Jolyon Palmer: "It feels good!"

Jolyon Palmer finally broke his Formula One podium duck by finishing in 10th place at the Malaysia Grand Prix.

The rookie has had a difficult season so far, but finally managed to score in what was a dramatic race at the Sepang International circuit.

More about Jolyon Palmer

Verstappen Frightens Rivals: “He Has His Own Aura”

Dec 5

Verstappen Startles Rivals: “He Has His Own Aura”

Dec 3

"Point-scorer: It feels good! I’m really happy, I think the whole week has been really positive." beamed the former GP2 champion. "The race was really smooth – I wish it was always so straightforward!"

"I was really disappointed with how qualifying went especially as I’d been feeling strong all weekend, so I’m glad the race went really well and we could make up for it today," he said. "The car gave me everything I needed, we handled the tyres well and the team did a great job with strategy and pit stops. We got a little bit of a break as well; finally everything came together and we got it home to P10!"

Renault boss Frederic was equally pleased to see his driver score for the first time.

"Congratulations to Jo for scoring his first point in Formula One. After a disappointing qualifying yesterday he got his head down and delivered a very good race," he said. "We ran to an aggressive strategy and Jo did everything required to make this work so a great effort from him and the team today."

Tough afternoon for Magnussen

Palmer's team mate Kevin Magnussen endured a less positive end to his Malaysia Grand Prix weekend.

After a dramatic fire ended his first practice session early, the Dane rallied back to qualify well and could have been in a potential points scoring position until he sustained damage on the opening lap which hindered his race and eventually led to him retiring.

"I was the filling in the sandwich as everyone reacted to the Vettel/Rosberg incident at the start," he said. "Everyone braked and went for the inside of the corner which isn’t great if you’re already at the inside of the corner and have contact from behind pushing you forward. That’s motor racing sometimes."

"We changed the front wing and kept pushing, however the brake cooling was damaged, and the brake temperature kept climbing, so we had to retire," he added. "Nevertheless it’s been a promising weekend. We continue to extract more pace from the car and we’ll be pushing to keep this level of performance. I scored last time out; Jo scored today. Points are what we all want to see."

F1Grand Prix Malaysia - Race