Briton has endured inconsistent start to F1 career
Thursday 19 May 2016 11:33, UK
Jolyon Palmer says there is always pressure in Formula 1 but is confident he can improve after a mixed start to his debut campaign with Renault.
After impressing at the season-opening Australian GP, finishing 11th, the Englishman has been out-qualified and out-performed by team-mate Kevin Magnussen in the next three grands prix and even propped up the field in China.
Daniil Kvyat's demotion back to Toro Rosso has once again proved how harsh the sport can be and with Esteban Ocon set to follow Sergey Sirotkin's lead in running in practice for Renault, the pressure is on Palmer.
But the 2014 GP2 champion claims that his misfortunes were down to a problem with the floor in his RS16 and after an improved showing in Russia, where Magnussen secured six points, he believes he is moving in the right direction.
"I had a very good race in Melbourne, I didn't race in Bahrain, and then I turned up to China and someone was already saying there's pressure on," the 25-year-old told Sky Sports News HQ's Craig Slater at Renault's test day at Silverstone.
"The pressure is always on in Formula 1. There's 22 drivers and everyone's looking for performance, the team is pushing hard, we're wanting to deliver for ourselves and there's a lot of young drivers that are like me last year, wanting to get in.
"I put myself under more pressure than anyone else can put me under. I want to do a good job for me. Kevin got points in Russia and I wasn't too far away from him. I'm confident I'll be there in the coming races and moving forward with some points."
Palmer has also given Kvyat his support after the Russian was unceremoniously dropped by Red Bull and replaced by Max Verstappen so early in the season.
"I think it's unbelievably harsh on Kvyat," he added. "He was on the podium in China, Vettel didn't like it but he did nothing wrong, go a podium for it which is Red Bull's only one of the year so far.
"In Russia he made two mistakes but didn't qualify far off his team-mate, then on the back of a bad race he's dropped. From my view it's brutally harsh."
