The third day of the first test of the 2017 Formula One Season saw a spin onto the gravel early on for Renault Sport Formula 1 Team driver Jolyon Palmer, yet this did not hamper his progress, which saw him set the fourth overall fastest time of the day.
The Brit drove the morning session before handing over to his new team-mate, Nico Hülkenberg for the afternoon. Palmer completed a respectable 51 laps, even with the spin that saw red flags and the delay of his return to the track due to the removal of gravel from the underside of the car.
He subsequently set the third fastest time of the entire morning session, but was eventually pushed down to fourth fastest overall by the end of the afternoon, behind frontrunners Valterri Bottas, Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo. Nevertheless, his time of 1:21.396 meant that he looked to be ‘best of the rest’, and shows the desired increase in pace and performance for the team from last year.
“It wasn’t a perfect start on cold tyres first thing, but other than that we’ve made some really good progress throughout the week in terms of set-up,” he commented. “I feel happy with where we are as it feels like we’re making steps forward every time we go out.”
“The car seems straight-forward to understand for the engineers and drivers, so that makes progress and development much easier than otherwise. I completed 51 laps this morning which is satisfying and we’re constantly learning. I think that’s showing in the performance.”
