Renault: Palmer just missed out on his first F1 point
After finishing a solid 10th, Jolyon Palmer crashed out late in the Hungarian Grand Prix, ending his hopes of scoring his first Formula 1 points. Kevin Magnussen, meanwhile, had a very difficult race.
Sometimes, a good result in Formula 1 doesn’t depend on much, and Jolyon Palmer can attest to this after a frustrating Hungarian Grand Prix for the British driver.
Settled in a solid 10th place at the start of the final part of the race, Palmer suddenly spun at turn 4, dashing all his legitimate hopes for points: “I am disillusioned because my first points in Formula 1 were just waiting to be taken!” he stated dejectedly as he exited his car.
His single-seater was quite at ease on the winding Hungaroring circuit: « The car was very good and I was driving effortlessly in tenth position. I was tenth, after having made all my stops, my pace was good compared to those who were in front and behind me: it seems that we have made a real step forward this weekend. »
His spin at turn 4 remains unexplained: « I turned as usual at turn 4, I wasn’t pushing too hard and was monitoring my tire wear. For some reason that escapes me, I lost the car in a big oversteer. We will study everything with my engineers to see if we could have done something to avoid this. It was the best race of my career, and a small spin costs me those points. I’m gutted. » said the Briton.
Frédéric Vasseur, the team principal, was not looking to blame his driver and nevertheless highlighted his good form this weekend: « Jolyon’s performance is particularly impressive considering he barely ran on Friday. He was unlucky with his spin, especially on the day he was capable of scoring his first points in Formula 1. » the Frenchman said.
Kevin Magnussen’s race was much more complicated, especially due to a mediocre start: « The car definitely handled better this weekend. My start of the race, with the first set of super-soft tires, was good. I was able to preserve my tires and complete quite a few laps. Unfortunately, this came after a poor start where I lost several positions. After having good practice starts since the beginning of the weekend, it was quite disappointing! From there, we pushed to gain positions. My second run on super-soft tires did not go as well as I thought it would. At the end of the race, I was stuck behind Grosjean and Gutierrez. I can only hope that we maintain this good pace for the rest of the season. » concluded the Dane.
