Renault 'should be a good chunk more competitive'

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Renault "should be a good chunk more competitive" as a result of its power unit upgrade at the Canadian Grand Prix, according to Jolyon Palmer.

The B-spec power unit was introduced ahead of Monaco, with only one version available for each of the Renault-powered teams. With Kevin Magnussen ahead in the championship standings, the Dane received the update in Monaco but Palmer will also have the new engine in Montreal and is expecting a clear step forward in performance.

"I will get the B spec power unit for the first time," Palmer said. "It looked like it made a good difference in Monaco and Canada is a more power-hungry circuit so if it was a positive step in Monaco it should certainly help our cause in Montréal.

"The new engine mapping certainly looks to have been beneficial and you need good traction in out of the lower speed corners in Canada. It’s got more power too so everything is good in that regard!

"We should be a good chunk more competitive. We’ll do everything we can to maximise the car around the track and we’ll be pushing all the way as usual!"

Magnussen himself is hopeful the final impact in Canada will allow the team to fight for a place in the top ten.

"It’s a more power sensitive track than Monaco so the latest power unit should have more effect there," Magnussen said. "Hopefully we have more time to get the set-up dialled-in and make use of the upgrades for the car. If we have a good weekend certainly we want to be fighting for points."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.