2017 driver line-up shows intent - Renault

40

Renault's 2017 driver line-up of Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer shows the team's intent for next season, according to team principal Frederic Vasseur.

Hulkenberg was recruited from Force India despite having a year left on his contract, with the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hour winner signing a multi-year deal at Enstone. He will be paired with Palmer, with the British driver having showed steady progress during his rookie year with the team this season.

Vasseur says the pairing has the right balance of Hulkenberg's experience from other teams and Palmer's knowledge of Renault's recent history.

“Our driver line-up for 2017 shows our intent and aspirations," Vasseur said. "Nico comes to the team at a perfect time for both us and him. He has experience of working with different teams, including those we expect to be our rivals next season. As well as a significant amount of experience, he has youth and hunger on his side. He has been a driver hungry for the right opportunity to help build a team and we are that team. It’s a perfect match.

“Jolyon has shown great development over the course of his rookie season with us, combined with his motivating approach and team spirit, and we feel we have a very good driver line-up for what we want to achieve in 2017.”

Renault originally approached Kevin Magnussen about signing a one year deal to remain with the team alongside Hulkenberg, but the Dane opted to join Haas having felt there was a lack of commitment from Renault's side.

Romain Grosjean column: 2016 showed exciting Haas potential

TECHNICAL: Under the skin of the Williams FW38

Silbermann says... Let's go racing in December!

Jorge Lorenzo: When a two-wheel champion tests a Mercedes

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

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.