Renault Sport Team Director, Cyril Abiteboul, said very clearly that he is expecting fast results from his driver. Renault driver Jolyon Palmer has still not scored a single point in 2017 race, despite two series in Monaco and Montreal. This is result contrasts greatly with his team-mate, Nico Hulkenberg.
In qualifying, Palmer was consistently beaten by his team-mate, lagging behind by an average lap of 0.853 lap, a chasm that doesn’t take into account the Australian Grand Prix, where it was more than three seconds in Q1.
The rumor is beginning to indicate that his position would be in danger, possibly threatened by the reserve of two pilots Sergey Sirotkin or Robert Kubica.
“No one has a future in F1,” Abiteboul said to media. “F1 is not an environment where someone can boast of being safe.
“To a certain extent, there are two questions: there is Jo, and there is a second pilot. Currently, I am focusing on Jo, and Jo needs results. I do not want to dwell on it, nor on the identity of his possible replacement, because it is absolutely not on the agenda. A car capable of scoring points, and it must mark.
“I hope that during the summer break, I will be able to go on vacation to sixth place in the championship.” he added.
Other names have already been linked to Palmer’s position, most notably Robert Kubica who had good results in the Valencia test recently. However, Abitteboul has admitted that Niko has to do lot of things for the team.
“I feel that the current situation is almost unfair for Nico, who has to do a lot of things. Clearly, the team depends heavily on him,” Abteboul said.
“It was in Monaco, when Nico gices up, especially for reasons beyond his control, like when his gearbox. We have a hard time scoring points, even when there area number of cars give up. It’s difficult.
“We see that there is a significant gap between Nico and Jo, both in qualifying and in the race. We regularly discuss with Jo to see he can progress.” Abiteboul added.
Cyril Abiteboul has admitted that Jolyon Palmer is under pressure. (Source:www.alchetron.com)
Abiteboul admitted that Jolyon Palmer was not particularly fortunate at the beginning of the season. “The first thing for us is to allow him to make a clean weekend, and that’s what we did In Monaco, it was the first time in a while.” Abiteboul said.
“For me, this weekend has almost launched a new season in the championship between the team and Jo, and we finally provide him with the right platform to raise his game level in the hope that he will get the process must lead to a position where Jo will also contribute to the championship.” he added.
