Aggressive strategy sees no reward for Palmer in Spanish Grand Prix

It was however a better day for team-mate Nico Hülkenberg as he secured Renault Sport Formula One Team secured its best-ever finishing position of sixth place in the Formula 1 Gran Premio de España Pirelli 2017 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The German made a demon start in the fifth race of the championship from 13th and raced into seventh place, before his pit crew were able to assist in him making a further position during the 66-lap race.

His finish is one place better than the team’s previous best, seventh thanks to Kevin Magnussen in last year’s Russian Grand Prix.

Southwater-based Palmer meanwhile endured a tough race employing a three-stop strategy from his 17th place.

The overall team result sees them move to seventh position in the Constructors’ Championship.

But Palmer said: “We went for an aggressive strategy given my starting position on the grid. I think it’s fair to say it didn’t bring us the reward we wanted. I wasn’t able to get the pace out of the car when it was needed, however we were going better on the final set of tyres.

“My job now is to sit down with my engineers and analyse the race whilst we also have a good look at the car too. I’m determined that we will do better in Monaco.”

Hülkenberg added: “P6 is a great result for us and very rewarding too. It’s been our lucky day with some of the top cars out at the start, but also later on in the race too, so we clearly benefited from that. I feel very comfortable in the car but we still have work ahead of us to catch up our closest competitors.”

Managing director Cyril Abiteboul said: “A fantastic race result after a difficult qualifying session. It goes to show, you should never let your head go down and you should always maximise every opportunity. Nico took advantage of a great start, the pit crew delivered exactly what was required during the race and also a bit of luck fell our way.

“For Jolyon it was a tough Grand Prix and we are dedicated to understanding what we can do to improve this. We head next to Monaco, a circuit which presents very unique challenges, eager to continue the team’s upward trajectory.”