Jolyon Palmer will get a new chassis at the Spanish Grand Prix following recent handling problems with his Renault.
The rookie was complaining about the handling of his car since the Australian Grand Prix, with his performance at the Chinese Grand Prix - where he finished last of the 22 runners - leading to what Palmer described as a debrief which "wasn't pretty".
While the problem remained on Friday in Russia, Renault changed the floor on Palmer's car which appears to have resolved the issue, but he will also be first to try a new chassis in Spain.
"Jolyon was much happier in his car on Saturday in Sochi and this translated to a stronger performance over the weekend," chassis technical director Nick Chester said. "As part of our assessments to get his car to work better for him we changed the floor, which is a very important aerodynamic aspect of the car. This looks to have delivered what we wanted so a positive step was made.
"For Spain Jolyon will run with a new chassis – R.S.16-03 which we used at our filming day this week to shake down."
Palmer himself is hopeful the work done in Russia will prove the floor was the cause of his recent troubles.
"If I’d been asked [about being happy with the progress] at the end of Friday in Sochi, I’d have said no as that day certainly wasn’t going my way," Palmer said. "However, the team changed the floor of my car on Friday night and for Saturday onwards the balance felt normal and consistent again, which was a positive for the rest of the weekend and hopefully looking forward too."
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