Bahrain GP Friday practice
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By: Geoff Creighton
Summary
Status: Stopped
Top 10: 1 Raikkonen, 2 Vettel, 3 Bottas, 4 Hamilton, 5 Verstappen, 6 Ricciardo, 7 Hulkenberg, 8 Gasly, 9 Alonso, 10 Vandoorne.
"It would be better to see what this tyre can really do," says Hamilton. Mercedes says it is "happy with that", so presumably Hamilton - on mediums - is going to push on.
Magnussen asks for some information on pace, and Haas says "we are just checking". "You've been checking for the last 15 minutes..." is the response from the car. Ouch.
Hmm. If that gets confirmed as an unsafe release for Raikkonen, Ferrari won't like the look of this in the rulebook: 'If a car is deemed to have been released in an unsafe condition during any practice session, the stewards may drop the driver such number of grid positions as they consider appropriate.'
More unimpressed radio traffic from Leclerc. He is told to avoid short-shifting in Turns 6-7, and he says "I will try... but the balance is very difficult".
Looks like a wheel-change drama for Raikkonen: "I could see the guy waving," he said as he pulled up at the side of the track after leaving the pits.
Verstappen is told he has the lowest tyre degradation of anyone at the moment. "This is spot on Max, really good."
Red Bull is the latest team to suggest that some running in traffic wouldn't be a bad thing. Ricciardo is told Stroll is up ahead, and "if you get a chance, have a look". Lots to learn about the new cars this early in the season, and temperature management is crucial.
Ricciardo is told that Bottas's long-run pace is a tenth or two quicker than his at the moment. Both are on supersofts, with Bottas's tyres four laps older.
Hamilton reports he's in traffic, but he's reminded - after the Australian GP chase of Vettel and temperature concerns - that "the data for us in traffic is of interest, but do as you see fit".
"I went off the track," says Verstappen, as we get a replay of him missing the apex at Turn 10 and running wide.
"Can you check Turn 1, what engine hesitation we have?" asks Alonso. McLaren says "we see what happened there, nothing to worry about."
"Very low energy power now - could use a bit of DRS to compensate," says Hulkenberg, but Renault tells him not to. Hulkenberg says it's "ridiculous".
Hartley is told not to back off to get clear track: "Do not drop, we need some laps in traffic." That makes sense for Toro Rosso, which is likely to spend most of its Sunday evening battling with other cars and not running in clear air anyway. There's a set-up consideration there, but potentially also a temperature management factor as well. A race simulation run in clear air wouldn't actually be that accurate.
A bit of chat on Raikkonen's radio about if he should come in. He's initially told "next lap" but he overrules and says "Now, now, now".
Here's the full rundown of the field now we've switched from single-lap to long runs: 1 Raikkonen, 2 Vettel, 3 Bottas, 4 Hamilton, 5 Verstappen, 6 Ricciardo, 7 Hulkenberg, 8 Gasly, 9 Alonso, 10 Vandoorne, 11 Grosjean, 12 Sainz, 13 Ocon, 14 Perez, 15 Magnussen, 16 Leclerc, 17 Stroll, 18 Sirotkin, 19 Ericsson, 20 Hartley.
"I smell a lot of something burning, but it might be from outside," is the latest Raikkonen feedback. He's told everything is fine, so perhaps there's a bonfire that has been lit somewhere.
It's long run time. The Ferraris and Mercedes drivers are all on track, with Vettel on softs and the others on supersofts.
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