Renault tries major suspension upgrade in Silverstone F1 testing

While Renault has made considerable gains with its power unit this year on its return to F1 as a works team - as proven via customer Red Bull's performances - on the chassis side the RS16 has been weak.

A main area of concern has been the suspension as the car has been notoriously difficult to handle on bumpy circuits.

Jolyon Palmer's day at the wheel on the final day of in-season testing this year at Silverstone focused on a new suspension, with a direct comparison to the one used at the weekend.

"We've some big suspension updates we're trying, and a few aero bits," said Palmer, whose team of mechanics changed the suspension over lunch.

"All the time we've got some new bits going on, but the suspension is a big focus for us at the moment

"We're doing a back-to-back [comparison] over the course of the day and hopefully can find something.

"In the morning we ran something different to the race weekend, and then we reverted back, so we'll see what happens."

Palmer has so far endured a torrid time in his debut F1 season since a high of 11th in the opening race in Australia, notably with three retirements in the last five races.

A gearbox fault brought an end to his home grand prix on Sunday after 37 laps, although he maintains there were "quite a lot of positives" he took from the race.

"In the wet I was feeling good, ahead of Kev [team-mate Magnussen] and catching [Romain] Grosjean, so things were looking quite good," said Palmer.

"Monaco was the only wet race I have done in Formula 1, and that didn't go so well [Palmer crashed out early].

"This one was a lot better, making calls between wets, inters and slicks which I've never done before. We've only had two compounds.

"It was all positive, but then in the blink of an eye it was all over really, but that's how it goes."