Jolyon Palmer is happy with his debut Formula 1 race, saying that it was the maximum the team could expect to do.
Palmer finished 11th, after getting into Q2 in qualifying. His teammate Kevin Magnussen finished just behind the Brit in 12th. Palmer stayed out of trouble but put up a good fight at times during the race.
The Brit won the GP2 title in 2014 and became the reserve driver for Lotus F1 for the 2015 season. The team announced that he would replace Roman Grosjean, with the Frenchman moving to Haas F1.
“I think the team has done an incredible job this weekend to qualify in Q2 and then finishing the race in eleventh and twelfth; it’s the maximum we could expect to achieve,” Palmer said after the race.
“It’s a good start, we were so close to scoring points, and we can move forward from here. The race itself was busy but good fun.
“I absolutely loved being wheel to wheel again after a year out of racing. It was great to be back in the fray and it all went pretty smoothly for me.”
The team commented that it was an encouraging start to 2016 and scoring points is their next target.
