Jolyon Palmer was forced into withdrawing from a promising 14th position at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve after his Renault R.S.16 developed a terminal water leak on lap 20.

Despite a threat of drizzle and a few spots of rain falling just prior to lights-out, the circuit was in good shape when 2PM and the green flag arrived. Off the line, Jolyon started strongly but could do nothing to stop Pascal Wehrlein in the Ferrari-powered Manor making his move as he continued a streak of hot starts, leaving the Southwater racer 18^th and in the midst of a train of cars battling hard in a packed midfield.

There was just a handful of seconds separating a gaggle of drivers, entrenched in a fascinating battle. From Fernando Alonso in 10^th to Jolyon, now 19^th at the end of lap five with Marcus Ericsson making his way through, there was little in it. 

Palmer matched up the majority of the field, going with the stickiest ultra-soft compound from Pirelli to start, and midway through the first round of stops the 25-year-old held an encouraging 14th spot with team-mate Kevin Magnussen five seconds and two places behind in 16^th.

On lap 20, though, his R.S.16 developed a terminal water leak, leaving the Renault Sport Formula One Team no option but to clear a space in the garage and retire the number 30 car from proceedings. 

A disappointing end to the weekend from what was an encouraging position in the race, following an equally encouraging performance from Jolyon in qualifying, but it's straight on to Baku for the European Grand Prix in just a week's time as Jolyon and the squad look for an immediate response.

Jolyon said: "We had a water leak so I had to stop the car. The new engine was working well performance wise but we couldn't finish the race. The car felt good and we were looking OK – I was stuck behind the Manor but we had good pace. I only knew about the leak 10 seconds before my stop.

"A little bit of a lucky break wouldn't go amiss as I'm happy with the car and we've made a big step this weekend. They are the positives, but we need just a little bit of luck."