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F1 Malaysian GP: Palmer off the mark after Sepang charge

Jolyon Palmer is celebrating after scoring the first point of his rookie Formula 1 campaign by making an aggressive tyre strategy work to his advantage in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

On a positive weekend for Renault in terms of pure pace, the team bounced back from a dramatic pit lane fire for Kevin Magnussen in FP1 to show eye-catching performance in the remainder of the sessions.

However, with Palmer disappointing in qualifying to start 19th, the Briton redeemed himself with a charge up the order - aided by a turn one skirmish that eliminated his team-mate - using a one-stop strategy to snatch a tenth place finish.

A long-awaited first point for the former GP2 champion, he was delighted to get on the board with only a small handful of races remaining.

"Point-scorer: It feels good! I'm really happy, I think the whole week has been really positive. The race was really smooth - I wish it was always so straightforward! I was really disappointed with how qualifying went especially as I'd been feeling strong all weekend, so I'm glad the race went really well and we could make up for it.

"The car gave me everything I needed, we handled the tyres well and the team did a great job with strategy and pit stops. We got a little bit of a break as well; finally everything came together and we got it home to P10!" 

Zdroj: crash.net