Palmer unconcerned by Ocon rumours

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Jolyon Palmer is unconcerned by rumours Esteban Ocon is being considered for a seat with Renault in 2017.

Ocon is part of the Renault set-up despite racing for Mercedes in DTM this season, with the Frenchman also carrying out both days of testing for the defending F1 champions at Silverstone this week. On Wednesday Ocon himself dismissed talk of a move to Renault next year as premature, and Palmer says he is only focused on trying to ensure he can prove himself this season.

“I don’t really care what he does today, he's in the Mercedes which is a different league to what we’re doing," Palmer said. "So I’m not worried by Esteban anyway, I know him well and he’s a member of the team. So I’m not worried about my seat, with him, I just focus on what I’m doing.

"To be honest I just focus on getting the car better because I think if we can improve the car then I think there’s a better chance to show what I can do. Especially if we can be in Q2 or fighting for points then that’s a real chance to show I can score, show I can race well against the best because at the moment it’s harder than it could be anyway.

"I’m not fussed about anyone else, it’s good to see some young guys out there. I’m just focused on doing 51 laps this morning and it was a good run so fingers crossed it’s dry and I can do another 50."

Asked about Renault's focus on the final day of in-season testing during the lunch break, Palmer says the suspension has been central to its work.

“Making the car quicker basically! We’ve got some big suspension updates that we’re trying, so at the moment they’re changing it over lunch - it’s a bit of a long change - and then a few aero bits. It’s quite busy so all the time we’ve got some new bits going on. So hopefully it’s going to stay dry this afternoon and we can get a real back-to-back comparison.”

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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.