Jolyon Palmer says Renault will have had a "terrible start" to winter testing if it has another day like the two he has endured with the RS16 this week.
Palmer pulled up in the afternoon of the second day of testing in Barcelona with some coming from his Renault, which was enough to end his session prematurely. It followed what he called a "challenging" opening day which saw him complete just 37 laps.
"Power unit issues, smoke out the back, engine change," Palmer said about the issue which ended his day. "There are positives from today as at least we had the car running to do baseline set-up work and get an understanding for it after yesterday was a bigger disaster I think. At least we did some more relevant laps but 79 laps is not ideal for half my pre-season testing so I need a lot more next week."
"It is nice to drive the first lap of a new car but in the end I'm sure Kevin [Magnussen] will do more laps than me so if he doesn't we've had a really terrible start."
Palmer is confident Renault can overcome its early troubles but says it is hardly an ideal start with world champions Mercedes already on 328 laps after two days.
"We know how to find a solution at the moment but I guess when you average 40 laps for two days you are not confident when Mercedes can do 150 laps. We know the fixtures at the moment so hopefully we can get some laps up."
Renault's slow start means the rookie has completed 79 laps from two of his four days behind the wheel ahead of the Australian Grand Prix weekend, a tally far less than he had hoped for.
"I came to this test hoping to do 100 laps a day but I know the first day can be difficult. Day one's difficulties didn't help for today's running so 79 in two days is far too little but that is how it is. With the change of power unit and effectively a new team these problems are bound to happen it is just a shame it has come so early on the second day."