Renault F1 rookie Jolyon Palmer ready to take more risks in 2016
Renault debutant Jolyon Palmer is relieved he will have the chance "to take a few more risks" in Formula 1 this season at the wheel of his own car
Although 2014 GP2 champion Palmer gained considerable experience from his 13 Friday practice outings for Lotus last season, he was driving with the knowledge he was using Romain Grosjean's car.
While eager to impress, he knew a crash would wreck Grosjean's weekend given the cash-strapped team's lack of spare parts as it went through takeover talks with Renault.
The team's trackside director of operations Alan Permane recently told Autosport he hoped to see more aggression from Palmer this year.
"He told me that personally before I read the article," Palmer told Autosport.
"He had a point. When you drive a car in FP1 that is obviously not yours, you don't fit perfectly into it, the settings are not for you, and if you crash it then you are ruining your team-mate's weekend.
"So you can't drive flat-out, and if you do and you make a mistake, then you're a big villain.
"But things are very different from when you are a Friday driver to being a race driver.
"I took on board his comments and I don't doubt he had a point, but it's going to be very different this year when I've my own car, working towards my own race."
Asked if he felt in retrospect he could have pushed harder in 2015, Palmer replied: "I could have taken more risks, looking back on balance, but I was still pushing hard as I had to show what I was capable of.
"You can't crash the car, but you've only 90 minutes to show what you can do, and if you drive around too carefully then you are not going to do anything.
"I'm looking forward to getting back to racing as I know it because when I was in GP2, there was no concern about being too cautious."
One of the biggest differences for Palmer this season will be knowing his work for the weekend will not be over come the end of Friday morning.
"I'm looking forward to finishing that session and getting ready for the next. It's going to be a nice change," he added.
Jolyon Palmer is the cover star of this week's Autosport magazine - available online and in shops now - which features an in-depth interview with Britain's latest F1 hope
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