Some of our most loyal fans may have noticed that live commentary is unavailable on our website and the McLaren App this weekend. Commentary has taken a quick pit-stop for some upgrades, but rest assured, commentary will return in 2023! Until then, here’s a rundown of how the team fared during Free Practice 3 in Bahrain.

The afternoon sessions for a night race are always a tricky prospect, FP3 more so. Data from Friday – and comments from the debrief – have been analysed overnight, both here at the Bahrain International Circuit and back at the McLaren Technology Centre. Any set-up changes suggested by that have to be proven out in the final practice session before the cars are locked into their final, immutable specification ahead of qualifying.

The complication in Bahrain – likewise in Singapore, Qatar and Abu Dhabi – is that the track temperature in the middle of the afternoon is much higher than at sunset. 

Lando jumped into the car ahead of the session start and headed out at 1430 on a new set of Soft tyres. He had the track to himself…

Pit > Lando: “No other cars on track to worry about.”

…with the rest of the field choosing to wait until later in the session. Past midday, the track temperature was already starting to tail off. Oscar wasn’t even in the car at this point. He was watching the session start from the Engineers’ Island in the middle of the garage.

The Bahrain International Circuit is one of the more exposed tracks on the calendar, and the wind tends to gust, making braking points very difficult to judge. There are weather stations dotted around the circuit, and the team can also gather wind-speed data from onboard telemetry – but Bahrain also has an enormous flag on the tower at the end of the main straight. Everyone uses that for their reference.

Pit > Lando: “You have a headwind into Turn One.”
Lando > Pit: “I know. I can see the flag!”

Lando started his day with a flying lap followed by three cooldown laps. The tyres – especially the rears – overheat very easily in Bahrain and take a little while to come back into the window. Lando used the slower laps to do some constant speed limit (CSL) – as it sounds, driving at a fixed speed – running, to gather aerodynamic data.

Oscar jumped in at 1441; while he was getting his belts fitted, the rest of his crew began fitting tyres.

Lando’s first flying lap was a 1m34.633, his second a 1m34.321. He boxed on the following lap, completing his seven-lap run at 1445, at which point, seven other cars were on track. His crew immediately dived onto the car for a raft of planned set-up changes at both the front and rear of the car.

Lando: “Quite different with wind today. Tyres were good for the first lap but dropped away by the time I did the second. High-speed is a bit worse today, also braking for Turn 10 is a bit trickier.”

Lando wasn’t very comfortable in his seat either, and jumped out while chief mechanic Kari Lammenranta pitched in to help Lando’s crew out with a minor adjustment…

Lando > Pit: “It feels horrendous! Maybe try to put some foam under my bum?”

Lando’s feedback (not that last bit) went straight across to Oscar who was preparing for his run. He went out at 1449, also on a set of new Soft tyres. Track action was picking up a little at this point. He was the 14th car out, and went onto the track with eight others running, which soon became 17. He started his session with launch practice from the end of the pitlane, and then a series of radio checks at each corner before his first flying lap.

Pit > Oscar: “Launch was one per cent deep, initial throttle good, radio check please.”

Most cars were opting to use a set of Soft tyres at the start of the session. HUL and MAG were on Medium, ALB and SAR on Hard but everyone else had the red-banded C3 fitted.

Oscar’s first lap put him into P7 with 1m34.054. His run was complicated by drivers running different sorts of programmes. Some were doing continuous laps, others were doing single or double cooldown laps, meaning there was a mêlée of fast and slow cars, all trying to find some space.

Pit > Oscar: “Watch for GAS starting a fast lap. ZHO in front is on continuous laps, OCO ahead is slow. PER will open a lap 3.5s behind.”

With a tweaked set-up and – it is to be hoped – a slightly more comfortable seat, Lando was ready to go at 1500 and headed out with his original set of Soft tyres refitted.

Pit > Lando: “As you might expect, it’s a bit of a mess out there now, with all the other cars.”

As Lando went out, Oscar returned to the garage, doing a CSL on the back straight. His first run of the day was six laps, a best time of 1m34.054 put him into P11. When he came in his crew were instructed to take a good look at the bib, on the front of the floor. He hadn’t obviously hit a kerb but the car naturally takes a pounding on this circuit and there were a few spikes in the telemetry which suggested a precautionary check would be a good idea.

Oscar > Pit: “Grip’s quite a bit lower than FP2. Car feels OK though.”

Lando’s second run was a short one, just an out-lap, fast-lap, in-lap, before coming back in at 1506 to fit a new set.

STATUS UPDATE: with 20 minutes remaining in FP3 at the Bahrain International Circuit, and with everyone having a lap on the board. Oscar P11 from six laps; Lando P16 from 10 laps. Running order: 1. ALO, 2. HAM, 3. SAI, 4. LEC, 5. VER, 6. OCO, 7. BOT, 8. GAS, 9. ALB, 10. PER, 11. Oscar, 12. STR, 13. ZHO, 14. RUS, 15. TSU, 16. Lando, 17. DEV, 18. SAR, 19. HUL, 20. MAG.

The two foam pads under Lando’s posterior were a little too much, so the crew removed one. While the tweaked regs for 2023 are designed to reduce porpoising, with so much lap time tied up in running the car low, there’s no way around having the cars crash into the surface on a bumpy circuit like this one – so making the driver as snug as possible is a big issue – more for driveability than comfort.

Oscar fired-up first and headed out with a new set of Softs at 1517, with Lando right behind him. In common with much of the field, they were going for a low-fuel quali-sim. The last chance for a genuinely quick lap before the start of qualifying. Oscar came over the line with 1m33.045 for P4, Lando 1:33.202 for P7.

Pit > Oscar: “Very good stuff, that’s P4. We’re box this lap.”

Oscar > Pit: “Bit of a scruffy lap really – I overshot Turn One.”

After a single timed lap, both cars returned to the garage at 1523. As always, the plan was to put in as much fuel as was practical and get out to do a launch simulation, with both a pit-lane launch and the practice launch from the grid after the chequered flag. Lando also took the opportunity to try, and sign-off, his spare steering wheel.

Pit > Oscar: “Oscar, for the launch, we’ll do one burnout and a first-gear launch – and we’d prefer the left side if there’s space… but I’ll remind you on the way around.”

The hoses came out and the cars fired up at 1528. Oscar went first, Lando 30s behind, both on a Used Soft tyre.

Pit > Oscar: “You’ll take the chequered flag at the end of this lap. Drop was on target, initial throttle good.”

Pit > Lando: “That’s the chequered flag, we’re staying out for the grid launch.”

Lando > Pit: "Right side?"

Pit > Lando: "Yes please!"

Both cars had their grid launch practice – Oscar from the left, Lando from the right to test the grip levels both on and off the racing line. They then cruised around as the crew prepared for pitstop practice:

OpsDirector > Crew: "Pitlane, both cars, Oscar is lead car, 28s gap."

Oscar had his stop and was hustled out of the way to make room for Lando. The cars were pulled back into the garage, and that was the end of the session and the end of practice in Bahrain. Two hours to go to the business end of the first grand prix of 2023…

FP3 completed at the Bahrain International Circuit. Oscar P9 from 12 laps; Lando P13 from 16 laps. Finishing order: 1. ALO, 2. VER, 3. PER, 4. HAM, 5. LEC, 6. RUS, 7. STR, 8. SAI, 9. Oscar, 10. GAS, 11. OCO, 12. ZHO, 13. Lando, 14. MAG, 15. HUL, 16. TSU, 17. BOT, 18. SAR, 19. ALB, 20. DEV.

We’ll be back with another rundown following quali, which starts at 15:00 GMT.

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