Jolyon Palmer picked his way through the order during a frenetic Russian Grand Prix to finish 13^th for the Renault Sport Formula One Team.

The 25-year-old made a blistering getaway from 18^th on the grid, making up places off the line and going wheel-to-wheel with team-mate Kevin Magnussen. Palmer then had to take evasive action from a spinning Force India of Esteban Gutierrez at turn one immediately ahead of him, and there was further drama up ahead as Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat tipped the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel into the barrier. 

When the dust finally settled and the safety car deployed Jolyon had impressively scythed his way through the field and into tenth place. 

He expertly fended off an attack from the Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz at the restart, before gradually pulling away from his Spanish rival over the opening ten laps, but the duo would reignite their battle later in the race. 

Palmer produced solid laps on the soft tyre to remain within touching distance of Magnussen, as the Renault pairing held on to points paying positions ahead of their scheduled stops. With certain teams going longer on their opening stint and with faster cars behind them, however, the battle was to swing slightly after Jolyon’s visit to the pit lane for fresh rubber.

The Briton was at the end of a six-car train scrapping for seventh place at mid-distance, and he enjoyed a clean and competitive battle with former World Champion Jenson Button. The same unfortunately couldn’t be said for Sainz who forced Jolyon’s Renault R.S.16 wide as the pair ran side-by-side on lap 23. The Toro Rosso racer received a ten second penalty from the race stewards for his part in the incident, but the damage was already done as Jolyon slightly fell away from the tussle ahead of him as the race progressed. 

Nursing his Pirelli tyres until the finish, after the team opted for a one-stop strategy and therefore an extremely long second stint, meant that Palmer was in no place to challenge in the latter stages. 

The former GP2 champion did however produce another stellar performance until the chequered flag fell, cementing 13^th place in only his third Grand Prix start. 

“It was definitely a positive race for us,” said Jolyon. “Finally the race pace was a lot better. We made an extremely early stop and we were struggling heavily with the tyres towards the finish. Kev scored points, which is a good sign, and we can all push on at Barcelona. It shows the job the whole team is doing and I’m pleased overall.”