Jolyon Palmer is targeting an improvement in form in the forthcoming Russian Grand Prix (29 April – 1 May), as he returns to a happy hunting ground following a tough weekend for the Renault Sport Formula One Team in Shanghai last time out. 

Palmer turned heads in Australia last month as he narrowly missed out on the points in an impressive grand prix debut behind the wheel of Renault’s R.S.16, but luckless outings in Bahrain and China have left the young British F1 rookie fired-up to bounce back in Russia.

The last time Palmer took to the track at Sochi Autodrom – in 2014 – he won the circuit’s inaugural GP2 Series race and with it, the drivers’ crown. Whilst acknowledging that a similar kind of result is not likely to be on the cards this time around, the 25-year-old Southwater racer is nonetheless hopeful of an upturn in fortunes that he can use as a springboard for the rest of the season.

“I have very good memories of Sochi Autodrom,” he said. “It was a very good race there in GP2; I got a great start so led from the first lap, but I was under a lot of pressure all the way. It’s great to win any race, but to win a race where you’ve had pressure at every turn, that’s a real achievement.

“The China debrief just over a week ago wasn’t pretty and we’re analysing to make sure we learn every lesson possible from the weekend and understand why we struggled, because what we can achieve is certainly better than what we saw in Shanghai.  

“From my perspective, I’m still learning exactly what I need from this car at different tracks, on different tyres and in different conditions. We’ve made some good progress dissecting and understanding, and that should translate to on-track improvement in due course. We know that Russia won’t necessarily be the best circuit for us, but I’m focused on my own performance to extract the very most I can from behind the wheel. 

“My first aim for Sochi is to get back to a Melbourne level of performance, where I was happy with the car; we were through to Q2 in qualifying and near the points in the race, with both cars quite evenly-matched. We haven’t been able to replicate that in the last couple of races, so that’s what we’ve been concentrating on.”