Palmer feeling comfortable despite unknowns

Jolyon Palmer's first outing as a bona fide Grand Prix driver didn't result in many laps for the Renault rookie, as the Brit sat out a good part of the weather impacted practice sessions.

With conditions treacherous, risk wasn't encouraged at Renault as the French outfit didn't believe its drivers had much to learn.

"It was smooth and there were no problems," Palmer said.

"The cars both ran, I mean we did run in FP2 even if we didn’t set a time. There were no issues, we did some systems checks and we did some procedural work, really I guess a lot of the more boring bits, the basics we covered off today.

"No risks, we were happy enough with the little running we did in FP1 so we didn’t feel there was a huge amount more to learn.

"I don’t think anyone would have really learnt a lot, even the guys who did a lot of the laps, the conditions were changing all of the time, half the track was dry and half the track was wetter so it was really difficult to get a big feel on the car."

While most drivers are hoping for the Melbourne skies to clear up tomorrow, Palmer will take whatever comes his way, whether the remaining of the race weekend turns out to be wet or dry.

" I honestly don’t know where we are going to be. I don’t really know any more today than I did yesterday.

"I don’t myself really have a big preference between the wet and the dry so whatever comes, but I think it’s going to be dry."

Regardless of how the weekend evolves, and while he feels at ease with his Grand Prix debut, Jolyon Palmer isn't underestimating the task which waits him on Sunday.

"It is going to be a tricky start. I think it’s not going to make a massive difference if it’s raining to be honest.

"We still did a lot of practice starts today, but the way it works is that it is down to a lot more driver feel and a bit more kind of guesswork really.

"I think it’s what they wanted to achieve with the rules when they first changed the start rules and I think it will be more interesting on Sunday."

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