Renault Sport Formula One Team secured its best-ever finishing position of sixth place thanks to a strong drive from Nico Hülkenberg in the Formula 1 Gran Premio de España Pirelli 2017 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Nico made a demon start from thirteenth to seventh, then his pit crew were able to assist in him making a further position during the 66-lap race. Nico’s finish is one place better than the team’s previous best, seventh thanks to Kevin Magnussen in last year’s Russian Grand Prix. Jolyon Palmer endured a tough Grand Prix employing a three-stop strategy from his P17 start to finish in fifteenth. Thanks to today’s result, Renault Sport Formula One Team moves to seventh position in the Constructors’ Championship.
- Nico started the race in P13 on new Soft tyres, changing to scrubbed Softs on lap 15 and then new Medium tyres on lap 33.
- Jolyon started the race from P17 on a new set of Medium tyres, pitting on the first lap for a new set of Softs, then stopping for further new Soft tyres on laps 21 and 42.
Nico Hülkenberg, #27, R.S.17-02: Started P13, finished P6.
“P6 is a great result for us and very rewarding too. It’s been our lucky day with some of the top cars out at the start, but also later on in the race too, so we clearly benefited from that. At the same time, we were there at every opportunity to do a good job and the guys did a great second pit stop to enable us to pass the Sauber. I feel very comfortable in the car but we still have work ahead of us to catch up our closest competitors.”
Jolyon Palmer, #30, R.S.17-03: Started P17, finished P15.
“We went for an aggressive strategy today given my starting position on the grid. I think it’s fair to say it didn’t bring us the reward we wanted. I wasn’t able to get the pace out of the car when it was needed, however we were going better on the final set of tyres. My job now is to sit down with my engineers and analyse the race whilst we also have a good look at the car too. I’m determined that we will do better in Monaco.”
Cyril Abiteboul, Managing Director
“A fantastic race result after a difficult qualifying session yesterday. It goes to show, you should never let your head go down and you should always maximise every opportunity. Nico took advantage of a great start, the pit crew delivered exactly what was required during the race and also a bit of luck fell our way. We showed good execution of strategy and pit stops and our race pace was better than that of our competitors, Haas, Williams and Toro Rosso. It is positive that we continue to improve in these areas, however we still have to work hard to understand how to maximise the performance of the R.S.17; this weekend was rather unusual for us because our race pace was better than our qualifying performance. For Jolyon it was a tough Grand Prix and we are dedicated to understanding what we can do to improve this. We head next to Monaco, a circuit which presents very unique challenges, eager to continue the team’s upward trajectory.”
