Ladies and gentleman, welcome to this new edition of Formula 1 Radio. This week we will make you enjoy all the best team radios from one of the most chaotic and criticized tracks in the calendar: the Arzebaijan’s street circuit in Baku. 

This race has always seen unpredictable podium finishes (Lance, don’t worry, we’re not talking about you), incredible accidents, but the most incredible thing here is how stewards can cause even more damages than the drivers themselves. And Claire Williams knows something about it. 

The stewards are still really sorry for the more damages caused to George Russell’s car, but Claire can look on the bright side: at least her driver did not have any blame for the accident. Just imagine if Lance was still a Williams driver..

Lance Stroll - “I don’t know, I shunted.”
“Copy that. Are you okay?”
Lance Stroll - “Yeah, just got a snap on entry.” (FP2)

At least Claire has an explanation for some her Baku issues, but she also knows how frustrated are now the Pink Panther’s engineers.
Despite this, the Grove team has still lots of issues to fix, but they seems to be on their way. Well, kind of..

To Robert Kubica - “So Rob we can just go straight, go race when the race starts, go race.” (Pre race) 

What does this mean? Maybe there’s a secret dash signal on the FW42’s steering wheel that tell the drivers they’re allowed to take part to the race? Engineers, photographers, everyone in the Paddock: we need to know. 

Another team is struggling a bit: the sister team powered Renault is living the good life with Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris, but it feels like Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg are still struggling.

“How’s the tyre?”
Daniel Ricciardo - “Not okay, but I can survive.” (FP2)

I know that everyone of you, right now, can listen Gloria Gaynor singing in their mind, but surely the once always smiling Daniel didn’t during FP2. And so was his team mate.

Nico Hulkenberg - “How much is missing, the gap to Q2 and to Daniel?”
“1 second. Daniel is 42.480, he is P15.”
Nico Hulkenberg - “Ouch.” (Q1)

And things got worse during the race.

“For best lap time you need to avoid overtake before turn 1.”
Nico Hulkenberg - “I disagree, I need to stay with the slipstream.” (Race)

But then…

Nico Hulkenberg - “Slipstream is impossible, always front locking, always understeer.”
“Copy, we’re on maximum understeering, so we don’t have nothing to offer.”(Race)

Everything that the engineer say is sacred. Don’t forget that, Nico. 
But the real issue, for the yellow team, cannot be find on the car..

To Daniel Ricciardo - “Okay Daniel can you watch your mirrors? We lost all data here.” (Q1)

“Are you okay?”
Daniel Ricciardo - “I didn’t.. I didn’t see him. Sorry, I didn’t see him.” (Race)

M̶i̶r̶r̶o̶r̶, s̶i̶g̶n̶a̶l̶, manoeuvre 🙈

Onboard with former team mates Ricciardo and Kvyat in Baku#AzerbaijanGP 🇦🇿 #F1 pic.twitter.com/NL6TctLoBJ

— Formula 1 (@F1) 1 maggio 2019

Daniel Ricciardo needs a new pair of glasses. And so does Nico…

Nico Hulkenberg - “Who is behind?”
“Grosjean.” (Race)

Oh, no. He was just afraid that it was Magnussen behind him. 

I guess that the other pair of glasses can be pretty useful to Romain, then..

“Watch for Gasly coming behind, watch for Gasly.”
Romain Grosjean - “Where? Where?”
“Two seconds behind.” (Q1)

Romain, obviously, doesn’t fail to entertain us as he always do. What would Formula 1 Radio be without you? 

“Can we stay out and build temperature?”
Romain Grosjean - “No, no, no.”
“We’re not ready to box, we need to stay out, we need to stay out.”
Romain Grosjean - “Mate, it’s dangerous.”
“We will still stay out if it’s okay with you.”
Romain Grosjean - “No, it’s not, I’m sorry.” (FP2)

I guess our favorite French man (sorry Esteban, but you’re used to friend zone) took us seriously when we said that we had to fight for the Iron Throne. 

Speaking about fantasy saga, we have two new segments ready for you: no, we won’t spoiler any Game of Thrones theory or the Endgame plot, but we have Angry Kimi and Worried Lewis. 

Ready? 

Angry Kimi was famous in the Paddock: he ignore team radio, he wanted to be alone, he always knew what he was doing, he only ate ice creams and answered with a “bwoah” everytime someone asked him something. 
Angry Kimi didn’t want anyone around, until he became a dad and finally became as sweet as his ice creams. He started to be loyal, enjoy his team mate Sebastian and even won a race.
And then, he changed team, and he found a new engineer, a new team mate. 
Angry Kimi came back. 
For the firsts GP of the season Angry Kimi tried to stay calm, but we know that everything can happen in Baku, so..

To Kimi Raikkonen - “Okay, let’s go. Stay behind Antonio.” (Q1)

The pitwall told him to follow this one guys, that made it through the Q1 and Q2.

