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Jolyon Palmer bemoans 'awful', 'terrible' car after Q1 exit

Jolyon Palmer has slammed his Renault Formula One car after a poor qualifying performance left him on the back-row of the grid for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Palmer had already suffered a disrupted weekend having crashed in second practice on Friday. Following an overnight rebuild, the Briton could only manage 19th in final practice on Saturday morning, before his early exit from Q1 came after setting the slowest time of qualifying, nearly a full second down on the Williams of Lance Stroll.

New Renault recruit Nico Hulkenberg qualified 12th, while a fuel system problem hampered Palmer during the session, which he labelled a disaster.