Jolyon Palmer

Kevin Magnussen

Renault Sport Formula One finished a close-packed thirteenth and fourteenth in today’s Pirelli Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona- Catalunya. A different strategy was employed across the two cars, with Kevin Magnussen changing to a three-stop race and Jolyon Palmer running to two stops. Both drivers were right together for the final laps, with Palmer finishing just 2.7secs ahead of Magnussen.

Magnussen started the race in P15 on new soft Pirelli tyres, changing to a new set of medium on lap 10, a new set of hard tyres on lap 30 and a scrubbed set of soft tyres on lap 55. Palmer started the race in P17 on new soft tyres, changing to new medium tyres on lap 11 and new hard compound tyres on lap 33.

Kevin Magnussen: “We had decent pace on the soft tyre but on the hard and the medium – especially the medium – we were weak. It wasn’t a good day for me and I’ll be working closely with the team to understand why we weren’t able to deliver. I’m definitely looking forward to the test and getting some new bits on the car as today certainly wasn’t representative of what we’re capable of achieving.”

Jolyon Palmer: “I think that was probably the best race I’ve done in terms of pace and performance. The car was feeling okay, we were battling tyre degradation a bit but it was managable. It’s a bit disappointing not to finish in the points but for myself, I’m happy. More performance should be coming from the upgrades we have in store so I’m looking forward to Monaco.”

Fred Vasseur, Racing Director: “That was a tough race for us but both our drivers pushed hard, right until the chequered flag. Kevin struggled on the hard tyre so we switched strategy for him whereas Jolyon was able to make the most of a two-stop strategy and gave us his best performance to date.

“It was a great race for Formula 1 today. Congratulations to Max Verstappen on his first Grand Prix victory; it is good for the sport to see Red Bull back on the top step of the podium, especially in such an exciting manner.”