Renault has had to fast-track the build of a new chassis for Jolyon Palmer to use in Montreal after the Englishman’s heavy crash in Monaco.
Palmer’s accident on the pit straight was one of a series through the weekend involving both drivers, and which left the team with a lot of damaged parts. Fortunately a new chassis was already in the completion stages in the factory, and that has now been rushed into action.
“Kevin’s incidents mainly damaged bolt-on parts whereas Jolyon’s incident means we will use a new chassis – R.S.16-04 – for Montreal,” said technical director Nick Chester. “The car hit the barriers quite hard at an oblique angle which damaged the front of the chassis, and since we have a new chassis available it makes sense to introduce it. Fortunately, 04 was pretty far along on its build so we only needed to complete fuel cell installation and wiring for it to be ready for Canada.”
Meanwhile Palmer thanked the team and said that he suffered bruised feet in the incident.
“We went over the data and it looks like it was the lower grip as I crossed the white lines of the zebra crossing,” he said. “Which meant my wheels spun as I pushed to accelerate. The car was pitched sideways and I collected the barriers. It was just the wrong place at the wrong time. I had a bit of bruising on my feet, so it was just my ego and the car that had to suffer.
“I have been in Enstone since Monaco, to get some time in the sim but I did also offer to get the spanners out to help build the new chassis! I’m very grateful for all the hard work that goes in at the track and back in Enstone and Viry and I did more than my fair share of damage to the car in Monaco.”
Adam Cooper's F1 Blog 
Palmoil is doing Kovalainen 2007 – expect a podium in Japan.
Lucky for the team and Palmer the new chassis was already being built, they would have had a lot of work otherwise or maybe even sit out a race.