Alpha Test Article - Push Notification

Palmer bows out early

The news on Saturday night that the Briton would be standing down at Renault following the race took many people by surprise. Accepted paddock wisdom suggested that a deal for financial compensation was probably finally realised, triggering the change.

On a horrible day for the French team which saw it drop from seventh to eighth place overall as Haas moved up, and Nico Hulkenberg retired from points contention with a DRS problem, Palmer hauled himself from 18th on the grid to 12th, only 1.4s off Massa and sixth-tenths down on Fernando Alonso.

“We had a solid last race, we started from the back and with one more lap, I think we could have had 10th,” he said. “It’s been a tough season but the team and I have been through a lot, I’ve been here since the start of this new era. We’ve come a long way and I’ve enjoyed it. I wish the team all the best in the future.”

With so few 2018 seats remaining – and with the market for them so crowded – as things stand, it looks like his F1 career could well be over.

Sainz’s unfortunate farewell

After the news that he would, after all, be joining Renault before the season was over, Carlos Sainz really wanted to go out with a bang in his last race for Toro Rosso. But not literally. Instead, he clobbered the wall at Turn 7 on the opening lap, and that was it.

“This wasn’t the way I wanted to end my time with Toro Rosso, that’s for sure!” he rued. “I’d like to say sorry to the whole team for retiring on the first lap. I was trying to risk everything at the start to try and gain some positions, so I went around the outside at Turn 6 and I found a lot more dust on the track than I was expecting, and lost it; as simple as that.

“It’s a shame, because I was really looking forward to finishing on a high here in Suzuka with the team. But these three years here have been absolutely amazing – it’s been an ideal preparation for me; the driver I am today, compared to the driver I was in 2015, is a more complete and better one, and this is thanks to Toro Rosso.”

Sainz, who has racked up the second-most starts in Toro Rosso's history, leaves the Italian team as their all-time record points scorer.