Jolyon Palmer's maiden British Grand Prix unravelled after the Renault driver left his box with the rear right wheel missing on his Renault R.S.16 at his second pit stop.
Prior to the mishap, the F1 rookie had managed to move past team-mate Kevin Magnussen following an opening stint on full wets behind the Safety Car and a strong spell on Pirelli’s intermediate tyres.
With the track quickly drying out at Silverstone, Palmer duly switched to a set of mediums. The 25-year-old was looking to make further progress in his home event when he suffered the costly tyre issue.
“When I pitted for slick tyres, I had a green light to go but the rear right wasn’t finished and I’d already started to leave the box.
“From then on I lost about a minute and then received a 10 seconds penalty for unsafe release. What happened was unfortunate but it could happen to anyone up and down the pitlane.”
Palmer’s misery came to an end 12 laps from the flag when the team elected to stop him.
“We retired the car as there was a strange feeling with the gearbox, more as a precaution as at that stage we were two laps down. We’ll now investigate the problem thoroughly.
“It wasn’t the result I wanted for my home race.
“I’m looking forward to the test this week and focussing on the next race weekend.”
The second in-season test takes place at Silverstone on July 12/13.
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