Jolyon Palmer: My Renault was awful

Palmer, the 26-year-old from Sussex, is embarking on his second campaign in Formula One after defying the odds to secure another year with Renault.

But the Englishman has endured a weekend to forget in Melbourne. He crashed in practice on Friday and was then the slowest here in qualifying.

Palmer was an eye-watering 3.3 seconds adrift of his new team-mate Nico Hulkenberg, but pointed the finger of blame at his Renault machinery.

"To be honest the car was awful," Palmer, who will be promoted one spot on the grid after rookie Lance Stroll served a five-place penalty for a gearbox change, said.

"I have had tough weekends before but this one is strange. Everything has conspired against me.

"I have made my own bad luck with my crash in FP2 - I am the first to say that - but for some reason we have turned up today and I thought I could salvage it. We are missing something and we are really struggling.

"Today the car was put back together, and I have to thank the guys for that, but it's actually a disaster. I'm a second off what I did on my second lap in FP1 which is pretty terrible. The brakes are terrible, the balance is pretty horrible and the traction is terrible."

Palmer's team-mate Hulkenberg qualified 12th which would suggest that Renault, who struggled last season, have made gains over the winter.

And Palmer is taking some satisfaction from Hulkenberg's display that he will be back on song in China in a fortnight's time.

"It is a shame but the positive is the car is much more competitive," he added.

"Tomorrow will be tough but the positive is that from China onwards we can reset and I have the confidence we can then start back on a normal footing and be in a more competitive space.

"Of course this weekend is a bad start to my season, but I have a lot of confidence for the future."