FORMULA 1 - 2016

[MIKA27]

MANOR: THE TEAM IS BEGINNING TO GROW IN STATURE

Manor Racing enjoyed a thrilling battle in Bahrain today to secure its first two-car finish of the 2016 season.

Pascal Wehrlein finished in 13th place after a spectacular drive saw him overtake both Force India cars and finish ahead of Felipe Nasr’s Sauber. Rio Haryanto took his first chequered flag after a confident race to 17th.

Pascal Wehrlein: “It was a great race for me. I can’t even compare it to the one in Melbourne because it felt like a completely different race. The car was better, the way we could manage the tyres was better – everything was just a big improvement. It was quite chaotic to begin with but that happens in the midfield so I’m not going to complain. My start was good and I managed to avoid any contact, then the rest of the first stint was really good fun. It was nice to be so competitive. I was 7th at one point and I really enjoyed getting past the Force Indias. It would have been good to take the second Sauber at the end but I had started to lose the tyres by then. We still experienced some tyre degradation, which is why we switched to a three-stop strategy, but it was much better than the last race and another good sign for us. I want to thank the whole team for today. I had a great car and it’s exciting to see how much more potential we have. I can’t wait for China now.”

Rio Haryanto: “It was great to see the chequered flag today. It feels good to have a race distance under my belt, which is vital experience for me and the team as it gives us more data to analyse and develop the car further. The start was good and we were in the mix with the Saubers and Renaults but I think we did a different strategy to those around us. We also suffered with tyre degradation, which really hampered our progress. Shanghai is a track I know well so I’m looking forward to making another step forward there.”

Dave Ryan, Racing Director: “Congratulations to the whole team on a really impressive job today in a race that showed how far we’ve come even since Melbourne. Both drivers performed impeccably, keeping us on the edge of our seats from start to finish and demonstrating real maturity for two young rookies. Obviously Pascal had a dream race for where we are right now and did an incredible job getting past both Force Indias. I am however going to temper our excitement because with the package we have we’re still only on the first rung on a fairly tall ladder. There’s some way to go and some very obvious potential that we have yet to tap into. Having said that, it’s rewarding to see the hard work starting to pay off and the team beginning to grow in stature. We’re a much stronger unit operationally and in particular I’d like to acknowledge the contribution of our support team back at base in Banbury, who have been with us every step of the weekend. On to China now where I hope we will see further signs of our continued improvement.”

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TORO ROSSO: THE FIRST TIME WE SCORE POINTS IN BAHRAIN

Toro Rosso report from the Bahrain Grand Prix, Round 2 of the 2016 Formula 1 World Championship.

Max Verstappen: “I’m very happy with today’s result! I think we bounced back very strongly from the first weekend and the whole team did a fantastic job – a great strategy, good pit-stops… It all worked out perfectly, including our tyre management. The car was just doing what it had to do and felt good, we had great pace! It was an action-packed race and I really enjoyed it out there. To finish P6 is a fantastic way to finish the weekend and I’d like to thank the whole team for their excellent work. Also, this is the first time ever that the team scores points here in Bahrain, so I’m very happy to have changed this statistic – as I said before coming here, that was one of my objectives!”

Carlos Sainz: “What a shame to have had to retire. It was looking like a race where we could’ve certainly scored points, and it all just ended in a first-lap accident. We had a very good start to the race – obviously everyone in front of us was on the Super Soft tyre while we started on Softs, but we still managed to gain a few places, so that was good. We were fighting and I was defending from a McLaren and Checo Perez, who suddenly arrived from behind and hit me, causing a puncture. From that point onwards my race was completely lost, as I was a lap down after my first pit-stop. Now we just need to put this behind us and look forward to the next race in China in two weeks’ time, where we will come back stronger – we know that we have a good car and we can be fast.”

Franz Tost (Team Principal): “Taking into consideration that we started today’s race from P10 and P11, to finish with a car in P6 is, on one side, a really good result but, on the other, it’s a pity we had to retire the other car. I’d like to congratulate Max and the team, because both parties did a really good and professional job, both regarding strategy and pit-stops. Unfortunately, Carlos had a collision with Perez, which caused a puncture on the right-rear tyre at the beginning of his lap. As a result of this, while driving back to the pits, the floor also got damaged… We therefore ended up deciding to call him in, even though originally we made him stay out just in case there was a Safety Car period. This never happened so we ended his race prematurely as the car was very unstable in the rear because of the amount of downforce we had lost. On a more positive note, this is the first time we score points here in Bahrain, so we can be happy with this, and we now look forward to China, where we expect to be quite competitive.”

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RENAULT: IT WAS A CHALLENGING WEEKEND

Renault Sport Formula One team fought a tough Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix with Kevin Magnussen finishing in eleventh place and Jolyon Palmer failing to make the start.

Kevin’s race began from the pit lane due to a penalty incurred during practice on Friday but he fought through the field to finish just shy of the points. Jolyon returned to the pits at the end of the formation lap due to suspected hydraulic issue with his car.

Kevin Magnussen: “Starting from the pit lane meant that it was always going to be a strategic race but I still had some fun fights out on track and we extracted all we had in the car today. We were so close to scoring points; it’s frustrating to think what could have been had we not incurred a penalty. In any case, the team did a good job this weekend, we’re working very well altogether and the car’s performance was encouraging. There are signs of good things to come for the team, including fantastic support from Renault; we have reason to smile. As long as we work really hard now, we will reap the benefits later.”

Jolyon Palmer: “Having got one Grand Prix under my belt, I was looking forward to racing today so I’m disappointed at not making it past the formation lap! I think we could have had a chance to move up the grid, especially after our strong performance in Melbourne. Everything was okay with the car until the last corner of the lap, but then I had to go straight into the pits. It looks like it was related to hydraulics and we’ll be looking into it with the team to understand what happened. These things can happen in racing, and I certainly want to move to the next race in China as quickly as possible.”

Fred Vasseur, Racing Director: “It was a challenging weekend for the team here in Bahrain and we were on the cusp of scoring our first point once more today! Kevin did a very good job to start from the pit lane and get to the chequered flag in eleventh. We were so close to scoring a point and it was teasing us right until the end of the race. On the other hand, it was a real shame for Jolyon; he had to come back to the pits at the end of the formation lap and could not take the start of the race. This was particularly frustrating and we’re investigating what went wrong.”

