Pit stop error won’t happen again after process change – Renault

Renault have blamed "human error" for Jolyon Palmer's second pit stop at the British Grand Prix, which saw him leave with just three wheels on his car, and the team insist it won't happen again following a change to their pit stop process.

During the Briton's second stop, he was given the green light to leave despite the fact only three wheels had been fitted to his car. He was handed a ten-second penalty for an "unsafe release" which, combined with the time lost being pushed back to his pit box, cost him more than a minute.

"It was human error," explained team principal Frederic Vasseur. "As a team pit stops are conducted and practiced repeatedly but there is no pit crew that never makes mistakes.

"When you think about it, it's is truly remarkable that it is possible to jack up a car, change four wheels and lower the car to depart in around two seconds.

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"We are working all the time to make our stops quicker and we understand what went wrong in that isolated instance. We have changed the process to ensure the same mistake can't happen again."

Vasseur also confirmed that an investigation into why Palmer's engine caught fire during the following in-season test is ongoing, but they believe a hydraulic leak may be the cause.

"[It] looks to be the result of a hydraulic leak and we're naturally investigating what happened," he explained. "The fortunate thing is that the fire happened on the final in-lap of the day so we were able to complete all we could for that day. "