Renault Sport Formula One Team’s Jolyon Palmer lapped tenth-quickest in the morning session on the first day of the Pirelli Hungarian Grand Prix today (28 July), but suffered an early exit from FP2, damaging his car through contact with the barriers.

Jolyon used Pirelli’s medium and super-soft tyres in FP1 and soft and super-soft tyres in FP2.

Jolyon Palmer, #30, R.S.17-03
Free practice 1: P10, 1:20.461, 27 laps
Free practice 2: P16, 1:21.175, 12 laps

Jolyon said: “It wasn’t the end to the day that anyone wanted, however FP1 looked good. Starting the weekend in the top ten was positive, even if I suffered from a damaged front wing and floor after running wide and feeling the consequences of the new kerbs.

“My car didn’t feel right from the start of FP2, which contributed to me putting it in the wall. Looking to tomorrow, we’re going to go over the set-up with a fine tooth comb as we know there’s definitely good potential. My side of the garage has a bit of work to do, so there’ll be some cold drinks waiting for them at the end of the weekend to say thanks.”

Nick Chester, Renault Sport Formula One Team Technical Director (Chassis), added: “We saw good potential from the car today, with competitive times from both drivers in the morning. The track was certainly slippery as we saw from a number of ‘offs’, but Jolyon’s pace was good in FP1. We will work on balance overnight and look forward to FP3.”