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MERCEDES: WE WILL KEEP PUSHING

Nico doubles up, Lewis fights back on eventful night in Bahrain

• Nico took his 16th career victory today – his first at the Bahrain International Circuit
• Lewis claimed his 89th Formula One podium after a battling comeback drive to P3
• Nico (50) leads the Drivers’ Championship by 17 points from Lewis (33) in P2
• Mercedes AMG Petronas(83) lead Ferrari (33) by 50 points in the Constructors’ Championship

Nico Rosberg: “Wow, what a weekend! I am so happy with how everything is working out at the moment. The start was definitely the key to my win – and that was a really great moment, as it was an area that we put a lot effort into before the race. Leading into Turn One was a relief, to be honest, as I could see in my mirrors that it was very busy behind me. But from then on I was able to control the pace and take the win. Strategy-wise we had to play it safe. It maybe wasn’t the quickest option – but we had to cover the risk of a safety car. It was an almost perfect weekend for me – only qualifying could have been a fraction better. What a great start to the season – a big thank you to the guys and girls at the factories for this amazing car! Now I look forward to China, where I won my first ever Grand Prix, so I have plenty of positive energy heading there.”

Lewis Hamilton: “I didn’t get a good start today – but it actually wasn’t as bad as the last one. They were completely different incidents – both painful, but this one probably more so! In Melbourne I had loads of wheel spin but this time I just didn’t get away as well as I needed to and that was down to me. If you start on pole and go backwards it quickly becomes a domino effect. It’s so easy to get clipped from there and unfortunately that’s what happened at Turn One. Nonetheless, I managed to climb back up there and at least get some points, so again it was good damage limitation. I could easily have not finished the race, so I’m glad it wasn’t more points dropped in the end. I had so much damage on the car that I couldn’t keep up with Kimi. I was fighting hard and did what I could with it – but it wasn’t quite enough to catch him, so in the end I had to just save the tyres in case of a safety car. A big thank you to all the fans who came out this weekend. I’ve got some incredible support here. I’ve been so well taken care of, so I look forward to coming back next year. Now I’ve got to wait until China for the next battle – but it’s a track that has been good to me for many years, so hopefully things will turn around a bit for me there.”

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “Congratulations to Nico first of all. He’s on a roll right now, with five race wins in a row, and he didn’t put a foot wrong today – a clean start, clean turn one and then the race was his to control. He was quick when he needed to be, without taking any unnecessary risks, and deserved another great win. On Lewis’ side, like in Melbourne he found himself P7 on the first lap – and, again, he used the fighting spirit we all know to get back to the podium. He got a poor getaway again – and we saw up and down the field that the new rules are causing much more variability in the starts, which was the intention. After that, he got hit by Bottas at the first corner in a pretty over-optimistic move, which damaged the car pretty badly on the front wing and the floor – it cost a good chunk of overall performance. From then on, it was about damage limitation and trying to get back through the field, even with a damaged car; Lewis did a great job at that. But it was clear in the middle of the race that he didn’t have the pace to challenge Raikkonen, so then we just played it safe and brought everything home. We’re just two rounds into a season of 21 races, so there are no trends to find in the results right now; as a team, we’re pleased to have made this strong start to the year, and that we are taking our opportunities when they come. But it’s clear that we would have seen a different race today if Sebastian had not been forced to retire before the start. So we will keep our feet on the ground and keep pushing for the next race in China.”

Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical): “An eventful start to the race, with Sebastian dropping out and then the first corner incident for Lewis. There was a lot of damage to the car – particularly to the floor but also to the front wing – so we were very relieved to see that it still had enough performance to allow Lewis to start fighting back through the pack. We debated changing the front wing at the first stop but eventually decided that there was not sufficient damage to warrant the time loss in the box. Meanwhile, Nico made a strong start and had a good buffer after Kimi also lost out at Turn One, so it was a fairly straightforward race for him with no issues to report. For Lewis, he battled his way up to Kimi and we decided to try something different to get him past by taking the medium tyre and targeting a two stop strategy. Initially this looked promising, as he was gaining on Kimi despite running a slower compound after the first stops. However, it soon became apparent that the medium was degrading as badly as the soft, so that strategy unfortunately began to unwind quite quickly. We therefore converted him back to a three stop – but of course Ferrari shadowed and we then had to cover that in turn with Nico. At that point, with all three cars on the same tyres, we had to just hold position to the end. It was great for Nico to get the win and great damage limitation on Lewis’ side to recover good points – if a big shame for him that he couldn’t convert his amazing pole position into a win, through no fault of his own.”

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MCLAREN: THE OVERALL PERFORMANCE WAS VERY SOLID

Stoffel Vandoorne scored McLaren-Honda’s first world championship point of the season after a faultless drive to 10th place on his grand prix debut.

The young Belgian, deputising this weekend for Fernando Alonso, started 12th, stayed out of trouble on the opening lap as the field bunched up and collected one another on the approach to Turn One. Thereafter, he kept his nose clean throughout all four stints, pulled off some confident passing manoeuvres and drove cleanly and consistently to the chequered flag.

Jenson had a short-lived race. After running strongly inside the top 10, he encountered a sudden power unit issue and was forced to pull the car onto the run-off and retire on lap seven.

Stoffel Vandoorne: “This result was more or less what I expected – I maximised the opportunity and I’m quite satisfied. The start was a little bit difficult. There was debris left and right – it was pretty hectic in fact – and there was a lot of fighting throughout that opening lap. Since the beginning of the weekend, I’ve felt very confident in the car, and pretty comfortable that I could do a good job. I’m pleased that I didn’t make any mistakes operationally – I was really focusing on that side of things – and I came away with a point, which was a nice bonus. This weekend was a big opportunity for me: I made the most of it, I showed what I’m capable of, and now I just need to wait and see what happens next. That’s not for me to decide – so let’s see what the future brings.”

Jenson Button: “We made some real progress with the car this weekend. “Qualifying didn’t go fully to plan, but the pace was there – it’s just been a tough weekend because I think we could have scored a good amount of points. Still, I think we can take away some positives in terms of our outright pace. In the race I had a loss of power and then the car stopped. We don’t know yet exactly what the problem was – the car just cut out. I initially felt it out of Turn Two, and I eventually stopped at Turn 10. It’s a pity; I got a really good start, and made up lots of places, overtaking three cars at Turn 10 under braking, so I was pretty chuffed with that. So it’s a real shame, as I say: before I stopped, I was saving a lot of fuel, my tyres were in good condition, and I was just cruising behind the cars in front. We were going to try something a little bit different with the strategy; the cars we were sat behind finished fifth and sixth, and I felt like we could have had a good fight with them. Stoffel has done a solid job this weekend, getting our first point of the year. We were both helped out by the incidents on track, but, all said, he’s done a good job as I say.”

