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Jolyon Palmer says a change of floor on his Renault Formula 1 car for Russian Grand Prix qualifying has solved the problems that caused his 'catastrophic' loss of form.

The British rookie described the previous race in China as the worst weekend of his motorsport career, as he finished last and was comprehensively outpaced by team-mate Kevin Magnussen.

He was pessimistic about his Sochi prospects when the troubles continued in Friday practice, but swapping to a new floor transformed the car.

"Finally I can drive the car again," Palmer said after qualifying 19th, but within a tenth of Magnussen ahead.

"We changed the floor overnight and the car feels normal."

The replacement floor was the same specification as before, leaving Palmer suspecting that the one his car had used since the start of the Bahrain weekend was a rogue component.

"It wasn't working as we'd hoped," Palmer said.

"They couldn't really see it clearly on the numbers, but something's clearly not been working very well because yesterday was very bad, China was very bad, and we didn't understand it."

He said the Renault had now returned to the behaviour he remembered from testing and the Australian GP.

"It felt like Melbourne. It was consistent every run. It wasn't doing anything strange," Palmer said.

"We're not, as a team, super-quick but at least I'm having the same feedback as Kev now. We're lapping within a tenth. It's normal.

"Pre-season and in Melbourne, we were both talking about having a consistent car that was quite nice to drive but we needed more downforce.

"The last couple of weekends I've not felt that and suddenly I've had this snappy oversteer as I turn in.

"It's back to how it was before and it feels nice to drive."

