Jolyon Palmer is aiming for his first points of the season this weekend in Malaysia, on the back of a disappointing weekend in Singapore where the car had pace but the Briton had no luck.
The Renault Sport F1 driver is looking forward to his first Malaysian Grand Prix as a Formula 1 driver but has previous experience of the Sepang International Circuit having raced there in the GP2 Series in both 2012 and 2013.
“It’s hot and humid just like Singapore!” said Palmer. “It’s a nice place to visit and Sepang Circuit is modern. It’s nice and flowing with a couple of long straights, some fast corners and there are big braking zones.
“A strong finish was not possible on the streets of Singapore so I’m pumped up for this coming race and determined to gun for points.”
Palmer was reflective about his weekend in Singapore where he finished fifteenth after an early pit stop due to a slow puncture meant he was unable to match the result of team-mate Kevin Magnussen who scored a point, and he rued not being able to show the cars true pace himself because of his compromised day.
“It was a weekend which didn’t run the smoothest over my side of the garage yet it was clear there was potential,” said Palmer. “My race was undone on the first lap when I wasn’t able to make a good start with some of the action occurring in front of me and then I got a slow puncture, most likely because of the broken parts from the cars ahead.
“After that it was damage limitation really as the early pit stop put us out of sequence and meant we had to stretch the tyre performance; there was no way back to a good result basically!
“I was frustrated as we knew there was scope for more all weekend and we saw that from Kevin. I would have been far happier for myself and the team if we’d both had good results; let’s hope for that in Sepang.”
