Palmer walks from Renault
LAST WEEKEND’S JAPANESE GRAND PRIX was Jolyon Palmer’s last for the Renault Formula 1 team, with Carlos Sainz Jr replacing him from the next race in the United States.
The Briton ended months of speculation surrounding his future by revealing on Instagram after qualifying on Saturday that the Suzuka race was to be his last.
Renault said the decision had been reached “mutually”, with Palmer leaving F1 on the back of a 12th-place finish in Japan, having scored nine points in 35 grand prix starts.
“It’s been pretty clear, Carlos has signed for next year and [Renault chief] Cyril [Abiteboul] made it clear he wanted him in the car this year as well,” Palmer told Sky Sports. “After this race it’s a couple of weeks’ gap and it made sense for it to be the time to part ways. It’s a shame for me not to finish the season; I’ve been here a while and I respect the decision and wish Carlos and the team all the best for the future. I’ll work for something else on my future.”
Abiteboul added: “It’s not a unilateral decision – it was made jointly and amicably with Jolyon, Jonathan [Palmer’s father] and the team, and I really must thank them, because they understood the team position and the team point of view, and what we are trying to achieve.”
Sainz said he only found out 30 minutes before the announcement was made on Saturday night, with the Spaniard to leave Toro Rosso, after 56 starts that have yielded 112 points, to partner Nico Hulkenberg. He will be replaced by Daniil Kvyat, who returns to Toro Rosso, having been stood down to allow the team to evaluate 2016 GP2 champion Pierre Gasly’s potential for a seat next year.
But there remains uncertainty over who will be Kvyat’s team-mate at Austin. The team originally announced that Gasly would stay on, meaning he would miss the opportunity to contest the Super Formula title with the Honda-powered Team Mugen at the Suzuka finale on the same weekend. The Frenchman is only half a point off the lead.
But since then it has emerged that a decision about where Gasly will race has yet to be made. Gasly has said that he would choose F1 if the decision was up to him. Honda also says that its priority is for Gasly to race in the US GP, even if it means that the Japanese manufacturer would sacrifice the Super Formula title to rival Toyota.
“We would like Pierre to finish the rest of the season with Toro Rosso as he is a potential regular driver for the team next year,” said Honda motorsport chief Masashi Yamamoto. “So he should gather as much experience as he can in Formula 1 this year.”
At the time of going to press, Red Bull had yet to announce its plans. It is believed that regardless of whether Gasly drives at Austin or not, he is set to compete in the final three races of the season – the Mexican, Brazilian and Abu Dhabi GPS.