Qualifying - Canadian GP report: Renault F1

Jolyon Palmer fell just 0.015secs off Q2 today as the leading Renault Sport Formula One Team driver in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix. Q1 started dry, but gentle drizzle made an appearance late in the session. Jolyon’s was the only car from the team attempting qualifying as damage sustained to Kevin Magnussen’s R.S.16 in the morning practice session meant the Dane was an observer rather than a participant in the afternoon.

Kevin Magnussen

“What can you say? Obviously I wanted to be driving rather than watching qualifying. The damp conditions caught me out in the morning and the walls are pretty unforgiving as we saw. I feel for my crew as they have a lot of work to do. I’ll be doing everything I can to make amends in the race tomorrow.”

Jolyon Palmer

“I’m happy with the lap I did and the car’s much more to my liking today. It was unfortunate that the track was getting slippery as I had another lap of fuel left in the car. It was so close out there; 0.015secs is absolutely nothing! The good thing is the car is still improving and my set-up was night and day from yesterday. There are no zebra crossings here so I’m really looking forward to seeing what’s possible in the race.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:

How was qualifying for the team?

Jolyon was far happier with his car today and it was such a small margin that denied him entry to Q2. For Kevin, sadly, it was a non-event as his car sustained too much damage in FP3. Despite the ultimate result today, there is clear progress.

What was the damage to Kevin’s car?

It was a pretty significant side impact which took out the wings, suspension and floor as well as damaging the gearbox and chassis. It was the damage to the chassis which meant we couldn’t qualify and Kevin will race with the spare tomorrow. There’s a lot of work to be done on his side of the garage between now and then.

What are the considerations for tomorrow’s race?

This year’s weather in Montréal has been very changeable. Currently it looks highly likely that we’ll have a cold and wet day tomorrow so that means we will all need to be very alert to all the various possible race scenarios. In this type of situation there is always potential for a good result.