Eric Boullier, McLaren-Honda Racing Director: “This evening, under floodlights here in the Bahraini desert, over the twists and turns of the superb Bahrain International Circuit, Stoffel did that remarkable and noteworthy thing: he scored a world championship point on his Formula 1 debut. In so doing, he capped a very fine weekend, which began with a late call-up and a lengthy two-leg flight from Japan, and ended with what can only be described as a flawlessly mature performance. After a troubled qualifying yesterday, Jenson made an excellent start today, and was driving hard and well when his run was ended through no fault of his own. He was understandably disappointed, as we all were, but it’s fair to say that both he and Stoffel showed a decent turn of speed this evening, and for that reason we have reason to look ahead to the next grand prix, in Shanghai, with a degree of optimism. But, here in Bahrain, we scored our first world championship point of the year – and, although on its own that’s nothing to write home about, the fact that it was scored by a grand prix debutant is surely cause to uncork the Chandon! Well done, Stoff!”

Yusuke Hasegawa, Honda R&D Co Ltd Head of F1 Project & Executive Chief Engineer: “I am very happy for Stoffel to score a championship point in his first ever Formula 1 race. On the other hand, the disappointment over Jenson’s power unit issue and his early retirement is also great. We have been working hard on improving our reliability since last year, and will continue to do so. The overall performance of the package was very solid, and I think that is definitely a positive result we can take away from this weekend. Once the car returns, we will investigate the power unit and prepare it for the next race.”

[skalls]

Circuit of the America's here I come. Talked my brother into a golf trip. Got someone to cover half of the lodging and rental car costs!

[Bartolomeo]

Haas....story of the year two races in

Awesome!

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Haas....story of the year two races in

Awesome!

I hope the momentum keeps on going, I am enjoying this season so far immensely with Haas and Renault in the mix, especially HAAS. Grosjean made a brilliant choice to exit Lotus/Renault, good call IMO.

It's a shame Gutiérrez has had bad luck but I'm sure he'll do well this season. Thus far, new starters are always back markers, so glad HAAS has changed that. It's great for Formula 1.

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ARRIVABENE: I AM NOT HAPPY AT ALL

Ferrari played down rising speculation its 2016 Formula 1 world championship campaign could be derailed by a fundamental reliability flaw in the power unit of the SF16-H.

Amid rumours of a fault with the turbo design, Kimi Raikkonen – who retired with a flaming airbox in Australia – said before the Bahrain grand prix when asked if Ferrari has a problem: “Well, at the last race we did.”

That was before Sebastian Vettel could not even make it to the grid after the warm-up lap on Sunday, as he pulled over his Ferrari car with billowing smoke.

“I think I might have an engine failure,” the German declared by radio.

But once back to the paddock, Vettel said in his post race media release, “We had a failure, I saw a lot of smoke from behind and I lost power so we decided to stop the car. For sure it is frustrating, because in the end I am here to race.”

“The problem came as a surprise, both for me and the whole team, as I was approaching Turn Eleven. Now we need to understand exactly the problem and learn from it. It is not ideal and we can’t be proud of it,” admitted the quadruple world champion.

Maurizio Arrivabene, the Ferrari team boss, told Bild that the failure may simply have been with a valve or injector.

“That’s never happened to us before,” he added, telling Auto Motor und Sport that it is “90 per cent” sure that Vettel has lost the power unit altogether.

And added, “I am not happy at all, because I think with this strategy and looking at the performance of Kimi, maybe because in the race things are not always certain, but I think we were able to do a very, very good with Sebastian.”

But both Vettel and Raikkonen insisted their respective failures in Bahrain and Australia are not a sign that Ferrari’s title campaign is off track.

“I had an issue in the last race, Seb had something here,” said Kimi, who finished second in Bahrain. “It’s not ideal and it’s an unfortunate part of the game but, like I said, we have some work to do.”

Vettel agreed: “It’s not ideal and we can’t be proud of it. But we had a good preparation over the winter, we are pushing very hard and we know that we can still improve.”

Boss Arrivabene said Sunday in Bahrain was painful for Ferrari, but the bright side is that if Raikkonen’s fingers had not slipped on the clutch lever at the start, the Finn might have challenged Nico Rosberg for the win.

“Perhaps, and I stress this, perhaps this has compromised his chance to win,” said the Italian team chief.

Raikkonen agreed: “I got surprisingly close to Nico at the end. Considering what happened in the first lap it’s a pretty ok result, it’s not what we want but we keep working and improving things.”

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ALONSO: STOFFEL DID WELL BUT IT IS UNFAIR TO CRITICISE JENSON

Sidelined McLaren driver Fernando Alonso says he is “99 per cent” sure he will be back at the cockpit of his McLaren for the forthcoming Chinese Grand Prix.

Alonso, accompanied to Bahrain by his sister and doctor Lorena, stayed in the island Kingdom throughout the race weekend to advise his friend and replacement, Stoffel Vandoorne.

When asked if he had a role in the rookie’s race weekend the Spaniard replied modestly, “No. I had little to do. He did a very good job.”

In fact, reigning GP2 champion and Belgian Vandoorne had an extremely good F1 debut in Alonso’s car, outqualifying the vastly more experienced Jenson Button and scoring McLaren’s first point of the season.

But Alonso says any criticism of Button as a result is unfair, “It is unfair. Jenson was faster all weekend and had a sudden drop in performance in qualifying. Stoffel did well but it is unfair to criticise Jenson.”

One of Herbert’s strongest points of criticism is that Button, who is expected to fight to keep his place at McLaren for 2017, has actually outperformed Alonso at McLaren-Honda so far.

Asked if that is a legitimate criticism, Alonso answered: “No. Last year was like a lottery with the car breaking down. It was impossible to measure anything with that car.”

As for the claim he is struggling with motivation, the Spaniard added: “Here I am at this grand prix with a broken rib wanting to climb in the car and helping the team. I don’t know what more motivation I could have.”

Sidelined with chest injuries in Bahrain, the Spaniard angrily rejected the advice of pundit Johnny Herbert to seize the opportunity and hang up his helmet for good.

On another note, Alonso was asked if he was surprised by former driver Herbert’s comments, Alonso told Marca sports newspaper: “A little bit. I was surprised by the aggressiveness towards me.”

