Jolyon Palmer scored his first points for Renault in 2017 with a sixth place result – his best Formula 1 career finish – at the Singapore Grand Prix, with six races remaining before Carlos Sainz Jr replaces him.
The 26-year-old Briton equalled Nico Hulkenberg’s best finish of the season to propel himself from 19th in the drivers’ standings to 16th with eight points, which were all gained from the Singapore GP.
“I’m so happy, it’s been a long time coming but today everything fell into place,” said Palmer.
“It was a tricky race with the drama at the start and the heavy rain but the circumstances put us in a good place to score some points.
“We had a good strategy, good pit stops and the car was good in the wet conditions. The next race should be even better”
On a two-stop strategy, Palmer swept past five cars on the opening lap equipped with the intermediate tyre, losing just one place as he stopped for inters on lap 12.
He ran as high as third before his lap 29 pitstop for ultra-softs, and when team-mate Nico Hulkenberg retired from fourth place on lap 38 due to an oil leak, Palmer was set for sixth.
Though he was speculated for replacement as early as the Malaysian GP, Palmer has stood firm and expressed his doubts that Toro Rosso’s Sainz could replace him so quickly.
With his first points of the season, Palmer told Sky Sports F1 that he rued the Renault’s poor reliability at the start of the season and wants to build on his first points score of the season in the final six races.
“The result this weekend is finally a bit of good luck,” said Palmer.
“This result could have come earlier in Baku, Silverstone or Spa. I hope we can build from this confidence and push for more. The car is competitive, and I’m going to be competitive.
“At the moment the news is obviously quite fresh about Renault, I’ve just been concentrating about the weekend. From my side I just want to go out with six of the best races.
“Of course I want to stay in F1 and there are other options but I’m just focused on the performance side and I want to at least do myself proud in these last six races.
“It’s Renault’s prerogative, they can decide who they put in the car for next year.
“I’ve had a tough season, no doubt about it. We’ve had some reliability problems but I’ve made mistakes as well, and the performance hasn’t been there often enough.
“I’ll be pushing like hell and hopefully it comes out for the best.”
Only two days prior to that had Renault announced that Palmer had lost his Renault seat – but Palmer had learned it a few days earlier on Autosport.
“I knew when I read it on Autosport,” he said.
“And then I knew it was true as well, I spoke to some people. That was it.
“Of course I knew that with the job I’ve done this year, the team is looking for other people, because it’s been a tough year.
“But you never know until it’s over. I could have felt the same way at times last year as well.”
Has Renault made the right decision in replacing Palmer? Have your say on his first points haul of the season in the comment section below.
Source :https://www.jamesallenonf1.com
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