LONDON (Reuters) – British rookie Jolyon Palmer will have a new Renault chassis for next week’s Canadian Formula One Grand Prix after badly damaging the previous one in a Monaco crash last weekend, the team said on Friday. “Jolyon’s incident means we will use a new chassis,” said technical director Nick Chester in a team preview of the Montreal race.
“The car hit the barriers quite hard at an oblique angle which damaged the front of the chassis and since we have a new chassis available it makes sense to introduce it.”
Palmer lost control on the pit straight in Monaco immediately after a safety car stint had ended. The car skewed into the barriers on lap eight and came to rest at the Sainte Devote corner.
The Briton blamed wet conditions and the slippery paint markings of a zebra crossing on a street circuit that uses regular roads.
“The car was pitched sideways and I collected the barriers. It was just the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said. “I had a bit of bruising on my feet so it was just my ego and the car that had to suffer.” Palmer will also have the latest specification Renault power unit in his car for the first time in Canada.
Renault made just two available in Monaco — one for their works team and one for Red Bull Racing, whose engines have Tag Heuer badging.
The French manufacturer’s cars failed to finish in Monaco with Denmark’s Kevin Magnussen also retiring following a collision with Toro Rosso’s Russian Daniil Kvyat at the tight Rascasse corner. Chester said the crash had damaged mainly ‘bolt-on’ parts that were easy to replace.
Renault racing director Fred Vasseur said Kvyat’s attempt to pass, while one lap down, had been “a completely stupid move.”
Canada is the seventh race of 21 this season. Palmer has yet to score any points.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ed Osmond)
Reuters
