A season finale for Renault

The curtain has fallen on the 2016 season, and Renault leaves the last Grand Prix with a frustrating result. If Frédéric Vasseur, the team’s sporting director, wanted to finish on a high note, he had to settle for a very modest 17th place for Jolyon Palmer: « It wasn’t the Grand Prix we wanted to end our campaign. Kevin’s race was cut short due to suspension damage in the first lap. Meanwhile, Jolyon’s outstanding first lap did not translate into a strong result. »

The Briton tried everything to get a better result: « I made an excellent start, allowing me to move up to 11th and keep pace with the Williams for a while. Unfortunately, the tire degradation was incredible. The overall pace was decent, but the tires were worn out, and I had to make three stops. »

A race punctuated by a collision with Carlos Sainz’s Toro Rosso for which he was deemed guilty by the stewards: « I was trying to fight with everyone during the race, but I had no grip which made it very difficult. I tried to overtake Carlos who had left some space, but he braked a bit early and I had no grip to slow down. It’s really a shame. »

LAP 44/55: PAL tags SAI at Turn 17 and the Spaniard’s race looks like it’s over #AbuDhabiGP #F1Finale 🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/ShkNTErZsY

— Formula 1 (@F1) 27 novembre 2016

For his final race with Renault, Kevin Magnussen delivered an anecdotal result that concluded a frustrating season for the Dane: « I got a bad start before battling with Kvyat at turn 8. That’s when I had contact with another car. I think it was a Manor or a Sauber. My suspension was hit. We tried to continue, but it was clear that something had broken. This was not the way I wanted to conclude what I thought was a great season with fantastic people. In terms of results, it wasn’t the best year, but I learned a lot, had good times with the team, and got to know some really great people. »