Jolyon Palmer continues to be without a point in 2017 after seeing his strong pace from free practice and qualifying fail to translate into a top ten finish in the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday.
For only the second time in 2017, the Renault Sport Formula 1 Team racer had made it through to the top ten shootout in qualifying only for a gearbox failure to occur, leaving him with a grid penalty that meant he started the race down in fourteenth position.
Without the gearbox penalty, Palmer believed he could have started as high as seventh, and from there, without the traffic problems that affected his afternoon, he felt a first top ten result of the season would have certainly been possible.
“I think the race could have gone better; we knew that taking a penalty would mean starting on used tyres with everyone around me on fresh sets and that was always going to put us on the back-foot,” said Palmer.
“Despite that, I had a decent start and the car was much better once we changed tyres. It was just a case of being stuck in traffic for much of the race. I had some good fights though, they were fun, but it’s a shame not to have anything to show for it.
“Had we started seventh, points would have definitely been achievable today.”
