Jolyon Palmer says 11th place in the 2016 Formula 1 season opener was the “maximum” Renault could have expected.
The British driver made his debut in the series in Australia, starting from 13th on the grid. He enjoyed some exciting battles on track and benefitted from rivals experiencing issues to move up to 11th, finishing just outside the points.
"I think the team has done an incredible job this weekend to qualify in Q2 and then finishing the race in eleventh and twelfth; it’s the maximum we could expect to achieve," he said.
"It’s a good start, we were so close to scoring points, and we can move forward from here.
"The race itself was busy but good fun; I absolutely loved being wheel to wheel again after a year out of racing. It was great to be back in the fray and it all went pretty smoothly for me."
His team-mate Kevin Magnussen suffered a puncture on lap one but a red flag for Fernando Alonso’s crash brought the Danish racer back into contention.
He finished 12th, just behind Palmer: "We have a really good car; the pace is strong, as is the baseline set-up. Today was pretty tough at the start as I was really gutted about the puncture. I don’t think I had any contact so it was really unfortunate.
"You never want to see a red flag incident, and it’s a positive statement that Fernando could walk away from that dramatic crash, but the restart did benefit us. Our pace after the restart was very promising so I’m excited for the next races."
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