Renault Sport Formula One Team’s Jolyon Palmer qualified in the top ten for the first time in his Formula 1 career today (15 April), ahead of Sunday’s Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix.

Jolyon Palmer, #30, R.S.17-01
Qualifying: P10, 1:31.074
FP3: P20, 1:34.417

Jolyon said: “It’s my best ever qualifying; Q3 for the first time, and I’ve seen a full hour of qualifying, which is nice. I’m happy, especially as we have had a tough weekend up until now trying to extract the performance from the car.

“I got my head down with my engineers and we made some changes before qualifying, making the car much better. I didn’t put in a fantastic Q3 lap so it could have gone better, but we do stand a good chance to score points tomorrow.”

Alan Permane, Renault Sport Formula One Team Sporting Director, added: “We’re obviously very happy with today’s performance. Jo staged a fantastic recovery after a tricky weekend so far, following a difficult FP3 by improving steadily all the way through qualifying for his first top ten grid position.

“The track temperature in the race is unlikely to be as extreme as we’ve seen so far this weekend, which should be kinder on the tyres. The twilight race means cooler temperatures anyway, but it will be another step cooler tomorrow. Our cars have been working well so far this weekend, so there’s nothing to fear ahead of the race. We’re hopeful of a straightforward and strong grand prix where we secure our first points of the year.”