Accidents mar Palmer's Friday at the Hungaroring

Jolyon Palmer was certainly making the news in Budapest - but it was in just the way that the Renault driver had been hoping to avoid.

Already beset by a string of technical failures and incidents during the season, Palmer was hoping for a smooth first day at the Hungaroring. But it wasn't to be, as he triggered two of the day's four red flags.

The first happened just before lunch at the end of Free Practice 1. He ran wide over the kerbs at turn 4 and lost his front wing as a result.

"FP1 looked good [but] I suffered from a damaged front wing and floor after running wide and feeling the consequences of the new kerbs.

"It's when it drops onto the concrete," Palmer explained. "I won't do it again! It's a big punishment in the race if you do it. For me, I had to retire the car. I think it's too severe to be honest - you might as well have a wall there.

"You go wide and then try to come back on again, and then you're going to destroy the car. I think it's too severe."

Repairs delayed his first afternoon run. When he did return to action, he then subsequently spun off into the barriers at the final corner.

"It wasn’t the end to the day that anyone wanted," said Palmer. "My car didn’t feel right from the start of FP2, and this contributed to me putting it in the wall.

"It was looking to do that [spin out] many times and we couldn't see what, but it just like rallycross out there," he said. "In the end... Honestly, it felt like something broke. I think they are looking at it at the moment, because it just snapped and I had zero chance to catch it."

"My side of the garage has a bit of work to do," he acknowledged. "There’ll be some cold drinks waiting for them at the end of the weekend to say thanks."

• FP2: Ricciardo stays fastest, as practice hit by more red flags

"Jolyon had a difficult day," sighed Nick Chester, the chassis technical director at Renault.

"The track was certainly slippery as we saw from a number of offs, but his pace was good in FP1. We will work on balance with Jolyon overnight and look forward to FP3."

By contrast, Palmer's team mate Nico Hulkenberg got on with business during Friday's two 90-minute sessions.

"Nico was pretty happy with the balance," reported Chester. "Tyre wear was reasonable so we have a decent base to work with.

"We had to fight to find grip at times today," was the view from Hulkenberg himself. "But this was just an aspect of a pretty usual Friday for us.

"The car feels pretty decent so it’s just the standard Friday, working through the data to find the best balance and set-up for of tomorrow."

GALLERY: F1 drivers' wives and girlfriends

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter