Palmer ‘gutted’ after formation lap hydraulic failure

2017 British Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

Jolyon Palmer says he is ‘gutted’ to have retired before the start of the British Grand Prix after a hydraulic failure on the formation lap.

The Renault driver had qualified 11th on the grid for his home grand prix, but was heard alerting his team to a brake-by-wire failure over team radio on the formation lap. Palmer was then instructed to pull off the circuit on the Hangar Straight, leading to the original start being aborted.

“Pretty gutted with that,” admits Palmer. “There’s so much support here. The crowd’s been great. Really appreciating the atmosphere the whole weekend. It’s just so disappointing to not even start the race.

“It was just a hydraulic leak. Looks like it went through the formation lap and that’s it. I had to stop the car. No warning, not until the formation lap. It was all looking good and I was looking ahead, trying to focus on the start, but we never made it.”

After Renault’s strongest performance of the season capped off with Nico Hulkenberg finishing a strong sixth, Palmer is disappointed not to have had the opportunity to exploit his car’s potential in the race himself.

“I think we were in a really good position starting 11th, but I knew we had a strong race pace and the car was working really well,” says Palmer. “But if you don’t start the race, you can’t do anything.”

2017 British Grand Prix

Browse all 2017 British Grand Prix articles

Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

9 comments on “Palmer ‘gutted’ after formation lap hydraulic failure”

  1. Very sad for Palmer to not start his home (and potentially last to some rumours) race. However C4 coverage suggesting Palmer poor performance this season is due to Renault is really pushing the patriotism too far… Ok the guys has been pretty unlucky with reliability, but he has also constantly been 1s off his team mate in FP and Q all mid-season! The few occasion he had to shine: he did not.

    Come on “journalist” it is not because its one of the home boy that you need to deny the reality of his lack of performance. Verstappen has also been pretty unlucky this season, but no one is stupid enough to say the same thing than to Palmer.

  2. He’s a goner for sure! I feel for him as it must be so hard to keep your head up with the constant rumours of your dismissal.

  3. Yes, I have heard attempts to disguise the delta with HUL behind the fact that PAL didn’t get the new floor. How much is that worth ? 2 or 3 tenths ? There is still at least a half second gap to explain…

    1. @nickfrog, we don’t know how much of a step up in performance – the team have remained quiet on that front, with only Hulkenberg indicating it was worth at least a few tenths of a second per lap.

      The picture is confused by the fact that Renault announced before this weekend that they would be bringing multiple chassis updates, not just an upgraded floor, and it is not clear how many of the other updated parts that Renault introduced for this weekend were fitted to Palmer’s car, or if he had access to them at all.

  4. He has done nuff all with a f1 car when he has hydraudics!!!! been lucky to have a seat this long with his daddy’s dosh

  5. Sad way to end your F1 career.
    Always rooted for him as a Brit but it just didn’t work :-(

  6. I don’t think a weekend has gone by this year without him been hindered by some sort of technical issue which has resulted in him missing a lot of track time at some point through the weekend.

    He may not be one of the best drivers out there but it must be hard to keep your head up & even start to show improvement if your constantly missing track time through technical issues.

    1. @stefmeister same for alonso and verstappen, that does not mean they cannot be quick when they got a chance…

      1. And that’s the problem. He was slow when given a fair chance.

Comments are closed.