Exclusive – Monaco: Immersion with the Renault F1 Team!

Everything started well for the Renault F1 Team in Monaco. On a track lacking grip, both Nico Hülkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo had a pleasant morning, with the German setting the seventh-fastest time in FP1, two-tenths quicker than the Australian, who placed 11th but was also in a good position.

Invited to spend a day up close with the team, we were invited to follow the FP2 from the Renault box, more precisely from the second floor of the garage. The space is divided into three parts: a room for guests, a balcony overlooking the pit lane with the track and the end of the Piscine esses sequence in view… and a second, much more private room where all the engineers for Hülkenberg and Ricciardo are gathered. Inside, there are numerous screens, which we naturally could not approach! However, we didn’t miss much of the on-track action: the team provided a headset for each journalist present, allowing us to hear the conversations between the track engineers and the two drivers! This gave us a better understanding of the 90-minute session.

3:02 PM, start of the first run

Renault’s drivers didn’t wait long to get into the rhythm! Both Ricciardo and Hülkenberg were on the track within the first three minutes of the session. An installation lap was immediately followed by several flying laps to assess the evolution of grip. In Monaco, at this point, F1 had already worn down the tarmac in the morning during FP1, along with Formula 2 during their noon qualifying.

Both cars are on track. Nico headed out on new mediums, Daniel on new hards. Splitting the tyre evaluation work between both drivers. #RSspirit #MonacoGP #FP2 pic.twitter.com/TBks0AO0IW

— Renault F1 Team (@RenaultF1Team) 23 mai 2019

The first stint of the two drivers is differentiated: « Dan the Man » is on hards (gray band), « Hulk » on mediums (yellow band). Quite effective with these tires, Ricciardo sets an initial time of 1:15.038. Hülkenberg is naturally faster, with a time of 1:13.560, placing him in 10th position at the time of his first return to the pits after 20 minutes of testing. His teammate follows suit a few seconds later. The radios heat up: each driver gives a detailed debrief of their car’s behavior, corner by corner, straight by straight. Among the issues raised, a lack of traction on both cars and understeer, especially on the rear of Ricciardo’s car.

« It still seems quite crazy: the drivers do debriefs in less than 2 minutes, and the engineers then spend 3 days on them. » Nicolas Espesson.

3:27 PM, start of the second run:

5 minutes of break and back to racing: the driver of car number 3 is now equipped with soft tires, with a red band. Is this the opportunity to chase a lap time? Not easy! Drivers are often hindered by traffic: they can’t manage more than two or three laps without being disturbed. This is particularly the case for Nico Hülkenberg, who also has the soft tires, but is not improving immediately. On the radio, we are struck by the constant spotting work done by the track engineers. « Bottas two seconds behind you ». « Max six seconds, let him pass ». The work is naturally not unique to Monaco, but it is certainly more important here given the narrowness of the circuit.

In the other car, Daniel Ricciardo improves his time to 1:13.424. The soft tires heat up quickly: a single lap is enough to attack the track as it should.

On this run, the fast laps are mainly done in series of two or three loops. At the end of each series, the drivers really slow down to recharge the ERS batteries.

Launched, Hülkenberg improves after 38 minutes of the session, with a time of 1:12.915. The drivers are pushing more and more towards the limit, especially at the swimming pool esses. Hülkenberg actually has a scare at the spot where Verstappen crashed out in FP3 last year.

But if both drivers continue to improve their times on the soft tires, the competition is also fast: both are dropping in the rankings, finding themselves with very similar times: 1:12.872 for Hülkenberg on his 19th lap, 1:12.888 for Ricciardo on his 23rd lap.

Mid-session, the driver with number 27 completed 19 laps, while the driver with number 3 did 23 laps. But the standings are less glorious: P16 and P17. The two cars are running one second and eight-tenths off the best time, which was set by Bottas!

In his radio debrief, Ricciardo only shows satisfaction with two corners: turn 3, the long left-hander at Massenet, and turn 12, at the Bureau de Tabac. Turn 4 at the Casino is deemed tricky by the Honey Badger. The rear end of the car is still acting up, and the imbalance is particularly noticeable over the bumps.

Pilots conduct debriefs in less than 2 minutes… and engineers then have 3 days of work! »

Nicolas Espesson, expert engineer in engine energy management

Hybrids for Renault F1

3:27 PM, start of the second run

5-minute break and off we go again: the driver of car number 3 is now equipped with soft, red-striped tires. Is it a chance to go for a fast lap? Not easy! The drivers are often hindered by traffic: they can’t put together more than two or three laps without being disturbed. This is particularly true for Nico Hülkenberg, who also switched to soft tires but hasn’t improved immediately. On the radio, we’re struck by the constant spotting work done by the track engineers. « Bottas two seconds behind you ». « Max six seconds behind, let him pass ». The work is naturally not unique to Monaco, but it’s necessarily more important here given the narrowness of the circuit.

