Renault driver Jolyon Palmer has admitted that there is a clear difference in power between the current Renault engine and last year’s Mercedes unit used by Lotus last year.
Palmer had the role of reserve driver at Lotus last season, where he took part in a number of practice sessions using the Mercedes-powered Lotus car, before being promoted to full-time driver following Renault’s takeover of the Enstone based team.
“There’s a difference,” said Palmer. “It’s not as powerful as the Mercedes engine, you can feel that.”
Despite the power difference, the British driver had praised the driveability of the new Renault car.
“There are obvious benefits in that driveability is good. The Renault engine guys have been working really well. We’ve been working with them over the winter.
“They’ve got a good handle on procedures, and as I say the driveability of the engine, but at the moment they are definitely behind Mercedes on power.”
Palmer ended the first week of testing bottom of the mileage with a total of 79 laps completed after suffering from software issues and a turbo failure.
“I was getting a feel for the car, without setting any kind of time, and then it all came to a stop, which is a shame,” Said Palmer reflecting on his first week of testing.
“There are still positives as we at least had the car running to do some sort of baseline set-up work, to get an understanding of it from [Monday], which was a bigger disaster.”
