Jolyon Palmer led the Renault Sport Formula One Team charge on a solid opening day of the final race weekend of the 2016 Formula 1 season – the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Jolyon put 66 laps on the board and posted the 15th-fastest time of the day at the Yas Marina Circuit.

Jolyon Palmer, #30, R.S.16-05
Free practice 1: P16, 1:46.219, 33 laps
Free practice 2: P15, 1:43.272, 33 laps

Jolyon said: “Today went pretty well. We have a good balance and all we have to work on is minimising the tyre degradation with a heavy fuel load. I feel that we’re in a pretty decent place with the car; there’s still some fine-tuning to be done, however we’re in the right ballpark.”

Bob Bell, Chief Technical Officer added: “We completed most of our programme today. The super and ultra-soft tyres both look to be pretty short-lived from what we’ve seen so far, so we have some number-crunching yet to do.”