In the other car, Daniel Ricciardo improves his time to 1:13.424. The soft tires heat up quickly: one lap is enough to attack the track properly.

“On this run, the fast laps are mainly done in series of two or three laps. At the end of each series, the drivers really slow down to recharge the ERS batteries.”

Launched, Hülkenberg improves after 38 minutes of the session, with a time of 1:12.915. Drivers are increasingly pushing the limits, particularly in the swimming pool esses. Hülkenberg even has a scare at the spot where Verstappen went off in FP3 last year.

But while both drivers improve their times on the soft tires, the competition is also swift: both drop in the standings, finding themselves with very similar times: 1:12.872 for Hülkenberg on his 19th lap, 1:12.888 for Ricciardo on his 23rd lap.

At mid-session, the driver with number 27 completed 19 laps, the driver with number 3 completed 23 laps. But the standings are less glorious: P16 and P17. Both cars are running one second and eight tenths off the best time, which was then set by Bottas!

In his radio debrief, Ricciardo only shows his satisfaction in two corners: turn 3, the long left curve at Massenet, and turn 12, at the Bureau de Tabac. Turn 4 near the Casino is considered tricky by « the Honey Badger ». The rear of the car is still causing issues, with the imbalance particularly noticeable over the bumps.

Nico puts in a 1:12.915 lap. #RSspirit #MonacoGP #FP2 pic.twitter.com/7KkubtgK1T

— Renault F1 Team (@RenaultF1Team) May 23, 2019

3:53 PM, start of the third run

The session enters its second part: with less than 40 minutes remaining, it is time to make a race relay, interspersed with several pit stops in race configuration.

The two Renault drivers are completing laps, more than twenty each. The lap times are slower, between 1:16.500 and 1:17.000 for Ricciardo as well as Hülkenberg. However, the German is slowing down a bit more: his race engineer asks him to save fuel by easing off the throttle on the straight before the braking point: the ex-Williams driver is simply doing lift and coast. The end of the session is therefore dedicated to assessing the degradation of the soft tires for the race.

After 46 laps on the track, Ricciardo returns to the pits for a new set of soft tires, which engages the mechanics for the race. Hülkenberg follows suit 2 minutes later: below, these same mechanics are under considerable pressure but manage the second stop without too much trouble. Once again disadvantaged, Hülkenberg must this time preserve the brakes for 3 laps!

A small alert but without consequences: a part had been installed to increase the temperature of his brakes and thus raise the temperature of the tires. The German completed the session without too many problems.

4:32 PM, end of session: start training!

Right after the session, it’s time for inspections by the FIA! The main object of scrutiny is a plank placed under the car to validate the ride height: if the plank is too worn, it means the car is too low! The test was passed without difficulty for the two yellow single-seaters. Additionally, the mechanics measure brake wear, wheel angles, and roll. The goals are to meet the FIA requirements while understanding the car’s performance development.

On the power unit side, oil levels and water levels are measured. The cars are gradually dismantled, the ERS is charged: both cars will only return to the track on Saturday morning!

Two floors above, the debrief begins in the room reserved for engineers.

A debriefing a bit longer than expected, lasting a good half-hour. Then, the main team leaders come out and speak one by one to our microphone, sharing their perspective on the day of testing.

Cyril Abiteboul (Managing Director Renault Sport Racing):

Clearly, we did not achieve the hoped-for times at the end of FP2. These times do not reflect our performance in FP1, or even Nico’s (Hülkenberg) first stint with mediums in FP2. The explanation for our lack of pace is certainly the setup change we made between the two sessions: we adjusted the suspension differently. We need to find the right compromise between the car’s grip and the aerodynamic performance.

« Nico wasn’t too worried right after the session: he lost time in traffic. Daniel (ndlr: Ricciardo) is more worried: the compromise between the suspensions and mechanical grip was one of the strengths on his Red Bull last year. It’s less the case on our car… but we can’t fix the problem overnight! We are making small improvements, but we need to do even better. Q3 was an achievable goal after FP1, it is less accessible after FP2 but it remains the target. »

« The car must be able to climb the curbs, since it’s an urban circuit, but it also requires good aerodynamic performance. I think it’s this compromise that we lost when we changed the settings during the lunch break. »

Cyril Abiteboul

Nick Chester (Technical Director Chassis):

« The two cars performed well in terms of aerodynamics, as predicted in the wind tunnel. The drivers still struggled on the bumpy sections of the track, experiencing some understeer. In any case, tire degradation is not the main issue for the car: tire management is quite good, better than Haas, for example. »

Marcin Budkowski (executive director of the Enstone factory):

« Indeed, we are asking quite a few questions. What is clear after this Thursday is that we have more questions than answers! »

You have easily guessed it, the Renault clan’s Friday is and will be particularly lively, even without racing, as F1 takes a break in Monaco, leaving room for the main Formula 2 race. Will the French team manage to secure a spot in the top 10 after the qualifiers? Nothing is less certain!

From our special correspondent in Monaco