F1 rookie Palmer bemoans 'simple' problem in Hungarian GP practice

The 25-year-old has been plagued by issues over the course of his rookie season, including his Renault catching fire at the end of the second day of Silverstone's in-season test.

At the Hungaroring, his running was limited in both sessions due to a fuel pick-up problem that was eventually traced back to a connector pipe.

"The bad luck wasn't quite left at Silverstone in flames," Palmer bemoaned. "It's arrived here again in Hungary.

"We had a fuel pick-up issue in FP1, and we didn't really know why, and then we changed a lot of parts.

"We had the same problem in FP2, so we changed a lot more parts, and we at least now know what it was.

"In the end it was a connector pipe for the fuel pick-up. We just didn't know what it was at first, and it was something quite simple.

"But there were a lot of things it could have been, and there was no hint of anything not working, so it was difficult to know what to do.

"I got some laps in at the end - I got five timed-laps today - so it's been a bit of a luxury.

"It's been important to get those laps in because I know something about the car at least."

Palmer managed just six laps in FP1, finishing bottom of the order, and had turned just two installation laps in the first 75 minutes of FP2.

He finally got out to add another 10 laps to his tally and finish 19th, three seconds off the pace.

Some solace was that new suspension, first trialled during the Silverstone test, was "reasonably positive".

Palmer added: "It's not going to be a night-and-day leap up the order, but I ran it at Silverstone, and running it here it feels quite seamless.

"Overall there's potential to go a lot quicker, but now we just need to fine-tune the rest of the set up to get the most out of it."

Team-mate Kevin Magnussen managed 41 laps in FP2 after sitting out FP1 for reserve Esteban Ocon, but only finished a tenth of a second quicker and two places higher than Palmer.

Magnussen also felt the new suspension provided some assistance as he said: "We're still learning about it.

"It is a difference, but it's not a huge difference. We're still weighing up the pros and cons."