Jolyon Palmer produced the finest performance of his fledgling Formula 1 career to-date at the Hungaroring today (24 July), as he came close to claiming his maiden top flight points finish following a captivating charge through the field in the hottest race of the year.

After shining in FP3, Jolyon began the Hungarian Grand Prix from an unrepresentative 17^th position having found himself out-of-luck in a chaotic qualifying session. Undeterred, the young British F1 rookie immediately set about gaining ground and unleashing the improved pace of his Renault Sport Formula One Team R.S.16.

On the soft-compound Pirelli tyres, Jolyon soon advanced to 15^th and as the super-soft runners progressively peeled into the pits, the former GP2 Series Champion climbed into the top ten, holding firm in eighth place from lap 16 until his own first stop on lap 26 as he delivered a string of competitive times.

Rejoining the fray in 12^th position on super-soft tyres, he chased down Force India’s Nico Hülkenberg and had closed onto the German’s tail by the time they pitted in unison on lap 39. As he switched back over to the soft compound once more, superb work by Renault saw Jolyon win the pit-stop duel and emerge ahead in 11^th place.

Eleventh became tenth when Daniil Kvyat pitted shortly after, and the 25-year-old Southwater racer looked set to deservedly tally his first F1 points finish until his car suddenly snapped into a half-spin on the entry to Turn Four – to its driver’s surprise – leaving the team to examine the data to try and understand why. 

Recovering to cross the finish line 12^th with only one retirement in the field, Jolyon ultimately went unrewarded for a stellar drive that saw him lead the Renault charge from lights-to-flag.

Jolyon Palmer, #30, R.S.16-04: Started P17, Finished P12

Jolyon said: “I’m gutted as my first points in Formula 1 were there for the taking. The car was good and I was driving well within myself in P10. I turned in the same as normal at Turn Four – I wasn’t hanging everything out and I was looking after the tyres – but for some reason, I lost the car in a massive snap. I need to look at everything with my engineers to see if there is anything we could have done to prevent it. I was running tenth, we had completed all our pit-stops and we had good pace relative to those ahead and behind so it looks like we’ve made a real step forward this weekend. It was the best drive of my career today, and just one small spin took away those points. I’m gutted today, but I’ll be fighting to get into the same position or better at Hockenheim.”

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal for the Renault Sport Formula One Team added: “That was a strong race for us and illustrates the progress being made. It’s no secret that our primary focus has moved to next year’s car, but we still have good potential to score in 2016. Jolyon’s performance was particularly notable after missing most of Friday’s running. His spin was unfortunate, especially as his first Formula 1 points were there for the taking. Overall, the team and drivers have worked very well this weekend and made a great recovery from the back of the grid in a race where there was only one retirement. We hope to continue this trajectory at Hockenheim.”

The F1 circus moves quickly on now to the German Grand Prix next weekend (29-31 July).