“He had the luck that he was recording live when I arrived [at the circuit] in the morning,” said Alonso, referring to his gatecrashing of British television Sky to confront the 51-year-old former Sauber driver.

Alonso told Herbert that he has no intention of retiring, while mocking the former driver turned pundit.

“Better, better every day,” he told Marca when asked how his ribs are now.

The 34-year-old said there are good signs that McLaren-Honda is finally beginning to make strides up the grid.

“Well, the performance (in Bahrain) on a circuit that does not help us with long straights shows that we are taking steps forward,” said Alonso, “and I think that we will continue to improve throughout the year.”

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SAUBER MAY NOT MAKE IT TO THE CHINESE GRAND PRIX

In the early rounds of the 2016 Formula 1 world championship season, it appears that Sauber is clinging to survive and may even have to miss the forthcoming Chinese Grand Prix.

The Swiss team cleared a high hurdle recently after falling behind in February wage payments to its 300 staff, but more problems are now obviously on display.

The F1 paddock is buzzing with speculation that Sauber might reach the end of the road in the next couple of weeks, before making the trip to the Shanghai metropolis.

Team co-owner and boss Monisha Kaltenborn was not even in Bahrain, amid speculation she stayed behind in Hinwil to address Sauber’s urgent financial problems.

According to Speed Week, “It is no secret that the fourth-oldest F1 team is in trouble.”

“We don’t comment on our finances, and I will continue to keep it like this but, referring to the delay [with wages], it was one delay, which was very regrettable from our side,” Kaltenborn insisted last week.

“It was just an unfortunate set of circumstances coming together at the time they came together. This should not happen anymore,” she added.

Kaltenborn is a fierce critic of the sport’s current revenue-distribution model which vastly favours the biggest and most successful teams, “If you try to explain to people out there the kind of income the sport generates – and it has, year by year, gone up if you look at the last few years.”

“Yet so many teams are having issues, this can’t be right. Something is fundamentally wrong in the sport,” she declared.

And that is amid a backdrop of steadily declining sponsorship within the struggling sport, according to a report in the Financial Times.

F1 sponsorship guru Zak Brown agrees: “The costs are, to me, the single largest issue and the one that then drives many of the others.

“We have an industry that is exploding in cost, and collectively they are not able to gather and get those costs under control,” he added.

On track things are not much better for the team with Felipe Nasr, the Brazilian driver whose sponsor Banco do Brasil is Sauber’s main backer, complaining vociferously throughout the Bahrain weekend about his car.

“This car is terrible to drive!” he exclaimed on team radio and later Nasr summed up Bahrain, “Clearly we have some problems with my car. Now we need to really analyse everything before China.”

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NOT EVERYONE HAPPY WITH EARLY SUCCESS FOR HAAS IN F1

Romain Grosjean is no longer being asked if switching from what became the Renault works team this year to the all-new Haas project was a wise choice but not everyone in Formula 1 is happy to see the new team succeed so soon.

As impressive as Haas’ feat might seem, it is not universally popular. Bernie Ecclestone told Autoweek recently that the 2016 Haas is “basically a Ferrari. It will perform because it’s a Ferrari.”

So for a true independent like Williams, the Haas model is a dangerous development.

“The status of being a constructor has been gradually eroded,” said Pat Symonds, Williams’ technical boss.

“Some would like it completely eroded,” he told the New York Times in Bahrain. “What Haas has done is good for him, but I don’t know if that is really the way F1 should be going.”

Meanwhile Grosjean is now fifth overall in the F1 world championship, ahead even of Ferrari’s championship contender Sebastian Vettel.

“It’s not bad!” the Frenchman exclaimed after a second-consecutive points finish for the strongly Ferrari-linked American team in Bahrain.

“I’m what, fifth?” he told France’s RMC. “I think I’ve never been that high in the drivers’ world championship. It’s incredible and a bit crazy. I hope that from the outside it looks as beautiful as it does on the inside.”

The team has bucked the normal trend of building an F1 entrant from the ground by buying as many parts from Ferrari and collaborating with the Italian giant as much as the rules will allow.

“Perhaps we made a mistake!” joked Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene, after Grosjean finished fifth in Bahrain. The French driver now sandwiches the two works Ferrari drivers’ in the drivers’ standings.

“Seriously, of course, I have been impressed by their results,” Arrivabene added of Haas. “They have worked very hard and we should be happy, because these Haas cars have Ferrari engines.”

MIKA: Pat Simmonds can go jump for all I care. There's always someone out there to be negative.

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ARRIVABENE: THE TEAMS NEED TO DEMONSTRATE UNITY

Team principal Maurizio Arrivabene says Ferrari will not wield its famous veto to prevent F1 from solving the current impasse over qualifying.

With the sport needing to find an agreeable format by Thursday, some have wondered whether F1 could be stuck with the hated ‘musical chairs’ if Ferrari uses an unique veto it has over decisions in formula one.

“The veto is a very powerful tool and we are not going to use it in this situation,” Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene said. “The teams need to demonstrate unity.”

However, as F1 is in the predicament of needing to make a fundamental rule change within the season, in truth every single team in pitlane has the power of veto because complete unanimity is required.

That is why a meeting on Sunday failed to produce an outcome except to set the date of the next meeting — Thursday.

Until then, bosses are chewing over the FIA’s proposal, where a drivers’ best two laps in each of the Q1, Q2 and Q3 segments are aggregated for China and beyond.

“I don’t know whether we will see it in China,” said Arrivabene, “but we will do a detailed analysis, if possible make some adjustments and I am sure we will be able to make a decision that suits everyone.”

What many team bosses really want, however, is to revert to the 2015 format. But FIA president Jean Todt and Bernie Ecclestone have ruled that out, and Red Bull’s Christian Horner has reportedly said he will consistently veto simply tweaking the existing system.

“I’m not sure of anything anymore,” Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff is quoted by the MTV when asked if he thinks an outcome will be known by China. “We do need to change. We cannot stay where we are now. That cannot be accepted.”

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HAMILTON: I AM NOT WORRIED

Lewis Hamilton said he was “very chilled” about his fate after a second successive accident wrecked his hopes of turning pole position into victory in Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

“Really, I am feeling very chilled,” he said when asked after the race about his championship prospects following two successive victories by his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg.

Rosberg has now won five successive races since Hamilton secured his third drivers’ title in Texas last year.

“I am not worried. I have had a great weekend and I am glad to have scored some points. Congratulations to Nico, I am sure he had an easy race today!”