Antonio Giovinazzi - “We are in?”
“So we are P10 so we are in Q3.”
Antonio Giovinazzi - “Yes!” (Q2)

Antonio Giovinazzi - “I made a mistake, I’m sorry, f**k!”
“Yeah, we have seen it Antonio, turn 6, anyway good qualifying performance P8, very good.”
Antonio Giovinazzi - “Where is Kimi?”
“Kimi is P9.” (Q3)

A happy ending right? Absolutely not.

“Okay Kimi, more charge, more charge. Slowing lap.”
Kimi Raikkonen - “It was ***** *****.”
“Okay, we finish P9, P9.”
Kimi Raikkonen - “I would’ve done a f**king better lap on my own. So much better.” (Q3)

Antonio, be careful. Angry Kimi is back.

And so is Worried Lewis. 

We first met him when a blonde German driver took all the victories from him, until he won the Championship. That blonde driver was Nico Rosberg. Rosberg realized his life time dream and retired from Formula 1. During that time, Lewis was so paranoid on the radio: every vibration, every gnat on the visor was reported to his engineer.
Toto, who liked the idea of a blonde driver in his team, but didn’t want Worried Lewis to come back, thought “Is there a blonde driver who can score good points but not make Lewis freak out?”
And so Valtteri appeared. 
After two years of honored service, Valtteri decided it was time for him to make a step forward and try to be like his predecessor. 
It felt impossible at first, but then the 2019 season started and, after four GP, Valtteri made more Pole Position than Lewis. 
What was going on? 
Lewis didn’t know. 

Lewis Hamilton - “Can you check the car? It felt strange.”
“Okay, copy.” (Pre race)

Lewis Hamilton - “The grip didn’t feel very good at the start, the car feels like it’s flexing more, the tires weren’t working at all.” (Pre race)

“Can you give us a balance check?”
Lewis Hamilton - “Quite oversteer. I can keep going at this pace.” (Race)

Lewis Hamilton - “How can I improve?”
“Only area is turn 15 braking.” (Race)

Lewis Hamilton - “Oh, i lost two seconds on this damned delta.” (Race)

At the end of the weekend, someone in the Mercedes garage was singing “All I do is win”, and it wasn’t Lewis. 

Want to know who topped our Hit Parade this week? Let’s go!

Position number 3 for Carlos Sainz: the Spaniard and his team mate form one of the youngest pair of drivers on the grid. This fresh air is having a positive effect on McLaren and these two guys are determined to succeed. 

“Scenario 7, scenario 7.”
Carlos Sainz - “I’m only gonna use it when I really need it, not for the moment.” 
“Okay.” (Race)

Don’t try to tell Carlos what to do. 

Second position on our Hit Parade for Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel. 
Leclerc had some bad times during Quali when he crashed his Ferrari. 

Charles Leclerc - “I am stupid, I am stupid. I switch off everything.” (Q2)

Oh, Charles! 😫#AzerbaijanGP 🇦🇿 #F1 pic.twitter.com/WeN1LcpgPH

— Formula 1 (@F1) 27 aprile 2019

Charles tried to recover for the race, and we know how much he loves being alone in the car.

Charles Leclerc - “Can you speak in the last minute when we aren’t, when we haven’t, when we are in the engine zone? Just to let me know what are.. what tires are the other cars using. I don’t know if it’s possible or not.”
“People behind on Soft.” (Pre race)

Ferrari is facing hard times, but there’s something that our beloved Maurizio has left: team work. 

Sebastian Vettel - “Did he get the fastest lap? Did he get it?”
“Not yet.” (Race)

Sebastian Vettel - “Sorry about the beginning, I was shitting myself a little bit around here, I had no grip.” (Chequered flag)

Seb was as honest as ever after finishing P3 in Baku 😏 😉#AzerbaijanGP 🇦🇿 #F1 pic.twitter.com/1p2S6FyYp8

— Formula 1 (@F1) 28 aprile 2019

These two guys always say sorry and sometimes support each other. Ferrari, wake up! We need you on top!

Until then, there is only one winner. 
Valtteri Bottas takes it all. 
He takes Pole, he takes victory and with this team radio tops our Hit Parade.

Valtteri Bottas - “Amazing job guys, really really strong. Really good job. So proud, proud to be part of this so thank you. So I guess the championship standings is now looking like it should again.” (Chequered flag)

🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁

WATCH: dust flies as @valtteribottas crosses the line in Baku 👋#F1 🇦🇿 #AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/sVibKHC8u9

— Formula 1 (@F1) 28 aprile 2019

Four consecutive one - twos for Mercedes. 
Lewis, be careful. Someone is coming for your throne. 

It was everything from Baku, we hope you enjoyed our team radios. We’ll see you in Spain. Until then, hasta luego gente!