British driver Jolyon Palmer was forced to sit out Saturday afternoon's qualifying session here in Mexico after his Renault team discovered his chassis was too badly damaged to go out on track.
The crack in his chassis was found after final practice, however there was not enough time to do such a big job before the clock started to tick down for the first 18 minute session.
it is thought that the crack was a result of running over one of the kerbs too hard and as the damage was near the seatbelt mount, there wasn't any way he could reuse that particular chassis safely.
As a result he will now start Sunday's race from the back row of the grid.
“Unfortunately I had to sit out qualifying which was really frustrating as we looked pretty good in FP3 and I've been feeling happy with the car,” he explained. “I ran wide and straddled the kerb in the last corner during FP3. I felt a bump, but it didn't feel like it was a big one, so I was surprised when we discovered the chassis was broken. Q2 was definitely on the cards today. We're going to have to go all out to get points tomorrow.”
Teammate Kevin Magnussen has qualified in fourteenth position.