After two races and two wins, Rosberg has 50 points and leads Hamilton, on 33, by 17, with 19 races remaining this year.

Hamilton’s hopes in Sunday’s race were wrecked when Finn Valtteri Bottas crashed into him at Turn One on the opening lap in his Williams. The Briton dropped to eighth with a a damaged car.

Bottas was given a drive-through penalty for the incident, as well as two penalty points. Hamilton recovered to finish third, but said his car was too badly damaged for him to do any better.

“Obviously, I lost a lot of performance in the car,” said Hamilton, who finished third, 20 seconds behind Finn Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari.

“I had so much damage on the car I couldn’t keep up with Kimi. I did what I could with it. I was trying to keep the tyres.

“I am not sure what happened at Turn One –whoever was on the inside was in my blind spot and I didn’t see them, but it was a racing incident.

“I just don’t know what happened. We could keep going and I managed to continue and still had some performance in the car.”

Hamilton had made a poor start from his 51st pole position, just as he did from his 50th in Melbourne two weeks earlier, “I don’t think there was a particular issue, it just wasn’t a good getaway Nothing technical.”

He laughed when asked about his decision to arrive in the paddock on Sunday morning wearing full traditional Arab dress, “It was just nice for me to do that because I have had such an enjoyable weekend here in Bahrain.”

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AZERBAIJAN SAYS CIVIL UNREST NO THREAT TO GRAND PRIX

Azerbaijan government insist that intense fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed local region, does not jeopardise forthcoming sports events like the inaugural Baku street race.

A war with Armenian separatists ended in 1994, but at least 30 soldiers and one child were killed and civilians injured in intense fighting taking place as recently as Sunday.

“Azerbaijan, showing goodwill, has decided to unilaterally cease hostilities,” the government announced in a statement on Sunday.

But reports say the fighting continues some 250 kilometres west of the capital Baku.

A spokeswoman for Azerbaijan’s sports ministry, however, insisted to the Associated Press that any fighting “has no effect on events being hosted in the country”.

“Azerbaijan always, to the highest standard, keeps athletes, tourists, fans and all participants safe at any events taking place in the country,” she added.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said during a visit last month,”We want to see an ultimate resolution of the frozen conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh that needs to be a negotiated settlement and something that has to be worked on over time.”

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The ten best photos from the Bahrain Grand Prix

Kimi Raikkonen falls back into the grasp Romain Grosjean at the start of the race

A view from the back as the grid files through the first few corners avoiding the carnage ahead

Daniel Ricciardo locks a wheel as he defends his position from a charging Raikkonen

An arty shot of the Toro Rosso taken through the various light-adored trees around the circuit

Manor's Rio Haryanto outbrakes himself as he defends from Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen

The Force India pair battled race long with Nico Hulkenberg finishing just ahead

A battle of the Finns! #77 versus #7. Kimi Raikkonen gets the inside line against Valtteri Bottas

Prior to his retirement due to an ERS failure, Jenson Button locked a wheel

Another stunning result for Romain Grosjean and the Haas team as the Frenchman finishes fifth

Winner, winner... Nico Rosberg leaps for joy after taking a second consecutive victory

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Sainz contact ended up destroying my race - Sergio Perez

Sergio Perez says contact on the second lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix with Carlos Sainz Jr “destroyed” his race.

The Mexican was attempting to pass the Toro Rosso driver early in the race, but he got onto the marbles and the two collided.

Perez was forced to pit for a new front wing, while Sainz Jr suffered a puncture. The Force India finished a lowly 16th.

“Not the best of weekends for me: I knew I had to get a good start after yesterday’s qualifying result and I managed to pull off a great one, making up a lot of ground,” he explained.

“Unfortunately, on lap two I made contact with [Carlos] Sainz, which ended up destroying my race. I was in his tow and when I went onto the marbles on the inside I just couldn’t stop the car enough. It was a real shame as the pace was there to score a good amount of points.

"During the rest of the race we had a lot of tyre degradation, but it’s too early to draw conclusions about what happened today: we need to go back to HQ and look at the data to make sure we come back strongly in China."

His team-mate Nico Hulkenberg also had a difficult race in Bahrain, pitting on the first lap with front wing damage: "A difficult and disappointing race where not much went to plan. I made a poor start away from the line and was on the back foot going into Turn 1.

"Then suddenly three or four cars backed up on the apex and I nudged the back of somebody, which damaged my front wing and forced me to pit on lap one. From there onwards we tried to recover and pull off a two-stop strategy to get back in the race, but it proved very difficult.

"I was always in traffic and involved in lots of fights so my tyre degradation was very high. I don’t think we’ve seen our true pace today because the first lap destroyed my race and we were out of synch with everybody and always playing catch up."

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Wehrlein hails ‘competitive’ Manor

Battling the likes of Force India and Renault, Pascal Wehrlein says it is nice to be "so competitive" with the Manor team.

This season has seen a marked improvement in Manor's form with the team having swapped to Mercedes power during the off-season.

That, coupled with having a driver of Wehrlein's caliber behind the wheel, has already started to yield results.

While points have yet to come, the reigning DTM Champion finished an impressive P13 in Bahrain as he beat Felipe Nasr and both Force India drivers.

“It was a great race for me.” assessed Wehrlein. “I can’t even compare it to the one in Melbourne because it felt like a completely different race.

“The car was better, the way we could manage the tyres was better – everything was just a big improvement.

“It was quite chaotic to begin with but that happens in the midfield so I’m not going to complain.

“My start was good and I managed to avoid any contact, then the rest of the first stint was really good fun.

“It was nice to be so competitive. I was 7th at one point and I really enjoyed getting past the Force Indias.”

The Manor driver almost made it two Saubers and two Force Indias as he engaged in a late battle with Marcus Ericsson.

However in the end tyre degradation forced him to back off and accept P13.

“It would have been good to take the second Sauber at the end but I had started to lose the tyres by then.

“We still experienced some tyre degradation, which is why we switched to a three-stop strategy, but it was much better than the last race and another good sign for us.

“I want to thank the whole team for today. I had a great car and it’s exciting to see how much more potential we have. I can’t wait for China now.”

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Gene Haas "ecstatic" over Grosjean's stunning F1 results

Although Bahrain was several continents away, a huge applause erupted in the No. 41 Haas NASCAR team's lounge at Martinsville as Romain Grosjean crossed the finish line fifth at the Sakhir circuit on Sunday.

"Beginner's luck," team owner Gene Haas said humbly.

