Jolyon Palmer reports a positive first impression of the Renault RS17 after seeing a wind tunnel model and driving it in the simulator.
Palmer, who re-signed for the team last week, said the wind tunnel version of the team’s 2017 challenger is “awesome” and is “going to be a great looking car”.
“Of course, the new rules are the same for everyone, and we won’t know how we stack-up against our rivals until we hit the track in Barcelona, but the speeds are higher, the car is more challenging to drive and I think it’s going to be a great spectacle when we race next year.”
One year on from Renault’s purchase of the Lotus team, Palmer says he can feel the difference in the scale of the operation.
“It really feels like a much bigger team this year and you do feel part of a far greater entity,” he said. “The amount of resources and the investment coming in is really quite notable.”
“Renault have come back in as they want to be at the front. You can really feel the buzz in the factory and even at the track – where it’s been a tough season in terms of results – everyone’s been pushing really flat out to make the most of what we’ve got and also get all the foundations in place for the future.”
2017 F1 season
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Kgn11
18th November 2016, 15:24
I remember Jenson saying the same of the 2013 McLaren, he even set an eye catching time at a cold Barcelona test, then the car turned to be probably worse than their 2009 car.
The Duke
18th November 2016, 19:48
In all your wisdom is that the only driver saying a car is fast after simulator runs preseason that you can recall?
Was there even a point to your comment other than a dig at Jenson? Another teammate Lewis lost a season to…
JP either was asked a question or Renault are trying to create some media presence with a release. Either way it’s not like he’s making it up. Unlike the judge.
Iried67
18th November 2016, 20:08
What was the point of your response? Everyone’s simulator data is going to say their car is faster. If not they shouldn’t even bother lining up on the grid next year. That’s the whole point of the changes. It doesn’t mean anything until everyone hits the track in the real world. Or are you just trying to start an argument for argument sake?
The Duke
19th November 2016, 0:01
TheJudge13 is that you?
Chris (@tophercheese21)
19th November 2016, 4:55
Jenson also thought his 2009 Brawn didn’t stand a chance after the first testing in Jerez, and we all know how that turned out…
Dan Selby
19th November 2016, 11:03
Really? I seem to remember having a good shakedown, then setting killer times in the 2nd test, and me placing a very early bet on him and Rubens to win the first race!
Richard (@rick1984)
19th November 2016, 0:06
It was the jerez test in 2013 for the Button lap, iirc it was set on medium or hard tyres.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
19th November 2016, 1:25
@rick1984 not only that, they fitted a suspension component the wrong way up if I remember correctly, so the setup would never have passed scrutinity or at least it wasn’t a realistic setup.
But yeah, OP is right. I also remember Jenson talking about the 2014 being trickier to drive than the V8s. And now they are all saying that it’s “too easy”. We’ll never know, really, since none of us is driving, and we only see what we get from the telly.
chris (@)
19th November 2016, 21:18
Was the trickier comment not in relation to the brake by wire implementation.
The Duke
19th November 2016, 22:09
You missed the point.
The article is about JP. kGN brought up button because he needs to continually bash anything that threatens Lewis’ legacy.
Now that Lewis is set to lose a season to a second teammate – this time during a championship season – kGN will be showing force on all articles.
Shimks (@shimks)
20th November 2016, 10:16
Stop this kindergarten crap.
Robert Krüse
18th November 2016, 15:34
Hopefully Hülkenberg takes it on early. Gutted he left Force India, but this article makes it hurt a little less.
mfreire
18th November 2016, 21:54
He was never going to get anywhere with Force India.
chris (@)
19th November 2016, 21:20
@mfreire
Just 4th in the championship this year, remind me, where is Renault?
IB
20th November 2016, 2:29
Renault is a works team, always bigger, more resources and way more chances to win races.
Raveendhana
21st November 2016, 1:33
Manufacturer teams get an unfair advantage, let’s see how many days it goes on.
glynh (@glynh)
18th November 2016, 17:07
It will be very interesting to see if any teams rush to reveal their car earlier than usual. They could get a lot more publicity from being the first car to be seen under the new rules.
Of course the flip side is that teams might hold back their reveal to avoid being copied.
Tim Edwards (@timpey)
18th November 2016, 17:13
The reveal cars always have dummy aero parts on them anyway to negate giving things away. I wonder when the first will show.
Deej92 (@deej92)
18th November 2016, 20:31
Going on the last few years, teams have been holding off revealing their cars longer and longer. The appeal of revealing early has been there and hardly any have taken it. I recall most teams waited to reveal their cars until the first day of testing at the end of February this year. All very low key.
It’s disappointing and I just can’t see that changing next year unfortunately.
thomas
18th November 2016, 17:12
I think we will see a few teams debut their cars early but with a very different spec to what they will actually run, especially red bull. They will throw the dummy out for sure as I’m guessing AM and the team will have something cool on the cars at first race.
Josh
18th November 2016, 17:21
Does a car being quick on a simulator mean anything?
Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
18th November 2016, 17:33
Yes. They’re incredibly accurate.
Philip (@philipgb)
18th November 2016, 17:54
The new simulations are probably going to be much less accurate than from current years. The physics simulations are very accurate, they will be getting aero numbers from the wind tunnel models to feed in, they can approximate performance from the increased dimensions of the tyres, and some of the data that Pirelli feed them on adhesion, temperature windows and degradation will help.
So they will have an idea of raw performance expectations, but they need to get actual track data to begin to correlate simulated data to that real world data. You would be surprised at how accurate they can simulate things though.
Tristan
18th November 2016, 19:27
Not really. As Philip mentions it needs to be correlated with real world data.
The simulator’s main role throughout the year is for testing setups to get an excellent baseline going in to the weekend and testing out potential upgrades, even aiding driver performance. All next-year’s sim would be at this point is a matter of “here’s a decent idea of what we think the cars next year will feel like”.
I don’t see Palmer’s comments as much more than paying back his re-signing, he’s done a great job in the press this year. A lot of measured and thoughtful responses given Renault’s position earlier in the year, leveraged them well recently when his position was in doubt and now boosts confidence in the team with such positive comments.
All that being said aswell, considering Bob Bell was at Mercedes during 11-14, it definitely wouldn’t surprise anybody for their car to be a huge step up next year.
Crash
19th November 2016, 17:28
This year both drivers can start using the simulator at the same time..remember last year when PAL claimed to be a rookie – after he has been driving the Lotus in several practice runs and having acces to the simulator all winter…MAG didn’t and didn’t drive all 2015 but still he was supposed to beat PAL – and he did..
Now PAL will meet HUL on equal conditions….