Palmer ‘gutted’ to miss out on first points

Renault rookie Jolyon Palmer could only voice his frustration after spinning away what had looked set to be the first top-ten finish of his Formula One career in Sunday’s Grand Prix in Hungary.

Palmer was running a comfortable tenth when on lap 49 of 70 he lost the back end of his R.S.16 as he exited Turn 4. Despite catching the spin, the British driver was unable to recover the resultant lost positions and ultimately took 12th place.

“I’m gutted as my first points in Formula One were there for the taking,” said Palmer. “The car was good and I was driving well within myself in P10.

“I turned in the same as normal at Turn 4 - I wasn’t hanging everything out and I was looking after the tyres - but for some reason I lost the car in a massive snap. I need to look at everything with my engineers to see if there is anything we could have done to prevent it.”

Nevertheless, Palmer came away focussed on the positives of his and Renault’s Budapest weekend, which he says featured his best F1 race performance to date.

“I was running tenth, we had completed all our pit stops, we had good pace relative to those ahead and behind so it looks like we’ve made a real step forward,” he continued.

“It was the best drive of my career today and just one small spin took away those points. I’m gutted today but I’ll be fighting to get in the same position or better in Hockenheim.”

In the second Renault, Palmer’s team mate Kevin Magnussen made a poor start from 19th on the grid and trailed home in 15th place.