Although pundits didn't anticipate that the Haas F1 Team would make a splash so early in the season, the only American entry in the Formula 1 World Championship has earned points in the first two races with Grosjean behind the wheel.

"They've done a great job, I think," Haas told Motorsport.com. "Romain, he's a heck of a driver. He got it done.

"We had a little bit of luck because [Esteban] Gutierrez has had two DNFs here, and Romain hasn't, so it's been lucky for us from that point of view."

Gutierrez was collected in a wreck by Fernando Alonso 16 laps into the season opener in Melbourne.

On Sunday, he suffered a mechanical failure in the first 10 laps. But Frenchman Grosjean has paid early dividends for the rookie organisation.

"If he keeps finishing fifth and sixth, that's a heck of a team builder," Haas said. "Everybody's ecstatic about that.

"There's so much disappointment in racing that, when you have an event that makes you feel good, it really makes a big difference to team morale."

Team owner decides to skip GP

Haas' decision to attend Martinsville Speedway - where his four Stewart-Haas Racing teams were competing in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race - and skip Bahrain was simply a case of time management.

"Bahrain was a 20-hour flight, and I didn't want to spend a day getting there and a day getting back," Haas said. "I had some other stuff I had to do in-between here, so I came to Martinsville.

"I'm going to China, because it's only a 12-hour flight. It's like these things of trying to figure out how to best allocate your time."

Overall, however, Haas introduction to F1 - and his partnership with Ferrari has been a very positive experience.

"I'm ecstatic," Haas said. "It's kind of a record-making start, but hopefully we'll do better."

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Williams' updated low-speed package

Williams is making a concerted effort to re-establish its foothold in the championship, with the team focused on improving its low-speed performance as several new parts arrived in Bahrain.

Nose and front wing changes

Having already adopted what we term a 'short nose' throughout 2015, Williams has continued to push development in this area of the car for 2016. Pushing deadlines to the limit a new nose arrived in Bahrain overnight but, only Felipe Massa will have access to it, with more parts scheduled to arrive in China.

Williams FW38 nose detail

The new nose sees the nose tip moved back slightly over the neutral section (around 5cms), whilst the nose pillars have been reshaped so that they lean back to meet the nose further back, increasing the gap for air to move through. As is the current trend, the pillars are mounted as far back on the neutral section as possible.

These changes are focused on improving flow under the nose and more importantly the pressure placement around the neutral section of the mainplane. Think of it like the nose casting a shadow over the mainplanes neutral section, where it's cast depends on how these components and the ones downstream perform.

Williams FW38 nose detail

The shortening of the nose tip may have led to the increase in height either side of the nose but the crash test requirements have likely led to the slightly more bulbous shaping. As such, the team has created an outlet along its flank (outlined in green) which allows airflow captured by the cooling hole to escape along the thumb tip, energising the airflow and delaying separation.

Williams FW38 nose and front wing detail

Aside from the nose changes, the front wing has also been treated to several amendments. Firstly the flapped sections juncture with the neutral section has been amended [1], which will result in a change to the Y250 vortex, hopefully improving performance along the cars centreline.

The inboard edge of the flaps [2] have also been revised, now turning over, rather than simply terminating in a point. This will have an effect on the Y250 vortex and has clearly been amended in tandem with the aforementioned mainplane juncture.

The 'r' cascade [3] is new and now features two sections which will increase its operating window, which should improve how it helps in turning airflow around the front tyre.

Splitter Winglets

Williams made changes to its splitter before the race weekend got underway, with both cars featuring taller vertical fins on the front edge of the splitter, which have also been turned outward to promote the direction of the airflow around the bargeboards and sidepod undercut, whilst affecting how the airflow rolls up in the splitters outer channel, as they look to improve the diffusers performance.

Complex rear brake ducts

Observed in Australia, Williams has made significant alterations to its rear brake duct in 2016.

The treatment of the airflow once used by the brakes is radically different, with several apertures placed around the cake tins radius, expelling the now hot air out of the wheels face and away from critical flow structures such as those used by the diffuser.

Whilst it remains to be seen if they have resolved their low speed issues or what underlying race pace Williams have, it is clear to see that they are prepared to try things their way, with some of the solutions featured on the FW38 in contrast to the other lead teams.

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Channel 4 boosted by first live F1 viewing figures

Channel 4's decision to push for a Formula 1 deal this year appears to be paying off, with its peak audience for the Bahrain Grand Prix making it the most watched UK channel over its slot.

The Sakhir race was C4's first live offering this year, and was always going to deliver a good indication of whether or not F1's audience would switch terrestrial channels after the BBC deal came to an end.

According to overnight television ratings, which were shared by C4's press office, its live coverage peaked at 3.2 million viewers with an average of 2.3 million viewers. This compares with Sky's 605,000 average viewers on pay TV.

The coverage on Sunday across Sky and C4 peaked at 4.01m (30.2 percent of the overall TV audience) – which is down from the 5.31m (30.8 percent) that watched on BBC and Sky as Lewis Hamilton won last year's race.

Sky's audience has dropped from an average of 640,000 viewers last year, while the BBC's average audience last year was 3.83 million.

Sky future

The Bahrain TV figures have taken on more significance in light of the decision by Bernie Ecclestone to put F1 solely on Sky TV from 2019.

That move has prompted controversy because, despite Sky's UK reach of 20 million viewers, it is unlikely that it will attract the audiences that frequently watched F1 on free-to-air television.

When asked by Motorsport.com in Bahrain last week about if he was worried about the impact of losing television viewers from 2019, Ecclestone said: “Not really. The way they are going to broadcast...we are not going to lose any audience at all.”

Pushed on why he believed a pay TV channel could attract the same level of viewers as free-to-air, he added: “It's the system they have got…”

Advertising boost

More detailed analysis of C4's audience shows great promise for the channel's commercial chiefs as it appears to have attracted a new demographic.

According to broadcast media ratings specialists overnights.tv, C4's audience featured a growth in the 35-44 age category, and the gender split – normally 50/50 at this time slot - shifted to being 64 percent male. This could be good news for advertising potential.

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F1 qualifying fiasco is 'madness', says Wolff

Formula 1's ongoing failure to sort out the mess surrounding its qualifying format has been labelled as 'madness' by Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff.

Bernie Ecclestone, Jean Todt and the teams met on Sunday morning in Bahrain to discuss how best to move on from the elimination format which has been universally criticised.

