Jolyon Palmer plans to leave Renault F1 team with 'head held high'

Palmer learned prior to the Singapore Grand Prix that he had lost his drive to Carlos Sainz Jr for 2018, and speculation that the switch could be made before the end of this season has continued.

Amid that, Palmer produced a season-best sixth-place finish in Singapore.

"Honestly, I don't feel any difference to the previous 14 races," he told Autosport.

"The pressure is on in F1. I always want to do well.

"Even at the start of the year I wanted to stay ahead, and I needed to do good results.

"I wish this result had come earlier, but it has been a tough year.

"This is 1/20th [of the season] still. I am still focused on each race as it comes, and with six races to go, whatever lies in the future, lies there.

"But I want to do the best in each race and leave the team with my head held high at the end of the year.

"Hopefully there are many more results like this."

Palmer says he always felt capable of the kind of result produced in Singapore, but circumstances had conspired against him several times.

"At Spa we should have had a good haul of points already, but there was the gearbox penalty and getting stuck in traffic," he said.

"Then Monza, we started at the back and didn't finish the race.

"But the performances those two weekends have been very competitive with what we have got.

"The car is only going to get better in the next few races, which gives me a lot of confidence.

"I got points in Malaysia last year, so this year I hope we can get some more."

Palmer still hopes to find an opportunity in F1 for next year, potentially at Williams, and believes Singapore advertised his potential.

"There are a lot of 'what ifs', in Silverstone, Baku, many, many races this year - so finally we have one where the whole weekend has gone smoothly," he said.

"Sure there is a bit of luck, with some people dropping out ahead, but finally it is a result on paper and that counts a lot.

"I have six more races to show what I can do and hopefully other people can see what I am doing.

"I am doing it for myself and focusing on each weekend as it comes.

"It has been a tough season. It is disappointing not to be here next year but there are six races to go, the car should be strong and I was strong in these races last year.

"And it is like a broken record - yes I will in Malaysia and yes I will be in Abu Dhabi."