After qualifying 20th in Bahrain, Jolyon Palmer believes Renault will be stronger in Sunday’s race after both cars were knocked out in the first part of qualifying.
Palmer enjoyed a strong F1 debut, finishing 11th at the Australian GP a fortnight ago.
The 2014 GP2 Series champion believes he will be more competitive in the race. Palmer praised Renault but admits the pace is ‘not there’ at the moment.
“The team did a good job; we avoided the first drop and operationally, I think we have a sound understanding of qualifying. We gave it as good a shot as we could but in the end the pace wasn’t there.
The Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir has better overtaking opportunities compared to Australia’s Albert Park leaving Palmer optimistic of making progress during the race.
“Our race pace was a lot better than our qualifying performance in Melbourne so hopefully the same situation is being exaggerated here. I’m aiming to have a strong race getting as far up the order as possible. It’s easier to overtake here than it was in Melbourne so we’ll give it a good go. Anything can happen.”
