Renault will work to find Jolyon Palmer a race seat in a motorsport category in 2018 after handing his Formula 1 drive to Carlos Sainz, according to the Managing Director of their Sport division Cyril Abiteboul.
The Briton’s future had already been decided post-2017 with the now former Toro Rosso driver joining on loan from the Red Bull stable as part of the engine deal between McLaren, Toro Rosso, Renault and Honda.
Yet, after a difficult year hit by mistakes and reliability problems, the Frenchman remained a backer of the 2015 GP2 champion until his final race just over a week ago in Japan and, after a long-standing association with Renault, is keen to help him move on from the somewhat unceremonious end of his spell with the team.
“We are a manufacturer that’s part of a large group, and we have a footprint that’s quite wide in motorsport, so there are opportunities also to help him for the future,” Abiteboul told Motorsport.com.
“He has my personal and also Renault’s commitment to see how we can help him in the next challenge. I’m pretty sure he’s got some ideas.”
Typically, Formula E and WEC are immediate alternatives drivers look at as is IndyCar in America, but Palmer is not giving up on his F1 aspirations, pointing to the two drivers currently battling for a 2018 Williams seat.
“I think one thing you can say is never say never in F1,” he said. “Obviously with [Robert] Kubica coming back, I think that shows – probably a lot of people thought he’d never come back, and he is there.
“And also Paul di Resta who’s not raced a car in F1 apart from Budapest (when he replaced an unwell Felipe Massa) for a long time and he’s in the mix for a drive again. You never know.”
