Japanese F1 Renault finish with both drivers, with each gaining places on their starting grid line ups.

• Renault Sport Formula One Team team-mates Jolyon Palmer and Kevin Magnussen drove a measured Emirates Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka today.
• The team opted for a one-stop tyre strategy for the 53-lap race, with both Jolyon and Kevin fighting in the middle of the pack throughout and taking the chequered flag in P12 and P14 respectively.
• Jolyon gained four and Kevin three places from their starting positions.

Kevin started the race from P17 with new set of Pirelli’s hard compound tyres. He stopped on lap 25 for a new set of medium tyres.

Jolyon started the race in P16 on new medium tyres. He stopped on lap 25 for a new set of hard tyres.

Kevin Magnussen, #20, R.S.16-04: Started P17, finished P14

“I started the race on hard tyres against others around me on the softs and mediums – it was always going to be tough today. We can’t be completely satisfied with today’s race after scoring points in the last two races but we will work hard to get back into point-scoring position in the coming races. The next round is in the USA and it’s a pretty cool track to drive so I look forward to being there next.”

Jolyon Palmer, #30, R.S.16-05: Started P16, finished P12

“Tenth last week, twelfth this week, but this week everyone finished the race! We had a lot of luck last week and I think today was actually a stronger performance. We beat everyone that we could this afternoon. I’m pleased with how we went, the strategy, the pace, performance… Everything was good.”

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal

“It was a good weekend for us in terms of performance, with our best Free Practice 3 to date where we were in the top ten. Qualifying, however, was a bit disappointing. Of course Jolyon got into Q2, but I think that we could have done better overall on Saturday afternoon. Our race pace was similar again to what we had seen in FP3; we fought with Williams in terms of pace until the end of the race and we were in front of McLaren and Toro Rosso. Today’s race confirmed that we have gone a step forward in pure performance, despite a tricky qualifying session on Saturday. Overall the weekend has been encouraging and both drivers did a solid job in the race with a strategy that worked well for the team.”