Jolyon Palmer was looking forward to the opportunity of moving up the grid in Barcelona after a troubled first four races with Renault this year so far.
While his runs in free practice since yesterday morning appeared to bode well for qualifying, the Brit was unexpectedly eliminated in Q1 with a disappointing P17 result.
"To be honest I don't what happened," said a perplexed Palmer.
"The pace is gone. I was quite happy yesterday, jumped straight and was feeling good for this weekend, feeling good with the practice yesterday and today, but it's gone."
"I'm quite confused really, it didn't feel good in the car. I didn't do such a horrendus lap but there wasn't any pace there."
Palmer was hopeful however that a thorough analysis would reveal the source of his sudden loss of speed.
"We'll work on it and see what we can do. I'm sure somewhere in the data and in the feedback there will be an explanation because yesterday I was alot quicker than what I've just done in qualifying. It's a bit strange."
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