But despite teams wanting to revert to the 2015 qualifying format, that idea is being vetoed by Ecclestone and Todt, who insist the sport cannot go back.

Instead, they are now pushing for an aggregate type system, whereby a drivers' qualifying time will be based on his two best laps in each session.

Wolff, who over the Bahrain weekend suggested that anyone blocking abandoning elimination qualifying should be crucified, appears exasperated by what has been going on.

"A simple explanation?" he said when asked about why F1 cannot agree on a qualifying format. "Madness."

Hidden agendas

Many F1 insiders believe that the mess over qualifying is being used to support various political agendas of Todt and Ecclestone, who it is suggested are using it as part of a battle of wills with the teams.

Wolff said that he believed that 'agendas' were at play in the situation, especially because the teams were unified about what should happened.

"We expressed our opinion," he said of the meeting. "All the teams had the same opinion that we probably need to go back to 2015.

"But there are various agendas and [this has] proved that it is not an easy one, so I cannot tell you [what will happen]. Last time I told you, I was totally wrong."

Not needed

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has said it is too early to predict whether or not everyone will accept the aggregate system, with a decision due to be made by Thursday.

But he has questioned whether or not F1 needs to be playing around with qualifying at all judging by the exciting racing so far this year.

"Let's see what happens," he told Motorsport.com. "The FIA are going to circulate some draft regulations, let's take a look at those and then we will make a decision on the vote.

"But with two samples of pretty decent races...do we really need to mess around with qualifying too much?"

Horner also pointed out that the need for jumbling up the grid had also been weakened by the fact that the new clutch regulations at the start was mixing things up off the line any way.

"I think that one of the big uncertainties has been the starts, and the single lever seems to have made a bit of a difference," he said. "That will undoubtedly smooth itself out as people refine it, but let's see."

Ferrari support

Ferrari had been reluctant to accept the introduction of elimination qualifying earlier this year, but team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has expressed some support for the aggregate times idea.

"We had this long meeting and a door is opening now," he said. "We need to work on the proposal of the FIA.

"Everybody understands that this format is not ideal. We need to talk and to work on the proposal that they gave to us, that it doesn't sound that bad."

MIKA: Personally I think Jean Todt has no clue about what he's doing, I never have since he took he's office and Bernie just simply needs to vanish from the sport. So much greed.

I know I said I wouldn't post much on politics, but this case directly impacts the sport we watch, this season which has thus far been so positive as far as races are taking place. The old brown paper bag under the table trick is being played here, greedy rich folks keep getting richer at the detriment of the sport we love. If we were all to suddenly switch off and stop watching, I'm sure Bernie would eventually be ousted. But at a very high cost.

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Rosberg: We haven't seen the true Ferrari yet

Nico Rosberg is convinced that Ferrari is a stronger threat in Formula 1 than it has been able to show so far, on the back of its disappointing start to the year.

Despite the clear pace shown by the Maranello outfit, a wrong strategy call in Australia allied to reliability woes for Sebastian Vettel and a poor start for Kimi Raikkonen in Bahrain has derailed its bid for victories.

But while that has opened the door for Nico Rosberg to grab wins in Australia and Bahrain, the German does not believe that F1 has seen the true state of play between the two teams.

For however much he was controlling the pace at the front of the field at Sakhir after his rivals had effectively wrecked their afternoons on the first lap, he thinks Ferrari has much more in hand.

"I was in control," he said. "We were just managing the race, trying to reduce risks, strategy wise, pitstop wise, and bring the race home.

"But at same time, Kimi showed good pace in the race. We know that Ferrari are super close, and we need to keep pushing.

"They haven't shown what they are able to do yet, that is clear. They have had so many mishaps which has cost them dearly, so we haven't seen the real Ferrari yet. We need to be careful, they are coming at us strong."

Living the moment

Rosberg's Bahrain victory has put him in control of the F1 championship, with a 17-points advantage over team-mate Lewis Hamilton already.

But although it is a world away from his slow start to last season, Rosberg knows there is no point getting too carried away with his situation.

"I am not thinking about the season. I am going step-by-step," he said. "I am just enjoying it at the moment.

"I have been very privileged to drive this car and go for wins. When I go to China, I know I am going to fight for the win there as well, so it is such a great feeling to have.

"Winning is awesome, celebrating with the team, and getting all those points. It is great to start the season like that. But I am not looking too far ahead, I am living for the moment."

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F1's future... but not as we know it

Whilst there are some people I know that don't appreciate the finer essence of motorsport and consider Formula 1 as simply 'cars going round and round', this weekend in Bahrain it was the sport that found itself locked in a circle. A vicious one though, certainly no essence.

Politics, meetings and indecisions, F1 stakeholders didn't shroud themselves in glory again this weekend, not that they have much glory left to cover. The fact no decision was reached on the once more heavily panned qualifying format – rather tellingly – came as no surprise, but it doesn't make it any less baffling.

Strictly speaking, the qualifying format isn't the critical thing here, simply one small piece of a larger jigsaw – a short-term focus exposing larger issue, if you will. Though the outcome of whatever format we end up with is important to the fans (not that you are being treated as such), it is how the decision is made that has bigger political resonance. Teams want to go back, FIA and FOM want to step forward, but instead of standing firm together for the good of the sport, individual heels are digging in.

So the impasse rumbles on until another meeting where an 'aggregate' system is rumoured to be tabled. Unless it is revolutionary, it is unlikely to appease the still popular hope amongst fans that we will go back to 2015, but I will say now it's time to move on… we aren't going back. Like it or lump it, F1's new motto.

Discussing the politics of F1 could fill chapters (and other feature articles) though and for those able to ignore the off-track posturing, there is mercifully something more worthwhile to be appreciated in F1 at the moment. The racing, the drivers and – somewhat bizarrely given the lack of regulatory clarity – F1's future.

Indeed, on a weekend where the track action threatened to become secondary (apart from qualifying… we all waited with low expectations and still felt unfulfilled), the racing itself and the quality of a new generation clawed back some of the headlines for the right reasons by Sunday.

Bahrain always puts on a good event, even when the circuit itself was unkindly viewed as enabling dull racing during the early years. Indeed, like a couple of circuits on the calendar – the Hungaroring being another -, it appears the latest generation of cars suit the BIC better than in the past, while the recent move to make it floodlit spectacle at worst gives the sport a pleasant sheen as the sparks – and occasionally bodywork - fly. Goodness knows F1 needs something making it look good at the moment, even if it is just at a surface level.

