Renault driver Jolyon Palmer’s second ever F1 race came to a premature end after his car suffered a hydraulic failure during the formation lap.
Despite difficulties in Saturday’s qualifying session, Palmer was optimistic that he could put in a strong performance during Sunday’s race.
“Having got one Grand Prix under my belt, I was looking forward to racing today so I’m disappointed at not making it past the formation lap! I think we could have had a chance to move up the grid, especially after our strong performance in Melbourne.
Palmer’s Renault experienced hydraulic failure on the formation lap, which meant the Brit had to pull into the pits and retire from the race.
“Everything was okay with the car until the last corner of the lap, but then I had to go straight into the pits. It looks like it was related to hydraulics and we’ll be looking into it with the team to understand what happened. These things can happen in racing, and I certainly want to move to the next race in China as quickly as possible.”
Renault teammate Kevin Magnussen managed to finish just outside of the points in 11th place after starting the race from the pitlane.
Magnussen was forced to start from the pits as punishment for failing to stop at a red light for a mandatory weight check during FP2.
