Jolyon Palmer made the most of a disrupted second week of pre-season testing at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, completing a further 140 laps behind the wheel of Renault Sport Formula One Team’s R.S.17 as the squad concluded its on-track preparations ahead of the start of the 2017 campaign.

Jolyon drove on each of the four days of the test, but his running was compromised by various issues including a precautionary power unit change and hydraulic pressure loss. He ended the final day placed eighth on the timesheets, with a lap time of 1:20.205s.

Renault Sport Formula One Team will next be in action at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on 24-26 March.

Below are Jolyon’s comments from each day in the car.

Tuesday:
“Today, I had a short morning before we had to stop for a precautionary power unit change. It wasn’t ideal, but it’s certainly a long way from being the end of the world. For sure, it would be nice to get some more laps and you never want to lose track time but we’re still in a good position and I feel confident for the season ahead.”

Wednesday:
“It was a bit frustrating for me, with quite a bit of time sat in the car whilst it was being checked over. Unfortunately, there was some work required before I was due to go out, then there was some kind of really annoying pressure leak which would only show its face when I was about to take to the track. It’s one of those things that I’m sure the team will trace overnight, but it cost me track time today. The positive is that Nico [Hülkenberg] had a good morning in the car, so we know what is possible.”

Thursday:
“It was rather frustrating today, with interruptions from our side and other disruptions on-track, too. We never seemed to be able to get into a rhythm and I didn’t get the same feel with the car that we had previously. We’re having a good look at the data to understand where we need to improve, as we know the scope and potential is there.”

Friday:
“The R.S.17 is awesome to drive, and there is a lot of further potential yet to come. The car feels good in all the areas you’d want, and it is definitely a strong improvement over the R.S.16 in every area. My final afternoon was promising in terms of pace, and we made another step forward with a pretty much full afternoon in the car too. Australia is going to be really special with these cars and I am very positive for the season ahead.”