Indeed, as difficult as it is to ignore the din of political machinations off the track, there was plenty of positivity to take away from F1 on the track this weekend if you opened your eyes but maybe popped headphones in.

An expected surprise

When it comes to Haas, we're running out of hats to take off to them as Romain Grosjean brought it home for another top six finish, this time in fifth. Clearly there are no flukes to be had here – the VF16 evidently has raw pace, Grosjean is living up to his 'rated as underrated' status and the American team's strategies have been so on point they need their own prize.

Interestingly, from the back-slapping of the opening race, there was a touch more bitterness to be found when discussing Haas amongst some rivals come Bahrain, some saying we shouldn't so readily set our faces to stun given its buddy-up pal in Ferrari. Truth or jealousy? A bit of both probably, but as Guenther Steiner points out they worked to the rules and the rules are subsequently working for them. Future teams take note.

So while Haas is perhaps being revealed much like the humble, hard-knocks X Factor singer that actually comes from a pretty wealthy, privately-schooled background, its rapid success is a huge boon for the sport and make a great headline regardless. Haas is the F1 nation's sweetheart.

To vindicate or to undermine?

The always pristine McLaren managed to spray itself with mud this weekend as it thrilled F1 fans by giving Stoffel Vandoorne his debut before rather clumsily almost taking it away as it attempted to reinstate Fernando Alonso back into the MP4-31 mid-weekend.

Strictly speaking, McLaren – well, Ron Dennis – had a good point to make by moving to clarify with the FIA its position on disallowing Alonso to drive when it was convinced he was fit enough. Bottom line, it raises an interesting issue of who makes what final decision on fitness. Is an F1 doctor more qualified than an external doctor who specialises in that particular area? Perhaps the medical team needs a Strategy Group...

Had it got its way, McLaren would be vindicated – and for good reason, truth be told -, but it would have been excruciating for Vandoorne to have his F1 debut denied mid-weekend having barely gotten over the jet lag from his last minute flight out of Japan. Fans – even the Alonso's die-hards – probably would have been disappointed to be robbed of the chance to see him get his long awaited bow.

Undermined or not – Vandoorne nodded nervously as Dennis insisted McLaren wasn't doing him a disservice -, the most exciting potential F1 driver since possibly a young, necklace-less Lewis Hamilton made his debut and cracked the points. No drama, no problems, no complaints. Spectacular though it wasn't, this is probably more symptomatic of a car that is still not quite at its full potential, but Vandoorne's highlights – out-qualifying Button, passing a few cars and settling into the MP4-31 rapidly – bode well for his and F1's future.

Speaking of Alonso, any suggestion he might retire at the end of the year seems to be off the table (not that I am sure it was ever on it) as he confronted Johnny Herbert live on television to remonstrate over an article the ex-F1 driver wrote in which he said the 'jaded' former champion should quit. If anything, Alonso might just sign another contract to spite him.

Whether you watched it giggling or through your fingers, it gave the internet another viral meme to enjoy, mash ups of 'thug life' and 'burn' stretching far and wide over the Twitter-sphere'. In a sport so serious it makes Kimi Raikkonen look jovial, this brief, amusing exchange turned into one of the weekend's most read, watched and shared ditties… Alonso is becoming quite the online sensation.

At worst, if F1 ceases to be, at least this clip will be showing on It'll Be Alright On The Night 874 in ten years' time.

Moving targets

Back in the race, Nico Rosberg notched up a second win as a delayed Lewis Hamilton picked parts of Valtteri Bottas' Williams out of his Mercedes and Sebastian Vettel watched on, his Ferrari seemingly also having had enough of the weekend.

Perversely for Hamilton, two races on the back foot might actually prove to be a good thing later on. Given the talk of motivation and distractions pre-season, Hamilton now has a moving target to focus on and greater glory to be enjoyed from hunting his team-mate down and clawing back the initiative. His upbeat demeanour in spite of more frustration was telling this weekend. He is up for a fight… he just needs to get around turn one without a drama and pull his head up from Snapchat for more than two minutes.

To his credit, Rosberg – claiming an effective fifth win in a row – was on form all weekend, with only qualifying letting him down. He's ceded bigger leads to Hamilton before though, so if he has really evolved as a driver, now is the time to prove he can not only resist his arch rival, but push him further adrift.

Finally, kudos to Max Verstappen, who stayed quiet enough on the radio to score a sixth place finish – arguably his best F1 result without the benefit of attrition -, Daniil Kvyat for turning his 'f***ing embarrassing' lack of pace into a seventh place charge and Pascal Wehrlein who is doing remarkable things in a Manor not seen since the late Jules Bianchi. The German will score points for that team in 2016.

Indeed, if F1 proved one thing this weekend, while the sport itself may have a somewhat murky political future, it has plenty of bright young things to dazzle on track… and, after all, that is what Formula 1 is really all about.

[MIKA27]

Palmer upbeat about Renault F1 progress, despite missing Bahrain GP

Jolyon Palmer is confident Renault is on an upward curve in Formula 1 despite him failing to even start the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Palmer's RS16 suffered a hydraulic failure on the formation lap, resulting in the loss of brake-by-wire and power steering, forcing him back to the garage for an immediate retirement.

With team-mate Kevin Magnussen finishing Sunday's race 11th, Renault has failed to score a point in the opening two races on its return to F1 as a works team.

"Over the weekend there were a lot of teething problems," said Palmer, speaking to Autosport.

"Nothing really came together too well, and then obviously the race was non-existent.

"Everything was OK and under control, but at the end of the warm-up lap the car suffered a hydraulic failure.

"I initially lost all brake-by-wire, and then the power steering, then everything else.

"It's pretty clear as soon as the brake-by-wire goes you know something is up, and it's usually hydraulics, which is pretty terminal."

Despite Palmer also qualifying a lowly 19th, he believes there are positives, and he is convinced the team is "getting stronger".

Time is certainly required for Renault to bed itself back into F1 following its takeover of Lotus less than four months ago

"In terms of positives the race pace was again better than the qualifying pace, so we can look forward to the next race in China and keep aiming to get into the points," added Palmer.

"Even though we are qualifying further down it is clear the pace is there and stuff is happening in the races to make up the places.

"So we just need to focus on qualifying a little in China and be racing towards points.

"Overall, the team is still new and we have a different power unit, so we are still learning things the whole time.

"Beyond that I'm confident the rest of the season will see us on an upward curve.

"We knew these early races we would not look super strong, but I'm sure there are going to be good chances to move forward from here."