelievable.”
      “Yeah he almost drove into you.”

  2. Pretty sure Riccardo is referring to the eye brows there.

    1. Probably the shoey.

  3. Grosjean must be getting desperate. That Ferrari drive is not coming and his brakes are bad as ever.

  4. Grosjean’s glass is always half-empty.

  5. Well Daniel not everyone is a fan of your kangaroo face either.

  6. @preivu Danny was so quick on friday he was sucking the koala’s out of the trees in OZ

    1. Just as long as he’s not sucking sweat out of his shoes, I’m ok. I walk away from the screen every time he does that. Ruins the moment.

      1. I love it! Been loving the energy and excitement of podiums of late.

      2. Yeah, it was funny the first time. Not so much now.

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