Renault stick with Palmer

As is often the way in Formula One, one driver makes his move and that begins the domino affect.

In a sense it began with Nico Hulkenberg’s announcement that he would be leaving Force India to make the move to Renault.

His move came following Sergio Perez’s decision to not move to Renault from Force India.

With one seat gone at Renault, Kevin Magnussen has looked elsewhere and he has made the move to Haas to replace Esteban Gutiérrez.

Renault have also been looking at Esteban Ocon, however he now looks set to replace Hulkenberg at Force India which has given British driver Jolyon Palmer a shot at keeping hold of his seat for 2017.

The former GP2 champion had previously looked set to lose his seat in Formula One after just one season.

According to motorsport.com, with Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz and Williams’ Valtteri Bottas unavailable, Palmer’s recent strong performances have been enough to persuade the French manufacturer into giving him a new contract.

Speaking over the course of the Mexican Grand Prix weekend, Renault team principal Fred Vasseur said: ‘We did a good move with Nico but we need to have a strong line-up because if we want to improve, we need to have a good evaluation in the team.

‘If you look at all the teams on the first part of the grid, they have two strong drivers and they push each other forward, so we need to create this kind of atmosphere.

‘The second driver is crucial one. Our target is not just to have one good driver.’

If Renault had broadened their search so wide to target Perez, Ocon, Sainz and Bottas, will they feel that they found that in Palmer?