Jolyon Palmer said his Japanese Grand Prix qualifying result could have been even better despite making it into Q2.
Palmer was the only Renault driver to proceed beyond the first phase of qualifying. “On the one hand I’m quite pleased,” he said. “I think we did well to get into Q2.”
Palmer’s final run was compromised by Carlos Sainz Jnr’s spin at Spoon. “Unfortunately I had a yellow flag on my final lap in the session,” he said, “that probably cost a couple of tenths, which would have put me 12th or 13th so that’s a little bit disappointing.”
Having scored his first top ten finish last weekend, Palmer is aiming for a repeat tomorrow.
“We started 19th and scored a point last weekend in Malaysia, so there is definitely a chance to do the same tomorrow,” he said. “We’re looking similarly competitive, the race will be long and tyre strategy will play a hand. There are a lot of similarities to the last time out so we’ll keep pushing and see what happens.”
bosyber (@bosyber)
8th October 2016, 10:24
Well, it certainly shows progress from him and Renault that reading this I feel he is very justified in feeling he could have gotten higher up the grid, after already relatively easily managing Q2.
nase
8th October 2016, 14:52
“Relatively easy”? He made the cut with 0.055 seconds to spare … ^^