Renault Sport Formula One Team completed the first official practice sessions of the 2017 season with Nico Hülkenberg and Jolyon Palmer taking the R.S.17 out on the 16-turn, 5.3km Albert Park Circuit.
Unfortunately Jolyon brought out the red flags in FP2 after he lost control of his Renault at the final turn, however that wasn’t his only problem, the young Brit denied significant track time due to a CV boot replacement in FP1 as well.
“Sadly it was a pretty short day for me in terms of time in the car. We had a minor technical issue in the first session then I had an off in FP2, which unlike FP1 required more than one part replacing. I’m not sure exactly what happened and we’ll be having a close look at the data,” I said.
“I feel for my crew as they have a decent amount of work to do. Albert Park is a pretty cool circuit and even more so in these latest cars. I’m hopeful of more track time tomorrow, but we’ll be on the back foot heading into qualifying after only ten laps today.”
“Jo’s FP1 was shortened a little due to a split in a CV boot, and it’s unfortunate that he had a shunt in FP2. There’s a reasonable amount of work to do to his car but nothing too drastic so we’re looking forward to seeing what’s possible in our first qualifying session of the season tomorrow,” added Nick Chester, Renault Technical Director.
