Jolyon Palmer admitted that he was surprised to hear that Kevin Magnussen had turned down the opportunity to remain with the Renault Sport Formula 1 Team for 2017, although it did hand the Briton the opportunity to extend his career into a second season.
Magnussen has since signed for the Haas F1 Team for 2016 in place of Esteban Gutierrez after admitting that the Renault offer was not what he wanted, and Palmer feels the Dane has made the wrong decision, as he expects his team to be ahead of the American outfit next season.
“I’m surprised to hear that to be honest,” said Palmer on Autosport. “If Renault turned to Kevin then he’s made a mistake to turn it down because I think they’ll be ahead of Haas next year.
“It’s a manufacturer team going places, and if you get the choice to go to Red Bull for one year it’s better than going to Toro Rosso for two years.”
Palmer knows that he will need to be at the top of his game if he wants to compete at the same level as his new team-mate Nico Hülkenberg in 2017, especially if he wants to extend his Formula 1 career into a third season.
“I need to do a good job next year and it’s understandable for Renault that they’ll want to see how I can do against Nico,” said Palmer. “I have an option for the future, I believe in myself and in my opinion the car will be stronger next year.”
