Renault Sport Formula One Team driver Jolyon Palmer endured a frustrating qualifying session for the Formula 1 Gran Premio de España Pirelli 2017, qualifying 17th for tomorrow’s race. Qualifying times were exceptionally close, with today marking the first time since the season-opening Australian Grand Prix that a Renault has failed to reach Q3.

Jolyon Palmer, #30, R.S.17-03
Qualifying: P17, 1:22.401
FP3: P18, 1:22.755

Jolyon said: "This afternoon was very disappointing, certainly compared to yesterday when we were seventh and eighth. We were definitely missing performance and we need to understand why that has happened. The wind was very strong which certainly affects the cars, so we have to understand why our car seemed more susceptible to this. Now it’s time to work with the engineers in preparation for the best race possible tomorrow.”

Alan Permane, Sporting Director, added: "A couple of tenths would have put us in a more familiar qualifying position. It’s a very tight midfield battle and we were just the wrong end of it today. We had no obvious issues on either side of the garage or either end of the car, we just struggled for overall grip which meant we weren’t able to show better pace.

"There’s more tyre degradation here than we’ve seen at other circuits so there is potential for different strategy permutations. The obligatory Medium compound is notably harder and slower than the Soft tyre so this will present a challenge. As ever, we’ll be doing everything possible to move both cars forward."