Russian GP: Palmer says qualifying crash happened under pressure

The Renault driver has had a difficult Sochi weekend, starting with an exhaust problem in second practice, when a lamba sensor boss broke and cause a leak, which burned the car.

Renault changed the chassis overnight, but Palmer suffered a mysterious loss of engine power at the start of FP3 that the team could not fix it with a reset so swapped the whole engine out to get him out for qualifying.

Palmer said the lost track time was "not ideal" but accepted the blame for the shunt that has left him 16th on the grid for the race.

"Qualifying was actually going OK," he said. "I was quite happy with the car and then, on the second set of tyres, I had a massive snap on the first lap and I didn't improve.

"So I was down to one lap. And then, under pressure, I just committed hard and took a little bit of kerb which wasn't ideal."

Despite his mechanical misfortune this weekend and the fact earlier races this season have been hit by incidents and mechanical problems, Palmer felt it would be wrong to vent any frustrations at Renault.

"I also put it in the wall, so it's quite difficult for me to point too many fingers at the team," he said.

"It's a shame because I think it's a similar case to Melbourne where I lost a lot of track time and then you try to make up for it.

"Probably if I'd dialled it a lot better in FP3 then I think we had the pace to be through Q1 quite comfortably.

"So, when you haven't done many laps today, then it becomes a little bit more on the limit and you have to dig deep and explore new limits.

"Losing the track time certainly contributed. And obviously it's my mistake and it's a simple one, just hitting the kerb on the lap."

With a one-stop strategy expected to be the norm on Sunday Palmer said a first-lap charge would be key to a recovery drive.

"The special tactic is just to get a good start," he said. "It's a long run down to Turn 2.

"Last year I qualified 18th and at the end of lap two I was 10th, so if we can do that again there's a chance of points.

"Starting from 16th, it's possible.

"Last year Kevin [Magnussen] finished seventh in the race and only started 17th, so it's the sort of race where anything can happen."