Jolyon Palmer carried out a solid long-run at the end of free practice two in Sochi, as the 25-year-old completed more than 60 laps of the 3.63-mile circuit on Friday as part of his preparations for the Russian Grand Prix.
Palmer is no stranger to the Sochi Autodrom circuit, and holds extremely fond memories there having won its inaugural GP2 race back in 2014. That victory clinched the GP2 title for the young Englishman and arguably cemented his path to the F1 race seat he now holds.
Despite his experience of the Russian venue it remained vital for Jolyon to clock up the mileage in the Renault R.S.16 for the first time, which is exactly what he did during Friday’s two practice sessions.
The Renault Sport Formula One racer was 12th in the timesheets midway through the opening segment, before dropping to 18th late on. Finding the ultimate balance again proved challenging in the closing stages, as the team hoped to shake off the aerodynamic problems it faced in China last time out.
Improvements were made for the afternoon run and Jolyon immediately fired his striking yellow machine into the top seven, shaving off nearly a second from his previous best with a 1:40.688s lap time.
Attentions turned to longer fuel runs and tyre evaluations in the latter half of the session, and the Southwater driver enjoyed an encouraging run to the chequered flag.
The team confirmed that Jolyon had carried out valuable assessment work across both sessions including aero, tyre and front wing comparisons. Pirelli’s soft tyres were used in the morning, the soft and super soft were used in the afternoon, and all drivers reported low grip levels - as expected - from the track.
"I wasn’t able to get a good balance or find the sweet spot today which is always a little frustrating," confirmed Jolyon. "Fortunately, we’ve had a good reliable day with both cars so there’s plenty of data for us to work from to make improvements for tomorrow. The track’s quite slippery out there but we accumulated a lot of laps without drama. We just need to dial-out the unwanted oversteer and I think there’s more pace to come."
So the scene is set for the weekend’s action where Jolyon will first tackle the third free practice session, before the all-important qualifying session commences tomorrow afternoon.
As always, keep it here and follow Jolyon’s social media streams for the latest information.